On the Road to Stonehenge: Report on Investigations beside the A344 in 1968, 1979 and 1980

Abstract

Salvage excavations on the verges of the A344 at Stonehenge resulted in the recovery of large, well stratified groups of prehistoric artefacts. In 1968, a complete section across the Avenue earthwork was recorded, and material obtained for a radiocarbon determination. In 1979 and 1980, the two ditches of the Avenue were again sectioned. Detailed recording of find provenances from both these and the Heelstone ditches permitted a fuller understanding of the erosion and filling processes. In 1979, part of a pit that had held a previously unknown standing stone was excavated. A geophysical survey of the Avenue suggests that further pits may be present along its course. A unique deposit of prehistoric stoneworking debitage was sectioned in 1980. It is suggested that this debitage, representing the opportunistic use of megalith shaping debris, accumulated within a structure inhabited at the time the major stone monument was being erected. The discovery of these rock fragments has prompted an important new study of the petrology at Stonehenge, and a discussion of stoneworking around the site is included. The paper concludes with an appraisal of the chronology of Stonehenge and an introduction to the comprehensive excavation archive.

Stonehenge remodelled

“…The stone that stood in stonehole 97 outside the north-east entrance, together with the stones that occupied stoneholes B and C, all presumably sarsens, may also tentatively be assigned to Stage 1. The stone in stonehole 97 sat within a filled linear depression which might have been a solution hollow formed beneath a recumbent sarsen (Pitts 1982(Pitts , 2008b.…”

“…Stone 96 (the Heel stone) was set up 2m south-east of stonehole 97. One interpretation (Darvill's preference) is that these two stones formed a pair of monoliths straddling the principal axis and physically marking the sightline from the centre of the monument to the position of the midsummer rising sun on the north-eastern horizon (Pitts 1982(Pitts , 2000. Within this interpretation, the Heel stone's encircling ditch was dug late in Stage 2 or perhaps early in Stage 3 when stone 97 was removed (Figure 4).…”

Analytical Surveys of Stonehenge and its Environs, 2009–2013: Part 2 – the Stones

“…Many of the stones at Stonehenge have been purposefully shaped and, indeed, William Stukeley observed evidence of stone-dressing in the 1720s, while William Gowland (1902), E. Herbert Stone (1924 and Richard Atkinson (1956;1960;1979) have all provided detailed accounts documenting the various modes of working, from coarse pecking to the application of a fine surface finish. Nevertheless, it was widely accepted that weathering had removed almost all traces of tooling from the above-ground surfaces.…”

Coaxial field systems: some questions of time and space

“…the West Kennet long barrow, recently discussed by Thomas & Whittle 1986) and their recurrent refurbishment (e.g. Stonehenge: Pitts 1982) and the different chronological horizons at which megalithic tombs and related monuments became important in different parts of NW Europe. Presumably most people who lived in NW Europe during the Neolithic never lifted a capstone on to an orthostat in their lives -yet knowledge of the technique was available when necessary.…”