A historic site in Cornwall linked to King Arthur has been found to be up to five times older than previously thought after a new survey was carried out.
Historic England said the findings of the dig at King Arthur's Hall, on Bodmin Moor, were the first to confirm the site dated back to prehistoric times.
The monument was previously listed as dating back to the medieval period but it is now believed to date back 4,000 years earlier to the Neolithic period by a group of specialists from UK universities.
Historic England said there had been speculation the site dated back to pre-historic times because of its standing stones, but the new survey was the first to confirm this.
Researchers working on behalf of the Cornwall Archaeological Unit (CAU) were joined by volunteers for the dig, which began in 2022.
Samples taken from the monument, including pollen, insects and parasite eggs, were radiocarbon dated, Historic England said.
The results were combined with other dating techniques, such as Optically Stimulated Luminescence, to give a date of between 5,500 and 5,000 years ago.
Read more at BBC News:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3mrryzr15o
However there is a major injustice here - amongst all the professionsl blowing their own trumpets there is no mention of the amateur researchers who kicked off this project and convinced HE that funding should be made available for the dig and dating - see Roy Goutte's article from 2014 here:
web.archive.org/web/20160910082324/https://theheritagetrust.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/king-arthurs-hall-is-it-really-just-a-medieval-animal-pound-or-something-archaeology-is-seriously-overlooking/
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road