Neolithic artistry from the Stonehenge landscape

Just over half a century ago, roadworks to widen the A303 near Amesbury revealed intriguing evidence of Neolithic artistry about 1.2 miles from Stonehenge. At the bottom of a pit that also contained animal bones, an antler pick, and fragments of Grooved Ware pottery were two square plaques carved from chalk, each decorated with complex geometric patterns that are thought to represent deliberate designs. At the time of the road scheme in 1968, precise radiocarbon-dating technology was not available, but more recent analysis of the animal bone from the pit has placed its contents in the earlier 3rd millennium BC. Since their discovery, these plaques (studied by permission of The Salisbury Muse