Prehistoric henge accidentally discovered in England in search for Anglo-Saxon hermit

A monumental prehistoric henge has been unearthed in eastern England during excavations originally focused on finding traces of an Anglo-Saxon hermit, a recent study shows.

The site, known as Anchor Church Field and situated near Crowland Abbey in Lincolnshire, is thought to have hosted ceremonial and sacred activities on and off from the time the henge was erected in the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age (2900 to 1600 B.C.) until the 15th century. 

Notably, archaeologists found evidence of occupation inside the henge dating to around the seventh century — including ceramics, two bone combs and glass fragments from elite drinking vessels — when England was under Anglo-Saxon rule.

"We know that many prehistoric monuments were reused by the Anglo-Saxons, but to find a henge — especially one that was previously unknown — occupied in this way is really quite rare," study co-author Duncan Wright, a lecturer in medieval Archaeology at Newcastle University in England, said in a statement. 

The excavations revealed that the henge — a circular monument of upright stones — was adapted into a timber circle in the Middle Bronze Age (1600 to 1200 B.C.) and was surrounded by burial mounds. It then sat abandoned for several centuries, but the prehistoric earthwork remained etched in the soil, according to the study, which was published March 26 in the Journal of Field Archaeology.

Wright and study co-author Hugh Willmott, a senior lecturer in European historical archaeology at the University of Sheffield in England, discovered the henge by chance while searching for an eighth-century hermitage believed to be buried beneath Anchor Church Field. 

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