Stonehenge Builders' Village?

A prehistoric village has been discovered in southern England that was likely home to the builders of Stonehenge, archaeologists announced on January 30, 2007.

Excavations supported by National Geographic at Durrington Walls in the Stonehenge World Heritage site have revealed an enormous ancient settlement that once housed hundreds of people.

Archaeologists discovered foundations of houses dating back to 4,600 years ago around the time construction began on Stonehenge.

The floor of House 547 after excavation of its floor deposits, viewed from the north.

The project team says these imposing buildings to the west may have been the homes of chiefs or priests who lived separately from the rest of the community.

The houses have been radiocarbon dated to BC, the same period Stonehenge was built.

A reconstruction made in 2005 depicts one of two timber circles first discovered 40 years ago near Stonehenge.

Archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University said the discoveries this season help confirm a theory that Stonehenge did not stand in isolation but was part of a much larger religious complex used for funerary ritual.