In the shadow of Stonehenge, a way of life is illuminated

Archeologists working near Stonehenge in England have discovered what appears to be an ancient religious complex containing a wealth of artifacts that may finally illuminate the lives and religious practices of the people who built the mysterious monument 4,600 years ago.

The circle of massive stone blocks on Salisbury Plain southwest of London is one of the most famous archeological sites in the world, but researchers know surprisingly little about the people who built it and lived in the region.

The discovery, reported Tuesday in a teleconference organized by the National Geographic Society, reconfigures the geometry of Stonehenge, indicating that it is not an isolated monument but part of a larger religious complex that may have encompassed the area.

It also casts the people who built the monument in an unexpected light, indicating that they were not only the somber worshipers of Stonehenge but also a raucous, hard-partying group who gathered for regular festivals.

"To see the everyday lives of these people, to see people living in their houses, is filling in really important gaps in the record," said archeologist Mary Ann Owoc of Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., who was not involved in the research. "We had some evidence, but this is so much richer."

The discovery is also destined to change archeologists' views of how the ancient people used the site. Stonehenge is typically thought of as a cemetery and an astronomical observatory that was used for pagan celebrations at the summer solstice.

The monument comprises concentric circles of massive stones, some weighing as much as 50 tons, surrounded by a circular earthen bank and a ditch. Some of the stones were imported from Wales, about 150 miles away, and others were quarried about 24 miles north of Stonehenge at Marlboro Downs. It was constructed about the same time as the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

The discovery at Durrington Walls, two miles northeast of Stonehenge, indicates that the region was a religious center where people gathered in midwinter for raucous feasts and solemn ceremonies before sending their deceased on a voyage to the afterlife.

Although Stonehenge was a monument to the dead, the complex at Durrington Walls was "very much a place of the living," said archeologist Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University, who led the team along with archeologist Julian Thomas of Manchester University.