Stonehenge—A New Understanding: Solving the Mysteries of the Greatest Stone Age Monument
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full plan of, 80, 89, 256
laying-out of, 256, 334, 336, 343
milk pots deposited at, 126
not roofed, 89
partial excavation of, 79
pottery from, 115, 117
radiocarbon dating of, 89, 90, 110
rebuilt more than once, 91
second entrance found at, 89
similarity of, to Stonehenge, 89, 338
solsticial orientation and use of, 79, 89, 91, 342
timbers used in phases of, differences between, 125
units of measurement used in construction of, 257
well-preserved, 82
years-old questions concerning, 89
Spiritualism, 177
Station Stones, 28, 47, 49, 107, 108, 252, 254, 258, 293, 310
Stanton Drew, 274
Stenness, Stones of, 324
Stone, J. F. S. (“Jack”), 38, 140, 141, 145, 158, 261
at Millmead, 158, 159
at Woodlands, 159
stone circles
at Avebury, 11, 59, 60, 294
at Calanais, 325, 353
and druid worship, 179
explosion in construction of, 323
lost, 229, 262
on Mount Killaurus, 279
in Orkney, 323
at Preseli, 277, 283, 288
Ring of Brodgar, 323, 324
at Stanton Drew, 274
at Stenness, 324
at West Amesbury, 23
see also Bluestonehenge; Stonehenge
Stone of Destiny, 274
Stone of Scone, 273
stone tools, 4, 4n, 15, 58, 63, 134, 154, 233, 246, 280
from Preseli, 271
see also arrowheads, axes
Stonehenge
archaeologists’ various interpretations of, 13
astronomical factors concerning, 44, 45, 47, 173, 245, 331; see also Stonehenge: and solstices
and A 303 trunk road, 156, 227, 231
“back-stage” facilities at, 108
BBC Timewatch program on dating of, 303, 306
belief in healing powers of, 280, 281, 282, 304
bluestones at, see main entry
brief history of, 27
Bronze Age field systems encroach on, 238
cart tracks between Amesbury and, 313
center of wealth and power shifts from, 352
changes to, by 2000 BC, 346
chronology, see Stonehenge’s new sequence
cremation burials at, see cremation burials
Darvill and Wainwright’s work at, 166, 303
Darwin’s earthworm work at, 34, 305
dating of, see Stonehenge: radiocarbon dating; Stonehenge’s new sequence
decline of, gradual process, 350
decline of, socioeconomic forces lead to, 341
decline of, understanding, 344
ditch and bank at, dating of, 7, 43
and druids, see main entry
and Durrington Walls, Avon provides link between, 7, 10, 14, 50, 55
Durrington Walls contrasted with, in terms of burials, 197
Durrington Walls as settlement of builders of, discussed, 109
Durrington Walls not separate from, 3
earliest farmers in area of, few traces of, 23
excavations at, during Riverside Project, 3
field west of, see Stonehenge Palisade
first appearance of, in written records, 353
Flagstones compared to, 317
frequent rearrangement of stones at, 43
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s view of, 278
given to nation, 36
and Giza pyramids, 333
ground-surface contours of, 28
Henry of Huntingdon’s description of, 353
in Historia Anglorum, 353
house under South Barrow at, 107
and human remains, see human remains
imminent further excavation unlikely at, 354
“incense burner” found at, 205, 207, 318
inspired by British fashions for monuments and houses, 342
“King” of, 209
landscape around, 133, 314
last burial at, in 3rd millennium BC, 195
last great stone monument of megalithic age, 331
laying-out of, using simple means, 255
Llandegai compared to, 316
location of, reason for, 7, 233, 244
map showing location of, 24
mass tourism reaches, 181
Mesolithic posts under parking lot at, 135, 136
million visitors a year attracted to, 172
Minoan and Mycenaean influences on, refuted claim for, 332
name of, acquired, 313
and Neolithic labor organization, 115
and New Age Travelers, 45
new sequence for, see Stonehenge’s new sequence
1977 festival site accidentally excavated near, 198, 264
not technically a henge, 4
number of people buried at, estimation of, 203
oldest suspected cow bone found at, 23
organizations responsible for, 50
Orkney’s version of, 99
and Pagans, see main entry
Palisade at, see Stonehenge Palisade
parking lot at, Mesolithic posts under, 135, 136
paucity of investigation into, 15
phases of construction, see Stonehenge’s new sequence
plans of, 28, 44, 47, 168
postholes at, 30, 41n, 44, 49, 90, 91, 107, 135, 137, 168, 170, 182, 192, 234, 236, 238, 245, 247, 307, 309, 346
power of myth surrounding, 1
as predictor of lunar eclipses, 46, 48
prehistoric monuments surround, 133
radiocarbon dating of, 23, 40, 42, 45, 108, 128, 135, 169, 184, 185, 200, 230, 247, 303, 307, 332
Ring of Brodgar compared to, 99, 324
Roman pottery found at, 32, 170
sarsens at, see great trilithon, lintels, sarsen: dressing, sarsen circle, trilithons
second batch of bluestones delivered to, 224
selection of people for burial at, biases in, 201
settlement remains at, absence of, 4
siting of, questions surrounding, 231
siting of, reason for, 244, 246
and snails, 164, 240
and solstices, 41, 45, 48, 144, 161, 173, 180, 198, 245; see also Stonehenge: astronomical factors concerning
spiritual symbolism of, 273
stakeholes at, 73, 73, 191, 192
“stone copy” theory of, 5, 10, 314, 316, 317, 325, 334
stoneholes at, explained, 43
summary of Riverside Project’s findings concerning, 341
timber posts at, 234
twentieth-century excavations at, 51
undiscovered sites around, 228
unification, as monument to, 328, 331
units of measurement used in building, 254, 258, 260
visitor center at, 1, 40, 233
woodworking techniques used in building of, 334; see also Stonehenge: “stone copy” theory of
Stonehenge (Atkinson), 280; see also Atkinson, Richard
Stonehenge: Ancient Voices, 9
Stonehenge Archer, 195, 212, 304
Stonehenge Avenue, 10, 31, 41, 96, 108, 157, 216, 238, 241, 247, 310, 345
arrowhead from, 67
discussion on indirect path of, 226
ditches and banks of, 221, 223, 226, 240, 258, 310, 311, 346
elbow of, 240, 241, 241, 242
meets River Avon, 2, 7, 10, 14, 93, 157, 216, 226, 240, 343, 344
Newall’s Mound to east of, 242, 247
periglacial features under, 242, 243, 245, 249, 310
width of, 240
Stonehenge Bottom, 140, 232, 240, 241
Stonehenge Decoded (Hawkins), 46
Stonehenge Environs Project, 133, 134, 140, 167, 236, 238
Stonehenge in Its Landscape (Cleal et al.), 42, 108, 128, 1
85
Stonehenge Inn, 3
Stonehenge Palisade, 234, 235, 238
Stonehenge People, The (Burl), 13
Stonehenge Riverside Project, 62, 167, 229, 314
Arts and Humanities Research Council grant for, 92
discoveries of, summary, 341
discussions on start of, 56
duration of, 3
first fieldwork season of, 61
labor organization during, 116
plowsoil dug up by, 71
post-excavation work by, 92
in Preseli, 283
Royal Archaeological Institute award applied for by, 62
starting, 50
student participation in, 61
trench-digging by, logistics of, 70
Stonehenge’s new sequence, 309
1st stage, 3000–2920 BC, Middle Neolithic, 30, 307, 309, 330
2nd stage, 2620–2480 BC, Late Neolithic, 31, 310
3rd stage, 2480–2280 BC, Copper Age, 32, 310
4th stage, 2280–2020 BC, Early Bronze Age, 33, 311
5th stage, 1680–1520 BC, Middle Bronze Age, 34, 311
Stones of Stenness, 324
stratigraphy, 44, 135, 170, 172
Strumble-Preseli Ancient Communities and Environment Study (SPACES), 275, 277
Stukeley, William, 2, 31, 45, 46, 140, 151, 177, 179, 252
drawing of druid by, 178
sketch of sarsens near Clatford by, 296, 298, 299
and unit of measurement used, 254
Sumba, 268
Swanton, Gill, 154
Sweet Track, 21
Syria, 18
T
Tacitus, 179
Tandroy people, 273
Tao Te Ching, 12
Tara, 274
Theoretical Archaeology Conference, 93
Thorn, Alexander, 39, 46, 48, 110, 254, 256
Thomas, Herbert, 264, 268
Thomas, Julian, 3, 21, 58, 61
Greater Cursus excavations by, 142
Southern Circle excavation by, 86, 89
Western Enclosures excavation by, 94, 100, 104, 335
Thorpe, Richard, 265
Thurnham, John, 145
Till tributary, 145
Tilley, Chris, 3, 59, 151, 157
Time Team, 83, 124
Timewatch, 303, 306
tooth enamel, 118, 120, 200, 212, 320
see also isotopic analysis
Tor (Bulford) Stone, 150, 151
trepanation, 281
trilithons, 27, 31, 34, 40, 43, 45, 89, 102, 109, 115, 169, 200, 209, 251, 255, 258, 260, 293, 307, 310, 313, 335, 338, 339, 343; see also great trilithon
Turkey, 12, 18, 137
Turner, Peter, 265
U
Upper Ninepence, 335, 337
Upton Lovell, 154
V
Vale of Pewsey, 121, 296, 299
Vatcher, Faith, 135, 227, 233, 248
Vatcher, Maj. Lance, 135, 227, 233, 248
Vespasian’s Camp, 156, 353
Vestra Fjold, 284
Viner, Sarah, 119, 120
Vitruvius, 254
W
Wainwright, Geoff
and bluestones, theories concerning, 278, 280
Durrington Walls excavation by, 53, 58, 81, 86, 104, 106, 113, 118, 150, 196, 343
and glacial-movement theory, 275
Marden excavation by, 300
new chronology of Stonehenge worked on by, 307
Stonehenge excavation by, 166, 303
work in Preseli by, 275
Walton Basin, 327
Washington, DC, architecture of, 12
wattle-and-daub houses, 63
see also Durrington Walls: houses
Waun Mawn, 283, 288, 289
Welham, Kate, 3, 57, 70, 246, 248, 299
Welshpool, 327
Wessex, 6, 58, 59, 99, 107, 184, 214, 243, 271, 275, 300, 317, 319, 328
chalklands of, famed for archaeological remains, 71
discussed, 6n
formation of flint from, 66
Grooved Ware spreads to, 330
“rich” graves found in, 349
soil fertility of, 352
Wessex Archaeology, 42, 133, 209, 228, 317
Wessex Culture, 350
Wessex I and II burials, 350
West Amesbury, 23, 216
see also Amesbury; Bluestonehenge
West Kennet, 60, 139, 234, 334, 346
West Stow, 319, 322
Whittle, Alasdair, 13, 234
Wicca, 177
Williams-Thorpe, Olwen, 265, 270
Windmill Hill, 139, 282
witches, 177
Wood, John, 33
Woodhenge, 3, 5, 5 81, 82, 83, 85, 93, 94, 95, 182, 196, 336, 339, 342, 344, 345
stoneholes found within, 94, 155
units of measurement of, 259
Woodlands, 159
Wyke Down, 158, 320
Y
Y and Z Holes, 311, 312
yard, megalithic, 254, 256
Young, William, 141, 167, 181, 187, 248, 262
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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MIKE PARKER PEARSON is a professor at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London and an internationally renowned expert in the archaeology of death. The author of sixteen books and over 100 academic papers, he led the Stonehenge Riverside Project from 2003 to 2009. He has appeared in the National Geographic Channel documentary Stonehenge Decoded and in the NOVA episode “Secrets of Stonehenge.”
FOOTNOTES
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a Neolithic means New Stone Age; it follows the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) and the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic). Neolithic peoples used stone tools, made pottery, and kept domestic animals.
b BC is still standard terminology for European prehistory.
c The lintels are the horizontal stones that rest on top of the upright stones of the circle. Most of them have been taken away over the millennia, but some are still in their original position; others are now lying in the grass around the feet of the upright stones.
d The term Wessex has three major meanings. It is originally the name of the Kingdom of the West Saxons in southwest England, whose king was Alfred the Great and last earl (until modern times) King Harold. The name was used by Thomas Hardy for a (very large) fictional county in his novels set in Dorset and southwest England; Hardy’s revival of the term is the source of most modern uses of the word (e.g., Wessex Water, the regional supplier). The name is used most frequently by archaeologists as useful shorthand when referring to the southern English counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, and parts of Somerset, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire during the prehistoric period.
e Jadeitite consists almost entirely of jadeite, the name by which jadeitite axes were formerly known.
f This is Stone 27 according to the Flinders Petrie numbering system.
g An archaeological plan shows all the things that can be seen in the ground—changes in soil color, shapes of pits and postholes, and large objects—and is drawn by standing over the excavation trench looking down at the ground. A section is a drawing of the edge of a trench as seen from the side. It shows a slice through all the layers of soil, from top to bottom. A plan is therefore a horizontal drawing, and a section is a vertical drawing. These scale drawings on waterproof paper are the most important of all excavation records; today they are digitized during post-excavation. After an excavation is published, the originals are sent to secure storage (usually in a museum), where they can be consulted by the next generation of archaeologists.
h The Heel Stone is a large and unworked sarsen that stands by itself to the northeast of Stonehenge at the beginning of the avenue.
i These stones survive only as stoneholes; two of them, known as Stoneholes B and C, were found by Hawley.