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The excavation of two adjacent round barrows at Trelystan, Long Mountain, Powys, in igjQ, has revealed a complex sequence of Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age funerary structures and traces of Late Neolithic settlement. The earliest structure was a large pit grave, dated to about 2400 be, which was superseded at about 2200 be by a settlement represented by stake-walled buildings associated with Grooved Ware. Following this some activity took place, possibly domestic, which is represented by sherds probably derived from several southern Beakers, which by analogy with sites elsewhere are to be dated to a period after about 1850 be. The subsequent Bronze Age cemetery, dated to between about 1800 and 1500 be (but possibly continuing later), presents a sequence of burial types and structures which can broadly be seen to illustrate a change from the concept of barrow cemetery to that of cemetery barrow. The earliest burials, which consist of cremations in pits and occasionally accompanied by a Food Vessel, were covered by separate small mounds of stone or turf, or a combination of the two. These were eventually overlain by and amalgamated beneath two larger turf barrows associated with Food Vessel Urns, which employed stake circles in their construction and which acted as repositories for additional cremation burials. The cemetery was sited along a pre-existing boundary fence, set up after the Late Neolithic phase, which was renewed at various times throughout the life of the cemetery in response to changes in its layout. A small undated cemetery of inhumation graves, possibly of the Early Christian period, was founded on the eastern side of the barrows at a later date.

Scholars have long seen in the monumental composition of Stonehenge evidence for prehistoric time-reckoning—a Neolithic calendar. Exactly how such a calendar functioned, however, remains unclear. Recent advances in understanding the phasing of Stonehenge highlight the unity of the sarsen settings. Here, the author argues that the numerology of these sarsen elements materialises a perpetual calendar based on a tropical solar year of 365.25 days. The indigenous development of such a calendar in north-western Europe is possible, but an Eastern Mediterranean origin is also considered. The adoption of a solar calendar was associated with the spread of solar cosmologies during the third millennium BC and was used to regularise festivals and ceremonies.

The following paper is the first published account of an excavation that took place at Stonehenge during April 2008. As this was the first excavation to take place within the stone circle for some forty years, the excavation has attracted an uncommon degree of interest, hence its publication in the Antiquaries Journal as an interim account of work in progress, in the form of an edited transcript of a paper first given at the Ordinary Meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 9 October 2008. The paper explains that the 2008 excavation set out to date the construction of the Double Bluestone Circle at Stonehenge and to chart the subsequent history of the bluestones and their use at the monument. Evidence is presented for a provisional working date of around 2300 bc for the construction of the Double Bluestone Circle, while it is argued that the history of the site is far more complex than has been allowed for in existing interpretations, with a multiplicity of overlapping and intercutting (though not continuous) events, including substantial late Roman, medieval and early modern activity. The excavated material, and the evidence from the surviving stones, supports the suggestion that bluestones were brought to the site because of their perceived special qualities, perhaps for their supposed healing properties, and that some knowledge of those qualities remained current in later times with the result that in excess of two-thirds of the original bluestone volume has now disappeared.

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