The Archive Excavation of the Altar Stone

In 1958 Richard Atkinson excavated around the Altar Stone at Stonehenge. Photographs of the excavation held in the Historic England Archive were examined by Tim Daw on 28th January 2025 with the greatly appreciated assistance of Simon Banton. Many of the photos were not recorded as being of the Altar Stone and were found only by careful study of entire archive. The following illustrate previously unrecorded features of the Altar Stone. The photos are labelled with the Historic England archive number, and present archive description, and the direction of the shot is illustrated on the annotated plan below.

They have been digitised by Historic England for Tim Daw. They are all copyright Historic England and reproduced here under Permission No: 10238. Digital copies have been available on the Historic England archive website and a version of this blog post using them is at https://www.sarsen.org/2025/02/the-archive-excavation-of-altar-stone_24.html.

The photos here have been reduced in size or are the web versions to comply with the reproduction licence. Click them to embiggen to the size allowed, the originals are larger and are available on the updated version https://www.sarsen.org/2025/02/the-archive-excavation-of-altar-stone_24.html..   

He also lifted Stone 55B to examine the underside of 55B – the very brief description of the excavation is in his book “Stonehenge, 1979 revised edition” and does not include a description of the lifting of 55b. The photos in the archive seem to be the only record revealing its finely worked surface. 

The photo locations based on Atkinson’s plan in Cleal et al, rotated for convenience.



P51196 (1958 Excavation Near Alter Stone (St.80))
The excavated North East face showing the break and loose fragments.

P51908 (1958 Excavation Of Altar Stone,Stone 80) Looking South West at excavated Altar Stone. P51909 is very similar but not digitised.

P50361 (Excavated Unidentified Stone) The South East end from the North East 

P50359 (Excavated Unidentified Stone) Vertical of South East end

P50102 (1958 Excavation Of Altar Stone. S.E. End, View S.W.) South East end from the South West showing the graffito noted as “IB” by Atkinson on his plan. Stone 55b is to the left.

Simon Banton notes that a similar engraving, “FB”, is on Stone 62. The crossed I or F is also similar to the symbol on the WREN graffito on Stone 52.

 

Photos from Stones of Stonehenge - Simon Banton

P50002 (Unidentified Stone, Carved Initials "Id”) South East end from South showing “IB” engraving

P50005 (2 Unidentified Stones In Excavation) The South West side of the Altar Stone under 55b taken at night for lighting purposes. The stone extends from the break in the foreground to the baulk under 156. 

P50009  (2 Unidentified Stones In Excavation) is a similar photo revealing the fine working of the stone. The scratches at the top of the stone are similar to the ones on the middle section, see below, but from these photos it is uncertain what they are.

P51808 (1958 Excavation Of Alter Stone, Stone 80) Altar Stone – The middle section of the top surface between 55b, top, and 156, bottom,



P50107 (Surface Of Altar Stone From North East) Middle Section of South West side of the Altar Stone showing engraved lines, taken from South West . 

P50106 is similar. These scratches have obvious similarity to other neolithic stone markings. The vertical line is thought to be a quartz vein in the stone.

 

P51811 (1958 Excavation Of Alter Stone, Stone 80) Altar Stone North West end from above, standing on 156.




P51805 (1958 Excavation Of Alter Stone,Stone 80) North West end of the Altar Stone under 156.

P51874 (1958 Lifting Of Stone 55B) – The best photos of the top of the Altar Stone, it doesn’t seem to have been photographed when 55b was lifted.

P51873 (1958 Lifting Of Stone 55B) looking South East with the Altar Stone exposed. The methods used for the lifting of the stone might be thought not to follow present day best practice.

P50371 (Atkinson Looking At Unidentified Stone With Cable) Richard Atkinson underneath 55b looking South West, he is lying against 156 and 55a is on the ground to the left protected by the wooden post.  

Click them to embiggen to the size allowed, the originals are larger and are available on the updated version https://www.sarsen.org/2025/02/the-archive-excavation-of-altar-stone_24.html.