ARCHAEOLOGISTS from Southampton have begun unearthing what could be one of Britain's most significant prehistoric relics.

They are excavating a 4,500-year-old monument buried beneath the landscape of south-west Scotland which could prove as important as Stonehenge.

Evidence of a huge timber enclosure measuring 300 metres across was first indicated in aerial photographs taken in 1993.

The images puzzled researchers who originally thought they were looking at mysterious crop circles.

Now a 30-strong team led by Dr Julian Thomas has begun the painstaking task of removing topsoils and stones.

The farmland site, at Dunragit in Wigtownshire, bears the marks of what are thought to have been hundreds of oak totem poles.

They formed three concentric circles indicating a mapped-out focal point for ancient tribes, possibly from across Britain. The two smaller circles are 150 and 130 metres in diameter. Dr Thomas said: "This is a colossal place where dispersed communities would have gathered for ceremonies and feasting. It was clearly of considerable importance to the community."

The enclosure dates from around 2,500 BC, the same period as Stonehenge and before the Great Pyramid of Giza was built.

As a Neolithic monument it would have coincided with the late Stone Age, when formal agriculture was introduced to Scotland.

Dr Thomas believes it may have had religious or astronomical meaning and could easily rival Stonehenge in prehistoric significance. He said: "It's certainly much larger than Stonehenge, and for the people concerned it would have been as important if not more important."

The team, drawn from both Southampton and Glasgow universi-ties, have already dug 30cm into the ground removing artefacts such as fragments of decorated pottery. They aim to go deeper still to build up a clearer picture of the poles, which may have been up to 30 feet tall.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.