The dig will uncover the secrets of the Double Bluestone Circle
The first excavation inside the stone circle at Stonehenge in nearly half a century began this week. The last time a dig was allowed inside the circle was in 1964.
The excavation will last for two weeks until 11 April. During this time Stonehenge will be open as normal and visitors will be able to observe the dig as it happens on plasma screens inside a special marquee.
The dig is being led by Stonehenge academics professor Tim Darvill of University of Bournemouth and professor Geoffrey Wainwright, president of the Society of Antiquaries.
They are looking to provide a more precise dating of the double bluestone circle, the first stone structure that was built on the site. There is now no visible trace of the original setting of this circle.
Archaeologists who dated the circle in the 1990s estimated it was first erected around 2,550BC. However, no precise dating has yet been found nor the date of its dismantling.
A trench will be dug in a previously excavated area on the south-eastern quadrant of the double stone circle with the hope of retrieving fragments of the original bluestone pillars.
The dig will also investigate the “Stonehenge Layer”, a significant and varied layer of debris and stone chippings spreading across the whole extent of the stone circle and comprising a high proportion of bluestone fragments.
This is the first time that the nature, content and structure of this layer has been properly studied, crucially to determine whether this deposit was derived mainly from the construction or destruction of the double bluestone circle and of Stonehenge as a whole.
Radiocarbon dating will be used to throw light on how long the circle was in use for, when it was dismantled and reused in later stages of Stonehenge’s construction.
The new bluestone sample will be compared to samples from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales. This will shed light on the mystery as to when and how at least 80 such stones were brought to Salisbury Plain 250 km away nearly 4,500 years ago.
Professor Darvill said: “This excavation is the first opportunity in nearly half a century to bring the power of modern scientific archaeology to bear on a problem that has taxed the minds of travellers, antiquaries, and archaeologists since medieval times: just why were the bluestones so important and powerful to have warranted our ancestors to make the gargantuan journey to bring them to Salisbury Plain?”
BBC Timewatch, in association with Smithsonian Networks, is funding the excavation and analysis. It will be broadcast on BBC 2 in the autumn.
