英“巨石阵”外围又发现“超级巨石”

　　Discovered 3-ft underground beneath the Durrington Walls, “Superhenge', that lies about two miles from the original Stonehenge, is the largest stone monument discovery in Europe. The scientist says that ground-penetrating radar images indicate that there may have been of up to 90 stones, 30 of which are still well preserved.

　　位于英国巨石阵附近两公里处杜灵威环石墙下3英尺的地方，发现了超级石阵。据科学家们称，地下探测雷达的分辨图显示该石阵也许有多达90块巨石，其中的30块都保存良好。

　　“巨石阵”外围又发现“超级巨石”.jpg

　　According to the researchers, the massive stones that measure as high as 15-feet in height most likely date back to burial site's inception, about 5,000 years ago. They suspect that the preserved stones may have been knocked over and buried in the soil a century later, during the construction of the Durrington Walls. The ones that did not get buried adequately are either fragmented or have disintegrated completely, leaving behind empty pits where they once stood.

　　据调查者所说，这些高达15英尺的巨大石头很可能建造于地下遗址存在之初，大约5000年之前。他们猜测这些保存下来的石头应该是在一世纪之前，即都灵为环石墙建造的时候被撞倒，然后埋在地下的。而那些没被埋起来的石头有些碎成小块了，有些则完全被撞碎，只留下了空荡的石坑。

　　The discovery is the latest in a slew of new finds by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, a partnership between the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology. It brings together experts from around the world to research Stonehenge and the surrounding areas. The aim of the four-year project that ends in 2017, is to create an extensive underground 3-D map of the area around Stonehenge to document what is already known and search for what still lies hidden.

　　这个最新发现是由伯明翰大学和奥地利与路德维希-玻尔兹曼学院考古勘测及虚拟考古研究所联合开展的巨石阵隐藏遗迹研究计划中一系列的发现之一，聚集了世界各地对这片区域的调查。该计划长达4年，将于2017年结束，主要目的是针对已发现和未知的遗址绘制一个大型地图。

　　Other notable discoveries made possible by the virtual excavation includes 17 new shrine-like structures and a 108-foot long burial mound. These finds have helped researchers realize that Stonehenge was not a monument in isolation, but part of a rich monumental landscape. While it has always been seen as a place of religious significance, these recent developments seem to suggest that the area could have been the birthplace of the idea of ceremonial procession, or a liturgy.

　　其他通过虚拟挖掘的知名发现包括17个类似神龛的新雕塑和一个108英尺长的墓穴。这些发现帮助科学家们了解到巨石阵并不是一个单独的遗址，而是庞大遗址群的一部分。虽然这里一直被认为是宗教重地，最近的发现似乎还证实了这里还有可能是游行与礼拜的发源地。

　　So will this 'Superhenge' displace the original Stonehenge? Probably not, given that the archaeologists have no intention of unearthing the bigger neighbor any time soon!

　　那么这片超级石阵有可能代替原有的石阵吗？应该不会，因为考古学家暂时没打算把这片石阵完全挖掘出来。