Danish researchers have announced the discovery of a collection of wooden pieces placed in a circle that are believed to date back thousands of years ago.

The team says the wood pieces and some other objects were found during building work in the northwestern Danish town of Aars. The discovery led the researchers to suggest the people who placed the wooden pieces might have been linked to a group who built Britain’s famous Stonehenge stone structure.

A total of 45 ancient wood pieces were discovered underground last week during building, or construction, work. The pieces formed a circle about 30 meters across.

In an email to the French news agency AFP, Sidsel Wahlin of the town’s Vesthimmerlands museum described the discovery as “a once in a lifetime find.”

The circle "points to a strong connection with the British henge world," she added.

The British Museum says on its website the first stones placed at Stonehenge, in southern England, are believed to have started arriving there around 3000 BC.

The Danish researchers said they were also looking to see whether an inner circle might also exist where the wooden pieces were found. Wahlin noted that in the past, other wood circles had been found on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.

But Wahlin said the circle in Aars was "the first one of this larger type that we can properly investigate.”

Archeologists working at the building site also found an ancient settlement that included a leader’s grave and a bronze sword.

Wahlin said her team was still carrying out detailed work in the area in an effort to estimate the age and purpose of the materials.

In particular, the archeologists are now searching for religious-connected materials known as "ritual deposits." These might include flint arrow heads and small knives or daggers.

Wahlin said the researchers will continue looking for links between the Aars site and other groups, such as those who built Stonehenge. She added the influence of other groups had already been found in some objects and graves found in Denmark.

I’m John Russell.

John Russell adapted this story based on an AFP report.

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Words in This Story

henge – n. a kind of circular Bronze Age structure

type – n. a particular kind or group

ritual – n. an activity or set of actions always done in the same way or at the same time, sometimes as part of a religion

deposit – n. something laid down

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