The landing strip theory always felt a bit too tidy to me, like someone looked at lines from above and just went "yep, runways." But the soil compression data and the fact that the lines are only a few inches deep kind of kills it doesn't it. Nothing heavy is landing on that.
What I find more interesting is the procession/ritual walking theory. You walk the lines as part of some kind of ceremony, possibly connected to water sources. That fits the geography better from what I've read.
That said I'm pretty new to all this - only started looking into ancient sites properly about two years ago after a trip to Avebury. Would genuinely love to hear what the more experienced folks here think. Is there any newer research that's shifted the consensus at all, or is Von Daniken basically just getting ignored by serious researchers these days?