( CNN ) -- Stonehenge , an enigma to visitors and scientists alike for so many years , became less of a mystery after a discovery announced to the world this week . A stone circle discovered near Stonehenge may suggest the prehistoric monument was part of a funeral route . Archaeologists have unearthed a new stone circle near Stonehenge that lends credence to the theory that the famous prehistoric monument in Britain was part of a funeral complex . University of Bristol archaeologist Joshua Pollard described the new find as `` incredible '' because it establishes Stonehenge as part of a larger ceremonial complex linked to the nearby River Avon . `` No one could have predicted there was another stone circle so close by , '' said Pollard , co-director of the excavation project that began in 2004 . This , he said , changes the perception of the popular tourist destination 90 miles west of London . The new find , dubbed `` Bluestonehenge '' after the color of the 25 Welsh stones of which it was once composed , sits along the Avon a mile away from its famous sister circle , Pollard said . Neolithic peoples would have come down river by boat and literally stepped off into Bluestonehenge , Pollard said . They may have congregated at certain times of the year , including the winter solstice , and carried remains of the dead from Bluestonehenge down an almost two-mile funeral processional route to a cemetery at Stonehenge to bury them . `` It could be that Bluestonehenge was where the dead began their final journey to Stonehenge , '' said Mike Parker Pearson , an archaeologist at the University of Sheffield who co-directed the project with Pollard . `` Not many people know that Stonehenge was Britain 's largest burial ground at that time , '' he said . `` Maybe the blue stone circle is where people were cremated before their ashes were buried at Stonehenge itself . '' Proof of life artifacts -- pottery , animal bones , food residues and flint tools used in the Stone Age -- are decidedly absent at Stonehenge but were found upstream in a village discovered by the excavation team in 2005 , leading researchers to believe that Stonehenge was indeed a burial ground . But people have debated the purpose of Stonehenge for decades . Known for its orientation in relation to the rising and setting sun , the circle of stones represented a prehistoric temple to some . Others argued it was an astronomical observatory . Or that it was a marker of time . But Pollard is sticking to his theory . He said others have not based their suppositions on archaeological finds . Archaeologists began the latest excavation with the hope of tracking the course of the avenue that led to Stonehenge . They had no idea they would stumble upon a second circle that would help uncover the mystery of Stonehenge . The stones at Bluestonehenge were removed thousands of years ago , Pollard said , but the sizes of the remaining pits , about 33 feet in diameter , point to giant blue stones from the Preseli Mountains of Wales , about 150 miles away . Pollard said that Neolithic people dragged the pillarlike blue stones along the processional route to Stonehenge to incorporate them in a major rebuilding that took place around 2500 B.C . Archaeologists know that after 2500 , Stonehenge consisted of about 60 Welsh stones and 83 local sarsen stones . Some of the blue stones that once stood on the river 's edge probably now stand within the center of Stonehenge , Pollard said . Scientists plan to use radiocarbon dating techniques to better understand the history of the entire site . Stonehenge remains as striking as ever . But with each new find , the enigma fades just a little .
Discovery of lost stone circle sheds new light on Stonehenge 's purpose . Score: 7 Bluestonehenge is named after color of Welsh stones from which it was formed . Some have viewed Stonehenge as temple , astronomical observatory .