SION, SWITZERLAND—Swiss Info reports that pieces of six aligned standing stones were uncovered at a construction site in southwest Switzerland. Archaeologists suggest the discovery could offer new information on social rituals in central Europe at the end of the Neolithic period, around 2500 B.C. The largest of the stones has been estimated to weigh nearly two tons. An engraving on this stone depicts a man wearing patterned clothing with a “sun-like motif” around his face. Small, circular depressions known as cupules, similar to those found on a stone from a site in northwestern Italy, were found on a second stone. Researchers suggest the stones may have been deliberately broken to be used as building materials for several dolmens previously discovered in the area. For another recent discovery from Neolithic Switzerland, go to "An Eccentric Artifact."
