Along with the pyramids in Giza, Egypt, the Stonehenge monument in the English countryside stands in mute testament to our millenia-old cousins that were perhaps a lot smarter than we give them credit for. The stones were carved out and erected around 4,400 – 5,000 years ago as the likely focal point of some ceremony. How the massive stones were erected and what sorts of ceremonies took place remains a mystery that only deepens with the newest archaeological discoveries.

On this day, July 22, in 2010, scientists announced they found a wooden structure similar in design to Stonehenge buried just a half a mile away, still within sight of the standing stones. The wooden posts, originally placed into excavated pits and surrounded by an earth embankment, are estimated at 100 feet in height.

Excavation is highly restricted in the area around Stonehenge to preserve the monument, and much of what is known of the surrounding neolithic complex that used to stand around it is taken from magnetic and radar reading. Some have speculated that skeletal evidence found near the site — for example a child with a split skull — suggests it was a center of medicine and curing, where the sick were brought to recover; while others interpret the skull to be evidence of religious human sacrifice.