Tag: River avon

Work Begins on Ancient Stone Circle ‘Ten-Times Bigger that Stonehenge’

Archaeologists began working on one of Britain’s most mysterious ancient landmarks this Monday, as they aim to unravel its many hidden secrets (UPDATE: Click here to read about some of the finds). And while Marden Henge in Wiltshire may be almost unknown alongside its neighbour at Stonehenge, it is at least ten times bigger, making it one of Britain’s biggest stone circles.

Unlike Stonehenge, and nearby Avebury, Marden contains no standing stones. Yet the six-week project by English Heritage, fresh from their visitor centre disappointment, will probe the site for clues as to whether it once did, and what it was used for after its construction around 2,400 BC. The henge, close to the source of the River Avon, could prove this year’s biggest Stonehenge-related discovery after last year’s unveiling of Bluestonehenge, a smaller circle also by the river.

The henge has plenty of features that are getting experts excited about the dig. In the centre is a huge mound, similar to nearby Silbury Hill, which collapsed in 1806 and was completely flattened by 1817. The team hopes to date material in its centre. A large circular feature, surrounded by a bank and gullies, will also be scoured as the mystery of Marden becomes clearer.

“The study of prehistory is entering a very exciting phase.”

Geophysical and topographical studies will accompany the archaeology, as the team aims to understand and preserve what English Heritage archaeologist Jim Leary thinks is an ancient sleeping giant. “Marden Henge deserves to be understood more partly because of its size, but also due to its proximity to the more famous stone circles at Avebury and Stonehenge,” he says.

“The relationship between the latter two sites – chronology of their construction, whether it is built by the same people, how they were used, etc – is of immense interest” adds Leary.

“How Marden relates to them is another layer of interest which we want to study. We are potentially looking at a much more intricate system of Neolithic ritual sites in this part of the world than we previously thought.”

Wiltshire is one of the world’s richest Neolithic regions, and is littered with mysterious monuments such as Woodhenge, West Kennet Barrow and Durrington Walls, an ancient settlement you can explore now at Stonehenge Virtual. Leary hopes that the work at Marden can be as groundbreaking as Durrington’s discovery was. “The study of prehistory is entering a very exciting phase with lots of fascinating research and dating techniques emerging,” he says.

“The stunning discovery of Neolithic houses at Durrington Walls near Stonehenge a few years’ ago, for example, has really turned things on its head,” adds Leary. “We certainly hope that this excavation will bring more pieces of the puzzle to light.” Perhaps people will be visiting Marden, rather than Stonehenge, for the summer solstice in years to come.

See the sun rise over Stonehenge from your own home with Stonehenge Virtual. Meet Neolithic builders, touch the stones and even try putting a trithlon up yourself.

Stonehenge and the Druids: Stonehenge, Bluestonehenge and River Avon

“There’s a passing on of knowledge for over 1,500 years spanning the whole Bronze Age, between our Stone Age ancestors who built Stonehenge and our Druid ancestors who wrote down folklore that we now take from Ireland, Scotland and Wales,” says Stonehenge Druid Frank Somers. “And that means that folklore has earlier origins going right back.”

We’re stood outside a stately Wiltshire manor on a blustery winter’s morning, self apparent in the unruliness of Frank’s flowing locks. Barely yards away lies Bluestonehenge, a stone circle even older than Stonehenge itself: 2009’s biggest discovery. But Frank sees it more than an archaeological curio: he feels the ancient henge could have huge implications for the Druidic faith he and thousands of other Britons hold so dear: “Potentially it connects the Druids who were talked about in Celtic times, back through the Bronze Age to the Mesolithic Period when Stonehenge was built.

“For this we shouldn’t be laughing at the Druids in connection to Stonehenge.”

Current theories suggest funerary processions began at nearby Woodhenge, travelled down the River Avon to Bluestonehenge before embarking on the long route down The Avenue, a 2-mile road linking it with Stonehenge. As a veteran of the famous Stonehenge solstice celebrations, Frank empathises with the ancient ceremonies that went on in the area.

“You can just imagine people getting excited on the eve of the summer solstice,” Frank says, “floating in their boats, disembarking here, lighting a great bonfire and sitting in their stone circle, gathering in the energies and the focus of the ancestors before processing up to the great henge.”

“We shouldn’t be laughing at the Druids in connection to Stonehenge.”

As we pull up in the car park outside Stonehenge a little later, all eyes are on us. And it’s not hard to see why: Frank’s outfit of leather maille, tabard and trademark crook couldn’t better fit the sartorial stereotype of a Druid. But it’s clear that he cares a great deal about the ritual landscape that has shaped Druidic traditions – as do a group of hardy pagan protesters, banners unfurled and in garrulous mood as they remonstrate against English Heritage’s refusal to let people move amongst the site’s massive stones.

We don’t need to pay the entrance fee: Frank is content to show us Stonehenge’s ancient landscape from a field just opposite the famous stone circle. To our right is the mysterious Cursus, a huge 2-mile earthwork whose use is still hotly debated today. A bit further round is The Avenue, before Frank points out the King Barrows – burial places for dozens of whom he calls ‘the ancestors’, the prehistoric rulers of the region. “Druidry is about becoming synchronised with nature,” Frank says, “but also with the ancestors.” No wonder, then, that Druids are outraged at the archaeological removal of human remains around Stonehenge.

No monument has ever lived such an ephemeral life as Stonehenge. As Frank points out, “It’s a meeting place. It’s a calendar. It’s a temple. It’s a living space where people come together at very significant times to do very significant things. Every time we think we know the answer, we find there’s more to the question.”

While most people nowadays look at Stonehenge as a relic of a time long forgotten, Frank feels the entire landscape is humming with the energy of its former residents. “We feel that here our ancestors are talking to us,” he says. “This is a landscape where there are dozens of these ancestors. We don’t know an awful lot about them but they’re buried all over the landscape.”

Some people might choose to mock the Druids with their pagan practices, eccentric nature and outspoken views. But it’s hard not to feel a modicum of spirituality when faced with Stonehenge, a place that’s been the centre of British worship for over 5,000 years. Time will only tell whether Frank’s linking the Druids with the creation of Britain’s best-known feature has any legs; for now he’ll have to looks on as archaeologists uncover yet more about Wiltshire’s ancient history.

HDVideo: Stonehenge and the Druids: Stonehenge and Bluestonehenge

(Click here to read the transcript)

Watch out for more videos on Druids and Stonehenge, coming soon

You don’t have to travel to Wiltshire to see the splendour of Stonehenge and its history. Check out our very own Stonehenge Virtual to see the ancient stone circle, its local landmarks, legends and characters come to life in the comfort of your own home. Heritage Key – Unlock the Wonders.

What went down the Roman Baths’ Great Drain?

Parts of an ancient underground drain that takes Bath’s famous hot spring water from the Roman Baths to the River Avon are to be explored for the first time in a project to survey parts of the Great Roman Drain, a scheduled ancient monument and fundamental part of the Roman Baths complex. Parts of the drain have not been explored for hundreds of years.

Built by the Romans to prevent central Bath from flooding, the Great Drain still performs its original purpose, discharging water from the natural hot springs to – ~~Bluestonehenge’s~~ – River Avon.

It definitely needs to be mentioned that it is not the Roman-build part of the Great Drain that is currently causing a flooding risk, but a more recent extension beyond Bath’s old city wall. Previous surveys have uncovered some stunning archaeological finds including carved cameo gemstones and a mysterious tin mask.

Miles Barnes, the Bath & North East Somerset Council Project Manager responsible for the survey, said: This is an important and exciting project for Bath & North East Somerset Council. The Great Drain has played a crucial but largely hidden role in the life of the city for hundreds of years, and its crucial that we determine its condition so that it can continue to function as the Romans designed it.

Mr Barnes said in an interview with the Times Online that “Although the drain is pretty clear there are sections where it bends or narrows where sediment will have built up that has not been disturbed for 2,000 years, so who knows what else we will find.” So let’s hope the Romans dropped some more archaeological valuable items down the drain!

Video of the Bluestonehenge Excavations by AHRC

The Excavations at Bluestonehenge - Aerial View The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have today released video footage of the newest Henge discovered in Britain, at the River Avon and less than a mile away from the world most famous stone circle. Bluestonehenge (or Bluehenge as it was originally called by the press) was named after the famous Welsh blue stones that are also incorporated – or maybe even reused – in the nearby Stonehenge. Dr Josh Pollard, co-director of the research project, explained: “This is an incredible discovery. The newly-discovered circle and henge should be considered an integral part of Stonehenge rather than a separate monument. Furthermore, it offers tremendous insight into the history of its famous neighbour. Its riverside location demonstrates once again the importance of the River Avon in Neolithic funerary rites and ceremonies.”

This video was filmed in September 2009 on – AHRCfunded – dig site in Wiltshire, where Professor Mike Parker Pearson and Dr Kate Welham were interviewed. In the video we see footage of the excavations itself as well as archaeologists executing a geophysical survey.

VIDEO: BLUESTONEHENGE EXCAVATIONS

The newly discovered circle is 10m in diameter and was surrounded by a henge – a ditch with an external bank. The circle that probably consisted of 25 stones – no longer present – would have marked the end of the Avenue, a 2.8 km processional route that leads from the River Avon to Stonehenge, which was constructed at the end of the Stone Age (the Neolithic period). The outer henge around the stones was built around 2400 BC, but arrowheads found in the circle indicate the stones were erected as much as 500 years earlier. Most of the circle remains unexcavated, preserved for future research, whilst the 2009 excavation has now been filled back in, but this does not seem to stop the druids from ‘partying’ at the site.

The stones from the new-found circle were removed thousands of years ago but the sizes of the holes in which they stood indicate that this was a circle of bluestones that were brought from the Preseli mountains of Wales 150 miles away, like the inner stones at Stonehenge. When the stones from the newly-discovered circle were removed by Neolithic people, it is possible that they were dragged along the route of the Avenue to Stonehenge, to be incorporated within its major phase of rebuilding around 2500 BC; some of the bluestones that once stood at the riverside probably now stand within the centre of Stonehenge.

The builders of the stone circle used deer antlers as pickaxes. Within the next few months, radiocarbon dating of these antler picks will provide more precise dates and reveal whether the circle was built at the same time as Stonehenge itself (in the decades after 3000 BC) or at some other time.

Stonehenge and the ‘new’ Bluestonehenge are definitely not the only stone circles in Britain. Curious about the others? We’ve mapped them out for you.

King Arthur Pendragon in First Druid Ceremony at Bluehenge Since its Discovery

The incredible announcement that Stonehenge had a little sister named ‘Bluehenge’ this weekend will have shocked millions – not least the area’s druid community, who for centuries have claimed Stonehenge to be their spiritual home. So it’s no surprise the druidic community officially inaugurated the stone circle this week, which many believe to have been part of a huge funerary network linking its much larger neighbour to the River Avon. The ceremony, Bluehenge’s first since it’s recent rediscovery was performed by three druids including King Arthur Pendragon, stresses the importance of honouring the people who first built Bluehenge, and to continue paying homage to the wisdom which has made the area one of such gravity to all druids.

The three priests enter to the sound of a fast-beating drum. A horn is played twice, and the ceremony begins: The opening words go as follows:

“We are here today to acknowledge the mighty; our ancestors – the people who built beneath our feet, a place so sacred it was used once a year, thousands of years before we can imagine. At a time equivalent to Stonehenge, people would have passed through here; the great ones on their way to acknowledge the turning of the seasons by whatever beliefs they held.”

“We are here today to acknowledge the mighty; our ancestors”

Further honour is given to the ancestors, the past and the sacred circle. The druids pledge to take forth wisdom and honour from the ancient people who ‘founded our nation; they planted the seeds’.

The video also thanks Mike Parker Pearson, the Sheffield University archaeologist under whose guidance Bluehenge has been uncovered. Keep checking in to Heritage Key to hear the latest developments, theories and opinions on Bluehenge – and to get a druid’s perspective on the ground-breaking news. Of course, if you want to get up-close-and-personal with the incredible views and storylines of Stonehenge, take a look at how our very own Stonehenge Virtual is shaping up!

Bluehenge – Mini Stonehenge Discovered on the River Avon

Prof. Andrew Chamberlain (University of Sheffield) uses a laser scanner to record a stonehole. Aerial-Cam About a mile away from Stonehenge, at the end of the ‘Avenue’ that connects it to the River Avon, archaeologists have discovered a smaller prehistoric site, named – appropriately, after the colour of the 27 Welsh stones it was made of – Bluehenge. The newly discovered stone circle is thought to have been put up 5,000 years ago – which is around the same time work on Stonehenge began – and appears to be a miniature version of it. The two circles stood together for hundreds of years before Bluehenge was dismantled. Researchers believe its stones were used to enlarge Stonehenge during one of a number of redevelopments.

The new circle, unearthed over the summer by researchers from Sheffield University, represents an important find, researchers said Saturday. Although Bluehenge’s monoliths have disappeared, the circle of holes remains. It’s about 60 foot wide, has 27 holes, and the chips of blue stone found in the holes appear to be identical to the blue stones used in Stonehenge.

This henge is very important because it forms part of the picture of ceremonial monuments in the area and puts Stonehenge into context. – Geoffrey Wainwright

This new find might just change our view on Stonehenge’s history; it suggests that the creators of Stonehenge originally built two prehistoric stone circles – one with 56 stones at Stonehenge, and another with 27 at Bluehenge. The stones of the smaller circle were eventually worked into the bigger one.

Professor Geoffrey Wainwright, who found the source of the Stonehenge stones in Wales with Professor Darvill, told the DailyMail: ‘This henge is very important because it forms part of the picture of ceremonial monuments in the area and puts Stonehenge into context.” The area surrounding Stonehenge is sometimes dubbed a ‘ritual landscape’ which would include the Durrington Walls Henge (a place for the living), Stonehenge (a place for the dead) and their respective avenues. But no need to say many think that as Stonehenge evolved over thousands of years, it must have had different destinations of use during those differen eras (sometimes known as the three phases of Stonehenge) and that the storyline is more complicated than just a life/death juxtaposition.

More information about the newly discovered Bluehenge should be published in February 2010. And err.. I guess Wessex Archaeology will need to adjust their superb Stonehenge Landscape 3D now?