Excavation starts at Stonehenge

[AndrewA]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7322134.stm

The first excavation inside the ring at Stonehenge in more than four decades gets under way on Monday.

The two-week dig will try to establish, once and for all, some precise dating for the creation of the monument.

It is also targeting the significance of the smaller bluestones that stand inside the giant sarsen pillars.

Researchers believe these rocks, brought all the way from Wales, hold the secret to the real purpose of Stonehenge as a place of healing.

The excavation at the 4,500-year-old UK landmark is being funded by the BBC. The work will be filmed for a special Timewatch programme to be broadcast in the autumn.

'Magical stones'

The researchers leading the project are two of the UK's leading Stonehenge experts - Professor Tim Darvill, of the University of Bournemouth, and Professor Geoff Wainwright, of the Society of Antiquaries.

They are convinced that the dominating feature on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire was akin to a "Neolithic Lourdes" - a place where people went on a pilgrimage to get cured.

Some of the evidence supporting this theory comes from the dead, they say.

A significant proportion of the newly discovered Neolithic remains show clear signs of skeletal trauma. Some had undergone operations to the skull, or had walked with a limp, or had broken bones.

Modern techniques have established that many of these people had clearly travelled huge distances to get to south-west England, suggesting they were seeking supernatural help for their ills.

But Darvill and Wainwright have also traced the bluestones - the stones in the centre of Stonehenge - to the exact spot they came from in the Preseli hills, 250km away in the far west of Wales.

Neolithic inscriptions found at this location indicate the ancient people there believed the stones to be magical and for the local waters to have healing properties.

'Scientific proof'

Darvill and Wainwright hope the dig will demonstrate such beliefs also lay behind the creation of Stonehenge, by showing that the make-up of the original floor of the sacred circle at the monument is dominated by bluestone chippings that were purposely placed there.

The dig will also provide a more precise dating of the Double Bluestone Circle, the first stone circle that was erected at Stonehenge.

The original setting for this circle is no longer visible. The bluestones seen by visitors today are later re-erections.

Archaeologists tried to date the first circle in the 1990s and estimated that it was put up at around 2,550BC; but a more precise dating has not been possible.

Principally, this is because materials removed in earlier excavations were poorly recorded and cannot be attributed with any certainty to specific features and deposits.

The 3.5m by 2.5m trench that will be excavated in the new effort will aim to retrieve fragments of the original bluestone pillars that can be properly dated.

The BBC-funded excavation goes ahead with the full support of English Heritage, which manages the site for the nation.

"Theories about Stonehenge are cheap; proof is precious," commented BBC Timewatch editor, John Farren.

"I'm delighted that Timewatch, the BBC's flagship history programme, is able to offer the possibility for some hard scientific proof to further our knowledge of the dating of Stonehenge and to bolster this remarkable new theory.

"It's taken us 18 months' hard work to get all the elements for the dig in place."

Professor Wainwright added: "This small excavation of a bluestone is the culmination of six years of research which Tim and I have conducted in the Preseli Hills of North Pembrokeshire and which has shed new light on the eternal question as to why Stonehenge was built.

"The excavation will date the arrival of the bluestones following their 250km journey from Preseli to Salisbury Plain and contribute to our definition of the society which undertook such an ambitious project. We will be able to say not only why but when the first stone monument was built."

Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, commented: "Very occasionally, we have the opportunity to find out something new archeologically - we are at that moment now.

"We believe that this dig has a chance of genuinely unlocking part of the mystery of Stonehenge."

BBC Timewatch will follow the progress of the Stonehenge dig over the course of the next two weeks. Catch daily text and video reports on the programme's website. A BBC Two documentary will be broadcast in the autumn and will detail the findings of the investigation

[buckthesystem]

Aha: "Researchers believe these rocks, brought all the way from Wales, hold the secret to the real purpose of ...."

I suspected as much, it is all a plot by LPT to draw American tourists to UK.

You might have noticed that Stonehenge has that "unfinished" look, this is not because it was targeted by the IRA in 1972 as was rumoured, but is because LadyP was interrupted and scared off by Ted in a black helicopter (who was trying to get photographic evidence for the book that he is writing on the subject) when she was half way through arranging the stones.

LPT's original plan was to lay the stones out in the shape of a pick-up truck and then telephone the "Sun" newspaper and claim that she had sighted Elvis wandering amongst the stones muttering "now where did I leave that guitar? Then when the "Sun" printed the story, there would be several "copycat" "Elvis sightings. Then LPT would be able to profit from selling tickets as she had secretly bought the lease on the land.

I have heard it rumoured that LPT's plans have been found by MI5 (or is it MI6? - written on the back of a shopping list, and that is where the confusion lies, as MI5/6 are analysing it trying to find out the significance of the words "bread" and "catfood") and these plans call for the site to be named "Elvisland".

Go on! Deny it, LPT, but there is evidence ....

[hopper]

I've hopped among the earthworks, Trilithons, Station Stones, and Preseli bluestones of Stonehenge, before the parking lot, pedestrian tunnel, and bus terminal were erected, and before barricades were put around the monument to restrict public access. I have gathered much knowledge of LadyP and the Welsh and druidic designs for their Pembrokeshire compatriots. But the mysterious secrets and otherworldly catfood connections will not be divulged by me. Nosirree!

[ladypeartree]

at last ...a frog that knows when to keep quiet

[Gerioke]

I'll bet the cows know what's under stonehenge.

[~~ angelique ~~]

This is so kewl!!!! I'll have to follow the outcome of this

[Ovedya]

I'll bet that under Stonehenge.....They find another Stonehenge.

[EricH]

I'll bet that under Stonehenge.....They find another Stonehenge.

Or the secret vaults of Al Capone

[traveller]

Or Hoffa?

[mead]

I'll bet that under Stonehenge.....They find another Stonehenge.

Or the secret vaults of Al Capone

LOL.