Archive for August, 2006
The map above was drawn up in 1849 and it shows a number of tumuli or prehistoric burial mounds of varying sizes close to the western end of the Cursus, the vast earthwork to the north of Stonehenge. In addition, the small circular marking closest to the lower edge of the Cursus denotes the position of a small henge or prehistoric earthwork that is still concealed by trees and undergrowth within the Fargo plantation.
This earthwork is a curiosity for a number of reasons. It is classified as a henge, yet it has been almost completely overlooked in the official descriptions of the Stonehenge landscape and totally overshadowed by its larger cousins Stonehenge, Woodhenge and the colossal Durrington Walls. Nonetheless, it is a circular earthwork with an external bank and an internal ditch, while it lies roughly northwest of Stonehenge.
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On Tuesday afternoon, a sizeable fragment of what is presumed to be spotted dolerite, or bluestone from the Preseli Mountains in south Wales, was discovered in the southwestern quadrant of Woodhenge. At almost exactly the same time, a member of the archaeological team under the direction of Colin Richards discovered another much smaller piece in a test pit in a field close to the western end of the Cursus.
Colin’s team are looking for evidence of a lost bluestone monument, whose existence was first postulated by Wiltshire archaeologist J F S Stone in 1947, because he had excavated an area near the Cursus and discovered a scatter of bluestone fragments with a marked concentration near the Cursus itself, strongly suggesting that a monument had once stood there that had later been taken away to Stonehenge.
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Woodhenge Bluestone Discovery
5:24 pmOn the afternoon of Tuesday August 22nd, a member of an archaeological team working under the direction of Josh Pollard made an exciting and significant find at the most recent excavation at Woodhenge. The discovery was of a large piece of bluestone from the Preseli Mountain Range in south Wales.
On first examination, the piece certainly appeared to be a piece of spotted dolerite, but this will have to be confirmed by further study. It was roughly two and half to three inches long and roughly an inch across, yet while it could be accurately described as a flake, it possessed a substantial body.
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