The next significant level of evolution in crop formation design occurred in June 1996 when a formation appeared near Alton Barnes in Wiltshire, England. It consisted of a series of eighty-nine circles arranged in a pattern that seemed to strongly suggest the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. A large number of circles of changing scale were laid out with a remarkable degree of exactitude in the formation. Videographer Peter Sorenson was living just a few hundred feet away from the field in which it appeared; as the first person to discover it, he seized the opportunity to film the formation at dawn before anyone else had a chance to enter. His footage shows the crop formation to be executed very precisely with tightly woven circles with well-defined edges.

The DNA double helix crop circle formation

The Julia-set crop circle formation

©Andreas Müller, cropcirclescience.org

Stonehenge Fractal Mystery

One of the most enduring mysteries associated with crop formations is related to the appearance of a large crop circle within sight of Stonehenge in broad daylight. The formation was in the bass clef — like shape of a Julia-set fractal that appeared in full view of the busy A303 road within a thirty-minute period one Sunday afternoon in July 1996.

Tourists spotted the 900-foot formation just after 6 P.M., and a pilot, a gamekeeper, and a security guard confirmed it had not been there half an hour before. The complex curving arc, precisely composed of many circles of changing scale, was certainly a relative of the double helix DNA formation that had appeared earlier that summer near Alton Barnes. The undetected, near instantaneous appearance of such a large formation in an area with so many potential observers has defied any attempted explanation.

Windmill Hill

Three weeks later, at the end of July, another even more spectacular Julia-set fractal appeared at the Windmill Hill megalithic site, near Avebury stone circle. This time the formation was larger, had three spiral arms, and contained 194 circles! The geometric relationship between the two was very clear.

The symbolic language of crop circles seems to evolve by establishing a motif, then expanding upon it with further formations that become increasingly elaborate. Skeptics have suggested that this can be accounted for by the fact that hoaxers are getting better and improve throughout each season. But no hoaxers have ever claimed to have made either of these stunning formations. Much smaller manmade designs have taken many hours to complete, often with elaborate equipment. These manmade formations often leave telltale signs of crop damage and tracks left by their makers into and out of the formation.