One of the mysteries of Stonehenge has been solved because someone was too lazy to get a longer hose.
Usually, the grass around the puzzling collection of Neolithic stones is watered by stewards, but this year, the hose used was too short, and didn't reach the entire grounds. The unwatered grass dried out. It looked gnarly, but the barren land ended up showing archeologists the answer to a lingering question: Whether Stonehenge was actually supposed to be an incomplete circle.
Tim Daw, who works on the grounds, first noticed parches revealing "stone holes" as he surveyed the dried-out area. These holes confirmed that Stonehenge, at one point, had been a full circle.
"I called my colleague over and he saw them and realized their possible significance as well. Not being archaeologists we called in the professionals to evaluate them," Daw told Telegraph.
"I am still amazed and very pleased that simply really looking at something, that tens of thousands of people had unwittingly seen, can reveal secrets that sophisticated machinery can't."
This doesn't mean Stonehenge is now short on unanswered questions. We still don't know who built it, or why (though a theory that it's a giant musical instrument has gained some traction). And now there's another puzzle: What happened to the stones that used to complete the circle?
Image credit: AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis