German Stonehenge predates British site

Source/Quelle/Izvor: Ananova

Archaeologists say they have found the site of a German Stonehenge which is even older than the British one.

The series of rings in a field near Leipzig in the east of the country are said to be at least 7,000 years old - 2,000 years older than Stonehenge.

Archaeologists say it was the site of a stone-age temple where they believe people and animals were sacrificed to the gods.

The 120-metre diameter rings also have gates, one of which works like Stonehenge to direct the sun's rays onto a central point at sunrise on mid-summer's day.

In contrast to Stonehenge, the rings were not made up of giant rocks but of thousands of oak-wood stakes which have not survived the passage of time.

Only the marks in the ground where the stakes once stood have remained - and have now been discovered by the archaeologists.

Last updated: 12:35 Tuesday 29th August 2000