A rival to stonehenge? Geophysical survey at Stanton Drew, England

The development of geophysical survey remains a spearhead-priority for new research and cultural resource management alike-since geophysits can find and map sites without destroying them. However, there are current weaknesses of sensitivity and resolution-the instruments cannot easily "see" small features like graves and post-holes of which so many ancient sites are principally composed. Great hopes have been invested in caesium vapour magnetometers, which the Centre for Archaeology has been promoting in England-perhaps nowhere with such dramatic success as at Stanton Drew, Somerset. Here, geophysical techniques have brought to light the lines of broad circles belonging to a previously unrecognised henge monument, and the caesium magnetometer showed these circles to be composed of individual pits about 1.4 in in diameter. The fine focus achieved for these buried features augers well for the discovery and preservation of similar sites and monuments in the future.