Archaeologists Discover 4,500-year-old Monument near Stonehenge

A security guard patrols around closed Stonehenge on March 20, 2020 in Amesbury, United Kingdom. (Getty Images)
A security guard patrols around closed Stonehenge on March 20, 2020 in Amesbury, United Kingdom. (Getty Images)
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Archaeologists Discover 4,500-year-old Monument near Stonehenge

A security guard patrols around closed Stonehenge on March 20, 2020 in Amesbury, United Kingdom. (Getty Images)
A security guard patrols around closed Stonehenge on March 20, 2020 in Amesbury, United Kingdom. (Getty Images)

Archaeologists have discovered a major new prehistoric monument just a short distance away from Stonehenge in Britain.

According to the daily Metro, some 20 or more massive prehistoric shafts – more than 10 meters wide and five meters deep – form a vast circle more than two kilometers in diameter around the Durrington Walls.

Coring of the shafts suggest the features are neolithic and excavated more than 4,500 years ago, around the time Durrington Walls was built.

It is thought the shafts served as a boundary to a sacred area or precinct associated with the henge.

The discovery comes just after the Summer Solstice, which took place online this year as the famous annual gathering was cancelled due to coronavirus.

Experts from the University of St. Andrews were joined by counterparts from institutes including Birmingham, Warwick, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center (at the University of Glasgow).



Scaffolding Goes up in Venice to Save Banksy’s Migrant Mural

People work at the beginning of the restoration process of Banksy's 'Migrant Child', the mural depicting a migrant child wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare in Venice, Italy, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
People work at the beginning of the restoration process of Banksy's 'Migrant Child', the mural depicting a migrant child wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare in Venice, Italy, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
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Scaffolding Goes up in Venice to Save Banksy’s Migrant Mural

People work at the beginning of the restoration process of Banksy's 'Migrant Child', the mural depicting a migrant child wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare in Venice, Italy, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
People work at the beginning of the restoration process of Banksy's 'Migrant Child', the mural depicting a migrant child wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare in Venice, Italy, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)

Scaffolding went up in Venice on Tuesday to restore a mural by the elusive street artist Banksy that had appeared on the side of a 17th century building in the lagoon city six years ago.

"Migrant Child" shows a boy wearing a lifejacket and holding a pink flare, representing the artist's support for migrant sea rescue charities.

But being exposed to Venice's notorious humidity and painted on the canal-facing side of a crumbling palazzo, it was in danger of fading into oblivion.

The building, unoccupied when Banksy worked on it, was bought last year by an Italian bank that is now funding its entire restoration, mural included.

Banca Ifis is planning to turn the Palazzo San Pantalon into an exhibition space linked to the Venice Biennale art fair, it said in a statement.

The three-story building is in the Dorsoduro neighborhood, near Venice's main university. The well-known Zaha Hadid Architects studio is working on the renovation project.