<< Our Photo Pages >> Durrington Walls - Henge in England in Wiltshire

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 23 January 2025  Page Views: 46177

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Durrington Walls
Country: England County: Wiltshire Type: Henge
Nearest Town: Amesbury  Nearest Village: Durrington
Map Ref: SU15014375  Landranger Map Number: 184
Latitude: 51.192777N  Longitude: 1.786586W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 2 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by Bladup : Durrington Walls, The western side, Looking North, It's clear to see which sheep don't like the hot midsummer sun! (Vote or comment on this photo)
Best preserved on the north-east side, this great henge monument not far from Stonehenge measures 520m from north to south and 450m from east to west (the diameter of Avebury is 427m). The bank was originally 27m wide. The ditch was up to 42m wide and was 6m deep.

There were two entrances, one at the north-west and the other at the south-east just 60m from the River Avon. Excavations revealed traces of two timber circles similar to Woodhenge and now interpreted as buildings. Surely not defensive, was it residential or religious?

The A345 from Amesbury to Netheravon runs through the site. Park at Woodhenge. Discovery of a prehistoric ceremonial road sheds new light on the Wiltshire henges, including Stonehenge, see comment.

Page originally by Vicky Morgan

Previous news about Durrington:

A series of massive geophysical anomalies, located south of the Durrington Walls henge monument have been identified during a fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project. The diameter of the circuit of pits exceeds 2km, so potentially the biggest prehistoric monument in Europe. There seems to be evidence of mathematics being used to lay out the site, and a summer solstice alignment

Excavation shows the reported 'buried sarsens' are actually large pits which seem to have been for large posts - possibly from up to 300 mature trees. So more questions - where did these come from and how were they extracted so carefully by vertical lifting? See the latest comments on our page.

Researchers collected jaw and tooth samples from the remains of 131 Neolithic pigs; isotopes that hint at the animals' origins. See the latest comments on our page for much more.

See the comments on our page for a recent Society of Antiquaries talk by Professor Vincent Gaffney on The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project and the Durrington Walls Pits Circle

Note: Analysis of ancient poo shows the inhabitants of Durrington ate raw or undercooked freshwater fish and animal liver, lungs or intestines, more in the comments on this page
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Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by Bladup : Durrington Walls lidar image, You can see Woodhenge at the botom of the image (Vote or comment on this photo)

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by Bladup : Durrington Walls at Midwinter (Vote or comment on this photo)

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by Bladup : Durrington Walls (Vote or comment on this photo)

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by sem : It's ironic that just when I have nearly finished working on a 3D pic of Durrington Walls, Channel 5 comes out with a programme about it! Here's the nearly fished version without the surrounding pits. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Mega Pit Structure Paper Figure 24: Views from Larkhill causewayed enclosure (left), Pit 11D (centre) and pit 15D (right) towards the summer solstice sunrise and Sidbury Hill. The yellow arc represents the path of the Sun; the red arc represents the major lunar limit. Source: A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue55/4/

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Mega Pit Structure Paper Figure 23: Average pit distance to pits as a circular boundary and a simple cost surface generated from the centre of Durrington Walls and cropped at the Larkhill Causewayed enclosure © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 (OS Profile DTM Scale 1:10000); EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service (100025252) Source: A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated wi... (2 comments)

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Mega Pit Structure Paper Figure 22: Distance of feature from the boundary of Durrington Walls Source: A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue55/4/

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Mega Pit Structure Paper Figure 11: Vibracoring at 8A, looking north-east towards Durrington Walls Source: A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue55/4/

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Mega Pit Structure Paper Figure 8: Distribution of features over a composite Lidar and OS profile data derived digital surface model (shaded) with OS 10k overlay © Environment Agency copyright and database right 2019. All rights reserved. Lidar Composite DTM 2m resolution, Scale 1:8000 and 1m resolution, Scale 1:4000; © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 OS 1:10000 Scale and Profile DTM Ra...

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Mega Pit Structure Paper Figure 6: Features north of Durrington over Lidar-derived digital surface model (shaded) with OS 10k overlay © Environment Agency copyright and database right 2019. All rights reserved. Lidar Composite DTM 2m resolution, Scale 1:8000 and 1m resolution, Scale 1:4000; 2013 (OS Profile DTM Scale 1:10000); EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service (100025252) Source: A Massiv...

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Mega Pit Structure Paper Figure 3: Anomalies 1A–9A over Lidar-derived digital surface model (shaded) with OS 10k overlay © Environment Agency copyright and database right 2019. All rights reserved. Lidar Composite DTM 2m resolution, Scale 1:8000 and 1m resolution, Scale 1:4000; © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 OS 1:10000 Scale; EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service (100025252) So...

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Mike Parker Pearson and the excavation team celebrate reaching the base of the western pit / post hole Photo Credit: National Trust Abby George (1 comment)

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : The largest block of cob from the excavated pit held a final surprise. When it was lifted, sticking to its base were the remains of a substantial flint working scatter, and more lay beneath it. More at the Durrington Dig Diary Photo Credit: Durrington Dig Diary

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Computer graphic interpretation of Durrington Walls geophysical survey, after the proposed stones had been buried. Credit: Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project / Ludwig Boltzmann Institute (1 comment)

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Survey with Woodhenge (left), another timber circle and the ( then proposed) stone row overlaid. Credit: Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project / Ludwig Boltzmann Institute

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Close up of the 3D interpretation of the proposed stone row. (NOW OUT OF DATE - the geophysical anomalies turned out to be large pits, not stones, see the main page for more) Photo (dis)Credit: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : 3D CGI interpretation of the proposed stone row (now out of date - the geophysical anomalies turned out to be large pits, not stones, see the main page for more) Photo (dis)Credit: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by dodomad : Ground penetrating radar survey showing rows of large pits. The blue is where there is no survey data thanks to a hedge and a road (with thanks to Mike Pitts) Photo Credit: Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project / Ludwig Boltzmann Institute

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by coin : A man centre right for scale of the walls.

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by coin : NW bank

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by DrewParsons : Part of the site sign describing pottery finds here. April 2015.

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by DrewParsons : Artist's impression of the settlement site. April 2015

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by DrewParsons : Site sign describing the settlement here. April 2015 (2 comments)

Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls submitted by DrewParsons : Site sign showing the extent of the settlement. April 2015

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 177m SE 128° Durrington Walls South Circle* Timber Circle (SU1515043641)
 372m S 174° Woodhenge (Wiltshire)* Henge (SU15054338)
 459m S 169° Durrington 68 Timber Circle (SU151433)
 526m SW 221° Cuckoo Stone (Wiltshire)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SU1466443353)
 1.1km NW 305° Larkhill Causewayed Enclosure* Causewayed Enclosure (SU14084440)
 1.4km WSW 247° Amesbury Cursus (E)* Cursus (SU137432)
 1.5km ESE 118° Watergate Long Barrow* Long Barrow (SU1635643051)
 1.7km SW 236° Old King Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SU13604280)
 1.7km S 185° Blick Mead* Ancient Village or Settlement (SU1487242013)
 2.0km SW 222° The King Barrows Ridge* Barrow Cemetery (SU137423)
 2.0km SSE 156° Ratfyn Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU15834194)
 2.0km SSW 206° Amesbury 38 Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU14114192)
 2.1km SSW 192° Vespasian's Camp* Hillfort (SU14594173)
 2.2km SW 226° New King Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SU13454222)
 2.3km S 174° Amesbury History Centre* Museum (SU1526841462)
 2.4km E 95° Bulford Reconstructed Henges* Henge (SU1737243560)
 2.4km ESE 104° Bulford Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SU17364318)
 2.5km SSW 199° Bluestonehenge* Stone Circle (SU14204137)
 2.5km SW 227° Amesbury 39 Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU13154204)
 2.6km WSW 244° The Avenue* Ancient Trackway (SU12694262)
 2.6km WNW 284° Long Barrow alongside The Packway, Larkhill* Long Barrow (SU12474438)
 2.7km SW 217° Coneybury Henge* Henge (SU134416)
 2.7km NW 306° Knighton Down Long Barrow (SU12784535)
 2.7km WSW 255° Great Cursus W Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU1235143043)
 2.8km SSW 212° King Barrow (Amesbury)* Barrow Cemetery (SU13554137)
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Intestinal parasites in the Neolithic population who built Stonehenge by Andy B on Thursday, 23 January 2025
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Intestinal parasites in the Neolithic population who built Stonehenge (Durrington Walls, 2500 BCE)
Piers D. Mitchell, Evilena Anastasiou, Helen L. Whelton, Ian D. Bull, Mike Parker Pearson

Durrington Walls was a large Neolithic settlement in Britain dating around 2500 BCE, located very close to Stonehenge and likely to be the campsite where its builders lived during its main stage of construction. Nineteen coprolites (ancient poos) recovered from a midden and associated pits at Durrington Walls were analysed for intestinal parasite eggs using digital light microscopy.

Five (26%) contained helminth eggs, 1 with those of fish tapeworm (likely Dibothriocephalus dendriticus) and 4 with those of capillariid nematodes. Analyses of bile acid and sterol from these 5 coprolites show 1 to be of likely human origin and the other 4 to likely derive from dogs. The presence of fish tapeworm reveals that the Neolithic people who gathered to feast at Durrington Walls were at risk of infection from eating raw or undercooked freshwater fish.

When the eggs of capillariids are found in the feces of humans or dogs it normally indicates that the internal organs (liver, lung or intestines) of animals with capillariasis have been eaten, and eggs passed through the gut without causing disease. Their presence in multiple coprolites provides new evidence that internal organs of animals were consumed. These novel findings improve our understanding of both parasitic infection and dietary habits associated with this key Neolithic ceremonial site.

Open Access paper, read here:
www.cambridge.org/core/journals/parasitology/article/intestinal-parasites-in-the-neolithic-population-who-built-stonehenge-durrington-walls-2500-bce/DD77DA2B94FD3C482A466819CD50EFD7
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Durrington Walls Dig 2016: Refitting by Andy B on Saturday, 14 May 2022
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Jake Rowland writes: The 2016 excavations at Durrington Walls uncovered a series of knapping scatters which provided the opportunity to attempt to refit the excavated flakes. This was done to determine if the scatters were in situ and to understand the reduction strategies (production methods) employed by people in the late Neolithic.

The refitting group of 7 flakes (animated above) were refitted by myself and fellow student Roo Whittaker. The flakes were found in a small discreet lithic scatter measuring approximately 40 x 50 cm containing around 64 flakes. The sequence resulted from an episode of in situ core reduction during the construction of the henge bank at Durrington Walls.

https://facetsarchaeology.com/2016/12/23/durrington-walls-dig-2016-refitting/
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Video Talk by Professor Vincent Gaffney by Andy B on Thursday, 22 April 2021
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SAL Evening Lecture: The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project and the Durrington Walls Pits Circle by Professor Vincent Gaffney FSA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKeWSxAlhEc



Presented to the The Society of Antiquaries, London: http://www.sal.org.uk
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Durrington Walls surrounded by circle of deep shafts by Runemage on Monday, 22 June 2020
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A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge

Vincent Gaffney, Eamonn Baldwin, Martin Bates, C. Richard Bates, Christopher Gaffney, Derek Hamilton, Tim Kinnaird, Wolfgang Neubauer, Ronald Yorston, Robin Allaby, Henry Chapman, Paul Garwood, Klaus Löcker, Alois Hinterleitner, Tom Sparrow, Immo Trinks, Mario Wallner and Matt Leivers

A series of massive geophysical anomalies, located south of the Durrington Walls henge monument, were identified during fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (SHLP). Initially interpreted as dewponds, these data have been re-evaluated, along with information on similar features revealed by archaeological contractors undertaking survey and excavation to the north of the Durrington Walls henge. Analysis of the available data identified a total of 20 comparable features, which align within a series of arcs adjacent to Durrington Walls. Further geophysical survey, supported by mechanical coring, was undertaken on several geophysical anomalies to assess their nature, and to provide dating and environmental evidence. The results of fieldwork demonstrate that some of these features, at least, were massive, circular pits with a surface diameter of 20m or more and a depth of at least 5m. Struck flint and bone were recovered from primary silts and radiocarbon dating indicates a Late Neolithic date for the lower silts of one pit. The degree of similarity across the 20 features identified suggests that they could have formed part of a circuit of large pits around Durrington Walls, and this may also have incorporated the recently discovered Larkhill causewayed enclosure. The diameter of the circuit of pits exceeds 2km and there is some evidence that an intermittent, inner post alignment may have existed within the circuit of pits. One pit may provide evidence for a recut; suggesting that some of these features could have been maintained through to the Middle Bronze Age. Together, these features represent a unique group of features related to the henge at Durrington Walls, executed at a scale not previously recorded.
The full paper is open access here: https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue55/4/

BBC article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-53132567
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Ancient Pigs Had Long Journey Before Their Slaughter by bat400 on Tuesday, 19 March 2019
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From Live Science and Science Advances:

Countless piggies likely trotted hundreds of miles to Stonehenge and other ancient monuments during the Neolithic, where they were devoured during giant feasts.
Now, 2,800 years later, researchers have collected jaw and tooth samples from the remains of 131 of these Neolithic pigs; from the samples, they analyzed the isotopes that hint at the animals' origins.

The isotopic results suggest that some of the piggies traveled hundreds of miles, coming from ... modern-day Scotland, northeast England and western Wales. Indeed, the isotopic values had a "staggering range" and came from all over the United Kingdom, said study lead researcher Richard Madgwick (Cardiff University). If these pigs are a good proxy for the humans who ate them, then it's likely that Neolithic people also traveled hundreds of miles from all over Britain to attend annual, momentous feasts at these sacred sites, Madgwick said.

... While the pig remains weren't found right at Stonehenge, they were found close by, about 1.8 miles away at another henge known as Durrington Walls. Pigs were also on the menu at three other U.K. Neolithic sites, dating back about 2,800 to 2,400 years: Mount Pleasant, a henge enclosure near the coast by Dorset; West Kennet Palisade Enclosures, which has the world's largest prehistoric stone circles; and Marden, a henge encompassing 35 acres (14 hectares).

These pigs may help answer a long-standing question over who built and used Stonehenge. The local food and water an animal consumes contain unique isotopes, and these isotopes end up in the animal's bones and teeth. ...It's easier to tell where pigs came from than it is humans, Madgwick said. Human teeth develop slowly, and if the human moved around a lot, it can be hard to pinpoint where the person came from. In contrast, pigs are "not very mobile animals, and their teeth develop really rapidly," Madgwick said. So, Madgwick and his colleagues looked at five different isotopes in the 131 recovered pigs: Strontium gave a geological signal, sulfur gave clues related to coastal proximity, oxygen gave a climatic signal, and carbon and nitrogen gave dietary signals.

This was no small undertaking. "This is the largest published multi-isotopes study using five systems," Madgwick said. ...
The nuance of the study: "Unquestionably, the biggest risk in this study was, 'Are pigs a good proxy?'" Madgwick said. "Ask any pig farmer and they will tell you that even moving a pig a couple hundred yards is a challenge."
But several clues suggest that the pigs were moved from their birthplaces to the Neolithic monuments, where they were then slaughtered. For instance, many pig skulls — which are heavy and have little meat — were found at these Neolithic monuments. So, if people were merely transporting slaughtered pig meat, it wouldn't make sense for them to bring the skulls, too, Madgwick said.

Sites like Durrington Walls could have hosted as many as 4,000 people at one time, so clearly, there was a need for pork, come mealtime. It's possible that these people came to build Stonehenge and to celebrate rituals, such as the midwinter solstice. "So, they're working all day on the stones and partying all night on the pig feast," Madgwick said.

"For me, it confirmed people and animals were coming from all over the place to Stonehenge and to the surroundings of Stonehenge," said Christophe Snoeck, (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) [whose study] published in 2018, showing that some of the cremated people found buried at Stonehenge weren't locals.
"People moved around the landscape, they were not just restricted to the Stonehenge environment."

For the complete article, see https://www.livescience.com/64983-ancient-pig-feast-at-stonehenge.html
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    Video Talk: Feasts of Stonehenge, Investigating Mobility in Late Neolithic Britain. by Andy B on Friday, 18 October 2019
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    The Feasts of Stonehenge: Investigating Mobility in Late Neolithic Britain.
    Richard Madgwick, Cardiff University
    A talk filmed at the Society of Antiquaries in London



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppm26LgIXb8
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      Re: Video Talk: Feasts of Stonehenge, Investigating Mobility in Late Neolithic Britai by Andy B on Thursday, 22 April 2021
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      Where's this video gone - can anyone find it again?

      I've found another version given by Richard in Moscow in 2017:
      Dr Richard Madgwick,The Feasts of Stonehenge: Mobility and social relations in Neolithic Britain
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5MHEwMM93I

      Oh dear - he uses the term 'The very first Brexit' at 18:50mins in - weren't we were told this was a journalistic invention?

      Also a related talk:
      Time for a Feast? Considering approaches to the temporality of feasting in later prehistoric Britain - Richard Madgwick
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy2Hi0kf5ig
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    Re: Ancient Pigs Had Long Journey Before Their Slaughter by mountainman on Wednesday, 01 July 2020
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    The myth perpetrated in this article, and many like it, is slammed in the recent article by Barclay and Brophy:
    Gordon J. Barclay & Kenneth Brophy (2020): ‘A veritable chauvinism of prehistory’: nationalist prehistories and the ‘British’ late Neolithic mythos, Archaeological Journal, DOI: 10.1080/00665983.2020.1769399
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Was the ditch at Durrington Walls dug with copper axes? by Andy B on Wednesday, 27 February 2019
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It has been suggested that the creation of the ditch at Durrington Walls was, given the lack of flint axe fragments and impressions in chalk blocks, at least partly undertaken with copper axes, increasing the potential linkage between such enclosures and metals in the 25th century cal BC (Parker Pearson (2011, 59), although this remains a contentious interpretation.

The carvings of 110 bronze axes and four bronze daggers on stones 3, 4 and 5 on the east side of the sarsen circle at Stonehenge also indicate a connection between such monuments and metals, with the Stonehenge examples stylistically dated to the latter part of the Early Bronze Age c.1750–1500 cal BC (Parker Pearson et al. 2015, 123), and this may represent a long-lived association. In Ireland there is also a direct association between older ceremonial monuments and metalworking; on the land surface next to the Neolithic passage tomb at Newgrange, which has been broadly dated to around 2000 cal BC, there are Beaker period metalworking stone tools and a bronze flat axe (O'Kelly and Shell 1979).

If the metal tools themselves were literally creating at least some enclosures or being used to create features within the enclosures (e.g. stone hole settings), is it possible that metal artefacts were created or recast (reborn?) within the enclosures? The novelty and theatre of such a transforming event associated with the making, using or remaking of a symbolically important metal object might have become a significant part of the enclosure function.

Such monumental complexes have been argued to embody the transformation of individuals between the realms of the living and the dead (Parker Pearson et al. 2015), but maybe the process of transformation associated with such enclosures was not confined solely to people, but also applied to metals (and possibly other materials)?

The performance of working metals, deeply invested within a ritualised routine to ensure the successful transformation of material from one form to another, could well have been undertaken in areas viewed as containing special powers or good omens, such as henges and other enclosure monuments. Younger (2017) draws attention to the transformative effects of fire and its association with henge sites, and it is possible that these transformative effects extend to the later working of metals within henges. Whilst the linkages described above are suggestive, there is currently no direct evidence for the making or remaking of metal artefacts within henges, although such ideas could be tested through the application of targeted geochemistry.

More here:
http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue52/4/6.html

Source:
The social organisation of metalworking in southern England during the Beaker period and Bronze Age: absence of evidence or evidence of absence?
Chris Carey, Andy M. Jones, Michael J Allen and Gill Juleff
https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.52.4
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    Re: Was the ditch at Durrington Walls dug with copper axes? by Andy B on Wednesday, 27 February 2019
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    The social organisation of metalworking in southern England during the Beaker period and Bronze Age: absence of evidence or evidence of absence?
    Chris Carey, Andy M. Jones, Michael J Allen and Gill Juleff

    This article attempts to consider the social dimensions of metalworking during the Beaker period and Bronze Age in southern England. However, any attempt to discuss the social context of metalworking in these periods, i.e. who was working metals and where these activities occurred, is confronted with an extremely low evidence base of excavated archaeological sites where metalworking is known to have taken place.

    This lack of data and subsequent understanding of metalworking locations stands in stark contrast to the thousands of Beaker and Bronze Age metal artefacts housed in museum archives across Britain. These metal artefacts bear witness to the ability of people in Beaker and Bronze Age societies in Britain, and particularly southern England, to obtain, transform and use metals since the introduction of copper at c.2450 BC. Such metal artefacts have been subject to detailed analytical programmes, which have revealed information on the supply and recycling of metals.

    Likewise, there have also been significant advances in our understanding of the prehistoric mining of metals across the British Isles, with Beaker and Bronze Age mines identified in locations such as Ross Island (Ireland), the Great Orme (UK) and Alderley Edge (UK). Consequently, there is detailed archaeological knowledge about the two ends of the metalworking spectrum: the obtaining of the metal ores from the ground and the finished artefacts. However, the evidence for who was working metals and where is almost completely lacking.

    This article discusses the archaeological evidence of the location of metalworking areas in these periods and dissects the reasons why so few have been found within archaeological excavation, with the evidence for early metallurgy likely to be slight and ambiguous, and possibly not identifiable as metalworking remains during excavation. Suggestions are made as to where such metalworking activities could have taken place in the Beaker period and Bronze Age, and what techniques can be applied to discover some of this evidence of metalworking activity, to allow access to the social dimensions of early metalworking and metalworkers.
    https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.52.4
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Durrington walls and the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project 2010–2016 - Open Access by Andy B on Tuesday, 11 September 2018
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Durrington walls and the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project 2010–2016
Vincent Gaffney, Wolfgang Neubauer, Paul Garwood, Christopher Gaffney, Klaus Löcker, Richard Bates, Phillipe De Smedt, Eamonn Baldwin, Henry Chapman, Alois Hinterleitner, Mario Wallner, Erich Nau, Roland Filzwieser, Jakob Kainz, Tanja Trausmuth, Petra Schneidhofer, Georg Zotti, Agatha Lugmayer, Immo Trinks, Alexander Corkum

First published: 15 August 2018
https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1707

Since 2010 the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (SHLP) has undertaken extensive archaeological prospection across much of the landscape surrounding Stonehenge. These remote sensing and geophysical surveys have revealed a significant number of new sites and landscape features whilst providing new information on many previously known monuments. The project goal to integrate multimethod mapping over large areas of the landscape has also provided opportunities to re‐interpret the landscape context of individual monuments and, in the case of the major henge at Durrington Walls, to generate novel insights into the structure and sequence of a monument which has attracted considerable research attention over many decades. This article outlines the recent work of the SHLP and the results of the survey at Durrington Walls that shed new light on this enigmatic monument including a site ‘hidden’ within the monument.

Open Access:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/arp.1707


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Pastscape by Andy B on Sunday, 03 September 2017
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Pastscape:
http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=219364
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Durrington Walls: the start of Britain’s Copper Age? by Andy B on Friday, 21 July 2017
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Mike Parker Pearson writes: ...another unusual discovery was of tool marks in the chalk sides of the two postholes. These were best preserved in the larger of the two postholes, and a 3D representation using image-based modelling shows them very clearly. They appear to have been made by a wide, curved blade, mounted in an adze-like manner and brought downwards against the side of the pit. The tool marks indicate that the blade was at least 10 cm across. It was also relatively thin, able to cut into the chalk beneath a slight overhang where a fatter blade could not have been swung.

It seems unlikely that these marks were produced by a flint or stone adze or axe; perhaps this is evidence for use of a copper axehead mounted as an adze.

Since the building of the henge bank was completed by 2480–2450 cal BC ( 95% probability), it is 95.7% probable that this was anywhere up to a century before the first Beaker burials in 2475–2360 cal BC (95% probability), from which we have Britain’s earliest copper artefacts.

This raises the possibility that copper artefacts, or even metallurgy, were introduced from continental Europe before the arrival of the Beaker inhumation rite.

More in PAST from the Prehistoric Society - page 3:
http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/files/PAST_86_for_web.pdf
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    The Durrington Postholes in 3D from photogrammetry by Adam Stanford on Wednesday, 26 July 2017
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    View the Postholes in 3D from my photogrammetry here:
    skfb.ly/RYDy
    The tool marks are numbered 1 to 3
    Durrington Walls 2016 - Posthole 008 - textured.
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Re: Ancient structure rises again at Woodhenge/Durrington Walls! by Anonymous on Thursday, 01 September 2016
Durrington Walls c.2300 BC is viewed as a successor to and equally significant in its own way as Stonehenge and Avebury c.2500 BC. The numbers and disposition of the DW southern circular building timber posts enabled a tally to be kept of the Sun and Moon calendars, total eclipse cycle of the Moon, as at Stonehenge. The perimeter of the Walls ditch edge has a linear measure equal to Avebury’s ditch edge seventeen furlangs (17 x 68.4 metres), a value symbolically indicative of ‘half way to heaven’, thirty three having the sense of heavenly, the Otherworld.



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Re: Ancient structure rises again at Woodhenge/Durrington Walls! by Anonymous on Saturday, 13 August 2016
'Superhenge' in the Stonehenge Landscape: The Durrington Walls Archaeological Dig 2016 - In this Megalithomania video Hugh Newman interviews archaeologists Mike Parker Pearson and Julian Richards and discusses the dig with archaeoastronomer Simon Banton. Watch video here
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Completion of Durrington Dig and web diary for 2016 by Andy B on Thursday, 11 August 2016
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Dr Nick Snashall writes: The last two weeks have flown by and we can’t believe the final day of digging is here. There is almost always a sense of frenetic urgency on site towards the end of a dig – making sure all the boxes are ticked, everything is in order, photographed (especially in this case with the photogrammetry), drawn and meticulously recorded . And in this case putting on our ‘camera-best’ for Countryfile who were here filming at the excavation… watch this space.

Throughout the last fortnight there have been scores of visitors every day, perhaps brought here by our blog or simply passing by and noticing us, local people interested in what’s happening in their ‘back garden’, people who have followed this Durrington story for months, or people tracking down the Pokémon Gym at Woodhenge. No matter who you are it’s been wonderful seeing all of the fascination with what we’re up to.

What the team has discovered in the last couple of weeks is a new, previously unidentified Late Neolithic phase here at Durrington Walls – the beginnings of a great timber circle that curved around where the henge bank would later be constructed.

There is still a lot to discuss, investigate and hypothesise, among which is:
* the completion, or not, of the timber circle
* if the posts were lifted vertically how they did this, and why?
* the dating of raising and dismantling these posts (we await radiocarbon dates for the very handy antler in the posthole fill and the scapula at the bottom of the posthole for this)
* the idea that a decision was made to replace the timber circle (complete or not) with a great henge monument
* what happened to the timber posts after they were removed?

An interesting discovery that came later this afternoon was a series of concentric rings at the base of the easternmost post hole. Discussion flourished over the cause of these, but one thought is that rotating the post in the posthole breaks the vacuum and enables the post to be lifted out vertically in the first place.

More at
https://ntarchaeostonehengeaveburywhs.wordpress.com/2016/08/
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    The anomolies found last year are large pits with posts, not standing stones by Andy B on Thursday, 11 August 2016
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    10th August: the excavation of the two main post pits continued today and at last we’ve managed to reach the bottom, much to everyone’s relief as we only have one more day of digging time left.

    In one of our pits at the very base of the post void we found an animal scapular (shoulder blade), probably used as a shovel. This must have been placed here after the timber post was removed but before the pit was filled in (otherwise it would have been crushed by the timber as it thudded into place).

    We know that a deposit of animal bone together with a small lump of sarsen stone had also been placed in a small pit cut into the ramp belonging to the western post pit. And in the ramp fill of the other post pit, there was a similar deposit, this time in the form of animal bone accompanied by a lump of iron pyrites. All of these deposits seem to have been deliberately placed here, presumably as some form of votive deposit or offering.
    pit bottom

    We’re now pretty certain that our post pits did contain posts. But there are still some puzzling questions. Firstly, where did the timbers come from? If there were timbers in all of the anomalies showing in the Ground Penetrating Radar survey beneath the bank then there could have been as many as 300 mature, very straight trees to be harvested. The Stonehenge landscape is not thought to have been heavily wooded during the Later Neolithic when the posts were erected– so where did they come from and how did they get here?

    Secondly, the timber posts seem to have been removed by vertically lifting, not rocked and pulled over before being removed, so how exactly did they manage this and why? It’s possible that the careful extraction of the posts may have been to allow their reuse when the Southern Timber Circle was reworked into its later form.

    The very good news is that because we have the antler pick from the packing material for the eastern post hole (so from the time when the post was put up), and the scapula from the bottom of the post hole from when the timber was removed, we should be able to obtain radio carbon dates for the construction and dismantling of the timbers.

    More at
    https://ntarchaeostonehengeaveburywhs.wordpress.com/2016/08/10/durrington-dig-10th-august-2016/
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    Large chalk cob blocks found in Durrington pits: possibly evidence of Neolithic house by Andy B on Thursday, 11 August 2016
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    5th August: We know from the Ground Penetrating Radar survey that discovered the two large anomalies in the trench (our pits) that there is another much, much smaller anomaly lying beneath one edge of our pile. So we want to know what this is and how it relates to our pits. We don’t have the answer yet but we’ve been working our way through the pile and in the next couple of days we hope to have the solution.

    Where did it come from? Well its hard to be totally sure just yet but there’s some blocky chalky material in it which may have come from pit digging.

    But our pile holds many secrets and possibly the biggest surprise was the large lumps of chalk cob that we’ve found close to its base. This material is similar to that which Mike (Parker Pearson) found when he and the Stonehenge Riverside team were excavating the Neolithic house. Around the base of house 851 and also its outhouse there was a ‘collar’ or foundation layer of chalk cob at the bottom of the walls. Its a traditional building material used for making walls that you’ll see across Wiltshire even today.

    But what is it doing at the bottom of our pile? At the moment the working theory is that it may have come from a house that was sitting on what was due to become the henge ditch which was demolished to make way for the henge and some of the material dumped here.

    More at
    https://ntarchaeostonehengeaveburywhs.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/durrington-dig-2016-friday-5-august/
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New excavation at Durrington Walls by Andy B on Tuesday, 05 July 2016
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francisbacon80 writes: Apparently a small team will be digging at Durrington Walls this summer to find out whether there are really any buried sarsens. On the basis of geophysics results, Prof Vince Gaffney's and the Austrians' "Hidden Landscapes" project announced that there are huge buried sarsens around the henge

Apparently Profs Parker Pearson, Richards, Thomas and Pollard think he really shouldn't have said that as the Hidden Landscapes team has interpreted the geophysics wrongly, although they haven't contradicted him in public. So they're all going together to find out who's right. The National Trust blog will be covering the results.
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    Re: New excavation at Durrington Walls by Andy B on Friday, 12 August 2016
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    How right you (and they) were francisbacon80 - thanks for the advance info!
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Huge ritual arena discovered near Stonehenge by davidmorgan on Monday, 07 September 2015
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Researchers find hidden remains of massive Neolithic stone monument, thought to have been hauled into position more than 4,500 years ago.

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a massive stone monument buried under a thick, grassy bank only two miles from Stonehenge.

The hidden arrangement of up to 90 huge standing stones formed part of a C-shaped Neolithic arena that bordered a dry valley and faced directly towards the river Avon.

Researchers used ground-penetrating radar to image about 30 intact stones measuring up to 4.5m tall. The fragments of 60 more buried stones, or the massive foundation pits in which they stood, reveal the full extent of the monument.

“What we are starting to see is the largest surviving stone monument, preserved underneath a bank, that has ever been discovered in Britain and possibly in Europe,” said Vince Gaffney, an archaeologist at Bradford University who leads the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape project. “This is archaeology on steroids.”

Read more at The Guardian
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Durrington Walls to Stonehenge... and back again! Walk on Saturday, 26 July 2014 by Andy B on Monday, 02 June 2014
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Durrington Walls to Stonehenge... and back again! Saturday, 26 July 2014

Imagine yourself walking in the footsteps of Neolithic revellers...

Explore the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and especially the close connections between the two great henge monuments of Durrington Walls and Stonehenge. Your guide will take you on a circuit of around 6 miles over the downs, also exploring some of the less visited monuments that together form the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.

More Information: Estate Office, 01980 664780, [email protected]

Saturday, 26 July 2014 10:30 am - 4:30 pm Adult £7.50
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Discover Durrington Walls, June, July, August, September 2014 by Andy B on Monday, 02 June 2014
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Discover Durrington Walls, June, July, August, September 2014

Ever wondered where the builders of Stonehenge lived? Join our landscape guides to explore the secrets of Durrington Walls ' once home to the builders of Stonehenge - and discover 6,000 years of hidden history (2.5 - 3 mile walk).

More Information: Estate Office, 01980 664780, [email protected]

Saturday, 14 June 2014 1:30 pm - 4pm Adult £5

Saturday, 12 July 2014 1:30 pm - 4pm Adult £5

Saturday, 09 August 2014 1:30 pm - 4pm Adult £5

Saturday, 06 September 2014 1:30 pm - 4pm Adult £5

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/whats-on/find-an-event/?uuid=72fee9a5-1daa-4d58-9c04-ffc4d4959199
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Re: Durrington Walls by Estrela on Saturday, 07 September 2013
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Disappointingly there is no information board about Durrington Walls. People in the local area did not seem to know anything about it, and we assume it is on private or MOD land. We think we saw the bank to the north of Woodhenge, continuing on the far side of the A345. Unlike the Avebury guidebook, the Stonehenge guide does not indicate which sites ar accessible and which are not.
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Historical sites and roads by Anonymous on Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Could someone please explain to me the British obsession with building roads right through the center of archeological sites? Especially when it could be easily avoided such as in the case of Stonehenge and Durrington Walls.
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    Re: Historical sites and roads by Anonymous on Wednesday, 25 April 2012
    A large part of the basis of the road network in Britain is many hundreds of years old, over time the roads have been upgraded to what we have today. Most roads have appeared out of necessity, it is only i relatively modern times that there has been concern for archaeological sites. Sites like Stonehenge and the earthworks at Durrington Walls are examples of archaeological sites that are visible and recogisable in the landscape. The truth is beyond what is visible - lying beneath the ground, Britain is one huge archaeological site there are very few areas untouched by man in the last 10,000 years (and beyond).
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      Re: Historical sites and roads by Martin_L on Wednesday, 25 April 2012
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      Indeed. And this also applies to most other areas in the world.
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Street View by coldrum on Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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View Larger Map
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Re: Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by Anonymous on Wednesday, 06 June 2007
What's with the BP and not BC? Just a colonist trying to shape you'all up! Regards from the California High Desert Area, 70 miles North of that mess in L.A.
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    Re: Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by Estrela on Sunday, 06 August 2017
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    "Before Present (BP) years is a time scale used mainly in geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred in the past. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use 1 January 1950 as the commencement date of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon dating became practical in the 1950s."
    Wikipedia
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Re: Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by AngieLake on Thursday, 08 February 2007
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Just checked out Sheffield University's archaeology dept's website under 'Stonehenge Riverside Project' and its pages have now been updated to show all the latest news. Better still, there's a link to a National Geographic website video of Mike Parker Pearson talking about their recent discoveries.
(Have emailed Andy B with a link to this, as I don't know how to do this myself.)
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Re: Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by AngieLake on Tuesday, 06 February 2007
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Did anyone see Prof. Mike Parker Pearson and a colleague (sorry, forgotten his name, but a Roman expert on Time Team usually), talking about the new settlement they've found at Durrington Walls on 'Richard and Judy' this afternoon - Tuesday, 6th February, Channel 4, 5.00 - 6.00pm?
Luckily, I switched on early in the interview and managed to video some of the reconstruction images, which were very interesting. It showed how Stonehenge and 'Woodhenge' would have looked in their setting. (I wasn't sure if they meant the actual 'Woodhenge' or the wooden post construction whose post-holes were uncovered at Durrington Walls.) Stonehenge looked a bit closer than it actually is. Also there was an image of how the huts would have looked - a rectangular building with wattle and daub walls (restored seasonally), surrounded by a circular wooden fence.
The route between the settlement and Stonehenge was discussed, including the movement along The Avenue. Mike PP also mentioned the vertical cliff above the river at the Durrington Walls end, saying they dropped off it into the river.
(I wonder if it was possible that the Avon was higher in those days, and nearer to the top of the 'cliff', thus making it easier to embark onto a craft of some sort??)
When supposed to be showing the new 'avenue' at Durrington, and presumably the Stonehenge Avenue, they discovered a pic of the Cursus came up instead, but fortunately Judy realised this and said, 'No, that's wrong, it's the Cursus.' Well done, Judy!
Early in the interview they were handling a bone with an arrow hole in it. Mike PP related how the domestic animals would have been shot with arrows for sport, before being cooked and eaten in the feasts. (See Dennis Price's article on Eternal Idol for his opinions on this.)
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Re: Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by AngieLake on Sunday, 04 February 2007
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I've only just picked up Francis Pryor's book 'Britain BC' where he also comments on this river/Avenue link:
"Mike [Parker-Pearson] and Ramilisonina see the Avenue as a symbolic dryland continuation of the river (which may help explain its two changes of direction). We may imagine funeral parties leaving Durrington Walls or Woodhenge, possibly taking a boat along the river and then passing along the Avenue through no man's land to the Stones within their circle at the very heart of the realm of the ancestors."
I hadn't read this when I formed my own theory about the Henge/River/Avenue/Stonehenge link, but as I said at the time:
"I must be the millionth person who's thought of this!"
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Re: Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by Condros on Wednesday, 31 January 2007
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If the radiocarbon dates came back as the Iron Age settlement, as 2,500 BP, how can anyone claim it as Neolithic ??? I'm in a quandry, as than we are discussing an age just before Roman incursions, or did I read it wrong ???
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    Re: Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by Condros on Wednesday, 31 January 2007
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    YIKES !!!! I read it wrong, 2,600 BC, SORRY !!!!!!!!!!!!
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Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by Andy B on Tuesday, 30 January 2007
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Archaeologists have unearthed remains of a huge ancient settlement that they believe housed the hundreds of construction workers needed to build nearby Stonehenge.

Piles of animal bones found at the Neolithic village in Wiltshire, the largest of its kind ever found in Britain, suggest it was also the place to go for a lavish feast, featuring spit-roast pork and beef.

"We’re talking Britain’s first free festival. It’s part of attracting a labour force – throwing a big party," Professor Mike Parker Pearson, of the University of Sheffield, lead archaeologist, told Times Online.

He said that the village’s Neolithic inhabitants – who he believes are likely to be among the ancestors of modern Britons – were not primitive "cave men".

They were well-dressed in "smarter than you'd imagine" leather clothing and capable of enormous feats of engineering – notably the transport of the huge stones of Stonehenge 240 miles from Wales's Preseli Mountains to Salisbury Plain.

The excavations have unearthed hundreds of well-preserved houses with imprints of beds and wooden dressers still present on the clay floors.

More in The Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2575005,00.html

also
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11067-ancient-housing-settlement-discovered-near-stonehenge.html
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    Re: Stonehenge 'party village' unearthed in Wiltshire by AngieLake on Wednesday, 31 January 2007
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    See my comments on 29th November 2005.
    At the time I wrote to Mike Parker Pearson with my idea about transferring the ashes of the ancestors from Durrington Walls by some kind of vessel down the Avon to the Avenue after the sunrise ceremony, then carrying them to Stonehenge in time for Winter Solstice Sunset - and wouldn't that make a great reconstruction film by someone... perhaps Time Team.
    He replied that they may well be interested in that idea.
    Perhaps they really WILL now?!
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    Re: Stonehenge 'party village' Pig feasting ritual? by AngieLake on Monday, 01 August 2011
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    Further to the discovery here of remains of huge feasts of young pigs killed around Winter Solstice:

    "Midwinter Pigs
    by Iacob Stirbu, Indiana USA. [Archaeology Magazine. July/Aug.2011, p.11, 'Letters'.]

    "The discovery of quantities of barbecued juvenile pig bones near Stonehenge reminds me of an old rural custom in Romania where I was born and lived most of my life: 'Ignatul porcilor'. It is a sort of ritual sacrifice of the pigs on Dec 20. The pigs are those born in spring, and most of the farmers buy one around Easter.
    The name Ignat has something to do with Agni or Igni, because after the pig is killed it has to be cleaned through fire. It is burnt until all his hair is gone and the superficial layer of skin removed.
    I also remember that my parents were looking to the shape of some organs to predict the year to come.
    At the end of the day you have to give part of the meat as charity to people in need that live around you."
    [End of quote].

    I found the part about the augury from the entrails interesting. It sounded as if it might have been the sort of scenario enacted at Durrington Walls during the building of Stonehenge.
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Re: Ancient structure rises again at Woodhenge/Durrington Walls! by Andy B on Monday, 11 September 2006
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We have more on the Stonehenge Riverside project here:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146412603
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Re: Ancient structure rises again at Woodhenge/Durrington Walls! by Anonymous on Monday, 05 December 2005
Available for download on UKNova for all you torrentgeeks :)

Don't forget - this cannot be a purely educational program - it has to be entertainign too, so don't give TT too hard a time !!

My one question has also been raised - where was Woodhenge in all this ?

Hopefully as the dig progresses TT will revisit and update us on it, with hopefully more conclusions and less speculation.
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Re: Ancient structure rises again at Woodhenge/Durrington Walls! by sem on Wednesday, 30 November 2005
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Maybe I missed something in this programme but at no point did I hear evidence for the holes being used for posts. Also I did miss the radio carbon dating due to one of my moggies coming in with a freshly killed rat (the body was still warm - ugh).
One advantage of living in Wales though is that it will be repeated on S4C - probably at 2am on a Thursday morning.
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Re: Ancient structure rises again at Woodhenge/Durrington Walls! by Thorgrim on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
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Brilliant! Timeteam should take us more to proper digs and forget the 3 day rushed jobs. Just think how many people would have been needed to build Durrington Walls. How were they all fed and housed? Why was no mention made of Woodhenge? How could the archaeologists link Durrington with Stonehenge and fail to include Woodhenge which is on a hillside OVERLOOKING Durrington?
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Re: Ancient structure rises again at Woodhenge/Durrington Walls! by Andy B on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
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Not forgetting the TT's own pages, just up: http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/2005_durr.html
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Re: Stonehenge Riverside project by AngieLake on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
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'Durrington Walls' is the heading I'd hoped would attach itself to my thoughts on last night's Channel 4 Time Team Special programme, but it came up with 'Stonehenge Riverside Project' for some reason. Never mind.

Just musing on the symbolism of those ideas I had, *IF* they were viable, for that day-long ceremony:

The Midwinter Solstice sunrise at Durrington Walls recalled the Birth of the dead ancestors and the lightness of their most youthful years,

The trip down the waters of the river Avon represented the winding passage of their Lives,

Then the procession to Stonehenge via The Avenue (a long walk full of anticipation, with a grand final approach) reflected their acquisition of Respect and Reverence as they journeyed to the End of Life

Culminating in the celebration of their Joining with the Spirits of the Otherworld at the awesome monument of Stonehenge, when their ashes were scattered in its circle as the sun set on Midwinter Solstice.

I must be the millionth person who's thought of this!
;-)
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    Re: Stonehenge Riverside project by Anonymous on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
    Angie, I loved the programme last night, but I was surprised no-one on the show mentioned the sunrise at Durrington Walls/sunset at Stonehenge thing. So I went looking on the net to see if anyone else had the same thought, and here you are!

    After all the speculation about pig feasts and so forth, it does seem an obvious step to suppose that everyone went from watching the sun come up at the one monument to watching the sun come down at the other. I've long supported the midwinter interpretation of Stonehenge's alignment precisely because we have a great big blow-out at Christmas (and pretty much everyone in the high northern latitudes does the same at this time of year), but we have no such party in midsummer.

    --derek
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      Re: Stonehenge Riverside project by AngieLake on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
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      Thanks Derek - I was beginning to think I'd made a big mistake, and it had been mentioned in the prog!
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      Re: Stonehenge Riverside project by Thorgrim on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
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      I agree entirely - midwinter was the important festival. The idea being to halt the decline of the sun and to bring it back higher in the sky and to lengthen the days. Midwinter marked the turning point. It was mentioned very briefly on the programme. Makes me laugh when I see all those people cavorting at Stonehenge to welcome the mid-summer sun. Guess they wouldn't be so keen to go there for a cold midwinter sunset party!.
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    Re: Stonehenge Riverside project by AngieLake on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
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    If anyone thinks this is a viable proposition, maybe it isn't too late for Time Team to get organised to do a 'mock-ceremony' along these lines on this Midwinter Solstice - 21st December 2005?? Perhaps we should suggest it to the producer? It would make great television!
    (Failing that - Trinny and Susannah - 'What Not to Wear' - could do a makeover on Mick and Phil ......? Aaawww, only kidding, I love them like they are - they're their own people! You've got to admire their style.)
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    Re: Stonehenge Riverside project by Anonymous on Wednesday, 30 November 2005
    Excellent programme and an amazing place. I like the Sunset at Durrington and sunrise at Stonehenge thing - it feels right. It would be the way I would do it if I was in charge of the event! If only English Heritage were letting people visit Stonehenge on Winter Solstice. Sadly I cannot now follow in my ancestors (proposed) footsteps as someone with a clipboard has decreed that it is not acceptable. I find it hard to accept strangers deciding when and where I can celebrate the wheel of life and give thanks for the year. Some people have the magic and some do not. Those with the magic are always smiling inside. So another Winter Solstice at the Nine Ladies beckons. Gazing at Saturn and Mars and willing the sun up in the morning, tears of joy in my eyes, surrounded by my ancient friends, wrapped up warm, connected completely to the earth and in total awe of the Sun. The wheel has nearly turned and Ra is soon to return . . .

    Also note on Stonehenge visiting - they are not opening the monument between 19-28 Dec 05 according to the website. Also did you know you can go on special private 1 hour visits to the henge (that you must book) early in the morning or late at night. They let you get around the stones and it is the only time you could be alone there . . .
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Re: Durrington Walls by Anonymous on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
What a great program !!!

It put Channel 5's pathetic half-hearted effort at midsummer into perspective.

Just a shame that they couldn't leave the posts standing. It would be a nice addition and an insight to have something like this erected and made permanent.

Wonder how much it would cost ?
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Re: Stonehenge Riverside project by AngieLake on Tuesday, 29 November 2005
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I found last night's programme very interesting, especially the finding of the avenue, and the reconstruction of the timber circles. It gives us a better idea of that feature's awesome-ness to the people who gathered there. Hearing different opinions on how the huge posts might have been decorated also brought it to life. Best of all is the modern technology that creates virtual reality re-construction of these places. If only we'd had this kind of history teaching when I was at school! (Left in '62).

I envied those guys travelling down the Avon in their barge, too - what a great way to explore the area. I don't recall them picking up the link with The Avenue that connects with Stonehenge by landing on the river bank further downstream, and walking up that way towards it. Though Professor Pearson was probably right in his theories, they seemed slightly disjointed when the ashes of the dead were tipped into the river near Durrington Walls to float down to Stonehenge, knowing they'd just sweep past it, at some distance away, after negotiating two large bends in the river.

Surely it would make more sense if they all went by boat down the Avon, after their Durrington Walls celebration, then disembarked close to the end of The Avenue, and walked up to Stonehenge, where they then dispersed the ashes in the circle? Or maybe there was just one boat, occupied by a priest and his assistants, who took this trip with the remains of the ancestors?

It's just occurred to me that if they were celebrating the Midwinter Solstice sunrise at Durrington Walls henge, it would be possible to see that there, then travel by boat downstream to finish the journey on foot up The Avenue to Stonehenge in plenty of time for the sunset the same evening. Many people think this was what Stonehenge was created for, and on that day, perhaps it was the 'grand final' of the ancestors' dedication ceremony??

Must visit next time I'm up that way, and maybe dowse the place for ritual movement.
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Stonehenge Riverside project by Andy B on Friday, 21 October 2005
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For more on the Stonehenge Riverside project see
http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/research/stonehenge
and
http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/subjectareas/archaeology/research/stonehenge/
also
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/past/past45.html#Durrington
and
http://www.this-is-amesbury.co.uk/pdf/stonehenge-riverside-project.pdf
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Digging up Stonehenge's hidden secrets by Andy B on Friday, 21 October 2005
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A team of archaeologists from five UK universities (Sheffield, Manchester, Bournemouth, Bristol and UCL) have overturned conventional understanding of Stonehenge after discovering a prehistoric ceremonial road. The newly discovered avenue, excavated this summer, links Britain´s largest henge at Durrington Walls to the River Avon just 3 miles from Stonehenge.

The new find supports the team´s theory that Stonehenge was just one part of a much larger complex of stone and timber circles linked by ceremonial avenues to the river. New radiocarbon dates from Durrington Walls indicate that this henge was in use at the same time as the sarsen stones were erected at Stonehenge.

The newly-discovered roadway, with its rammed flint surface, is wider than most modern roads and more substantial than any other Neolithic track in Europe. It runs for approximately 100 metres from the timber circle within the great henge to the river. Careful analysis has shown that the avenue was heavily trampled by prehistoric feet, and archaeologists have unearthed numerous finds along its edge including houses, pottery, and ancient rubbish tips.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson, from the University of Sheffield´s Department of Archaeology, believes that Stonehenge and Durrington Walls (together with its adjacent site of Woodhenge) were linked by the river to form a single complex. He has suggested that the entire complex was a funerary monument to the prehistoric dead. According to this theory, the stones at Stonehenge commemorate ancestors who had left the transitory world of the living, which is symbolised in wood at Durrington Walls and Woodhenge.

Professor Pearson said: "The discoveries will have a major impact on archaeologists´ understanding of this landscape and they demonstrate how little is still known about the archaeological remains of this World Heritage Site."

The Stonehenge Riverside Project is managed by Professors Pearson, Thomas and Tilley, and Drs Pollard, Richards and Welham.

This years´ research has been funded by the British Academy, the Royal Archaeological Institute, the MacDonald Institute and English Heritage.

The work has been filmed for a Channel 4 Time Team special, to be screened next year.

Source: University of Sheffield
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Ancient structure rises again at Woodhenge/Durrington Walls! by Anonymous on Friday, 09 September 2005
A film company is recreating one of the two timber structures found inside Durrington Walls some distance from the original site. The replica is to the original scale and comprises enormous 65 ft plus pine logs. The project is part of a TV programme to be shown towards the end of the year.
The replica gives some sense of the assumed massive scale of the original. Were the originals carved or painted, and did they support something else? Who knows?

Once filming is complete the construction will be dismantled (sadly).
http://www.heritageaction.org/?page=theheritagejournal&switch=singlepage&entry=entry050908-121825
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