CEREAL BUSINESS :.

3-D CROP FORMATION: A PORTAL TO ANOTHER DIMENSION?

A floor of chequered tiles stretches down a long, high-ceilinged corridor with doors leading off each side.

And the art of crop circles reaches a new height of sophistication.

The astonishing three-dimensional design, 200ft in diameter, has been created in a wheat field at Silbury Hill, Wiltshire.

Only yards away are the 5,000-year-old West Kennet Longbarrow burial grounds, one of the largest and most impressive Neolithic graves in Britain.

According to folklore, the mound is traditionally visited at sunrise on Midsummer's Day by a white figure accompanied by a white hound with red ears.

It has been the setting for several crop circles in the past, including an elaborate 350ft pattern featuring a giant Egyptian mosaic in the shape of two wings, surrounded by symbols which bear a striking resemblance to the Mayan calendar which predicted that the world will end in 2012.

The latest design was photographed by Steve Alexander, who with his wife Karen, a writer, has been researching crop circles for more than 15 years.

Mrs Alexander-said: "It's one of the most architectural designs we have seen, rather than purely geometric.

"In traditional geometry a square represents material reality and a circle represents the divine or heavenly realm.

"A lot of people are saying this circle represents the passageway through the physical world to the divine world."

(Original headline: Crop circles are back, and this time they're in 3-D! )