Abstract:

For many centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have been fascinated by Stonehenge, the world’s most famous stone circle. In 2003 a team of archaeologists commenced a long-term fieldwork project for the first time in decades. The Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009) aimed to investigate the purpose of this unique prehistoric monument by considering it within its wider archaeological context.

This is the third of five volumes which present the results of that campaign. It reports on surveys and excavations of the great henge of Durrington Walls and its satellite, Woodhenge. Excavations uncovered remains of houses protected beneath the henge bank of Durrington Walls. Together with their middens, containing large quantities of ceramics, lithics and faunal remains, these houses provide a remarkable insight into life at the time of Stonehenge’s second stage of construction around 2500 BC. Two of these houses were set within small henges, the Western Enclosures, at the centre of Durrington Walls. Timber monuments investigated include the Southern Circle, the large circle around the entire circuit of Durrington Walls, Woodhenge and three other small timber monuments south of Woodhenge. Excavations into the bank of Durrington Walls henge also provide insights on how and when this huge monument was constructed.

With contributions by:

Lisa Aldrian, Hugo Anderson-Whymark, Wayne Bennett, Adam Booth, Chris Bronk Ramsay, Chris Casswell, Henry Chapman, Gordon Cook, Alejandra Diaz, Roger Doonan, Kevan Edinborough, Charles French, Vince Gaffney, Paul Garwood, Neil Linford, Richard Madgwick, Peter Marshall, Louise Martin, Wolfgang Neubauer, Bob Nunn, Charlene Parrish, Andy Payne, Derek Pitman, Becca Pullen, Dave Robinson, Clive Ruggles, Elisabeth Rutherford, Jim Rylatt, Armin Schmidt and Dave Shaw

See the other volumes in the Stonehenge Riverside Project Series

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

2. Geophysical surveys of Durrington Walls

3. The Durrington Walls avenue

4. Houses, middens and pits east of the avenue

5. Geochemical and geophysical analyses of house floors, middens and surfaces

6. Soil micromorphology of the house floors and associated buried soils

7. Houses within the Western Enclosures

8. The extent of the Durrington Walls settlement

9. Representations of the house: monumentality at Durrington Walls

10. Enclosure and commemoration

11. Radiocarbon dating

Bibliography

List of figures
List of tables
Contributors
Index