Stonehenge's 'wood version' unearthed

Dublin, Apr 12 (ANI): A visibly mammoth wooden version of the famous Stonehenge monument has been unearthed at the Hill of Tara.

In a new RTE documentary, scientists have provided insights into Ireland's prehistoric past, and 150,000 ancient monuments have been unveiled and explained.

Through the programme, people will be able to see a computer-generated recreation of what archaeologists believe was a major wooden structure -a version of British Stonehenge - at the ancient seat of the Irish high kings in the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.

A LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) laser beam was used to scan the ground surface to create a three-dimensional map, which revealed more than 30 monuments around Tara, archaeologist Joe Fenwick revealed.

Archaeologists discovered the huge monument, a ditch stretching six metres wide and three metres deep in the bedrock, using another technique - described as taking an X-ray through the hillside.

The ditch circled the Mound of the Hostages passage tomb, and separated the outside world from the ceremonial centre of Tara, reports The Irish Independent.

It was believed the ancient architects had also surrounded the ditch with a massive wooden structure on each side - a version of Stonehenge -on a large scale. Its sheer size meant a whole forest would have had to be cleared to build it.

"In scale, it is comparable, for example, to Croke Park's pitch. The Hill of Tara had enormous ritual significance over the course of 5,000-6,000 years, so it's not surprising that you get monuments of the scale of the ditch pit circle," said Fenwick, from the Department of Archaeology, NUI Galway.

According to the documentary makers behind 'Secrets of the Stones', cutting-edge technology is helping to provide a new insight into the lives of our ancestors.(ANI)