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Stonehenge Winter Solstice 2012 - Conditions of Entry

English Heritage will once again allow people access to Stonehenge for the celebration of the Winter Solstice, the first day of the winter season. Sunrise is at 8.09am on Friday 21 December and visitors will be able to access the monument as soon as it is light enough to do so safely. Entrance is free and will be available from roughly 7.30am until 9am, when the site will close - before re-opening as per usual to paying visitors at 9.30am.

The exact time of the Solstice this year, when the Earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun, is at 11.11am on 21 December, however it is generally accepted that the celebration of this special event takes place at dawn and therefore access is permitted at Stonehenge earlier that morning.

When thinking about what to bring with you, remember your personal possessions are your responsibility and you will have to carry them with you at all times. Therefore, travel as light as you can. Large bags or large rucksacks will not be allowed at the Monument although small bags and rucksacks (similar size to hand luggage on airlines) will be permitted.

Think carefully about what valuables you normally carry and leave all non-essential items at home. Whilst there is a lost property system, the nature of the access means that if you drop/mislay something at Stonehenge it might not be easily found or handed in. If you are bringing your mobile phone with you please keep it safe. Think of the hassle you would have if you lost it, or it was stolen.

Glass is not allowed at the Monument as many people walk barefoot and, in addition, livestock and wildlife also graze in the area. If you bring any glass items with you, they will be confiscated. This also includes any other objects that could cause damage to the Monument or people there. No plastic bottles will be available for decanting purposes.

Please do not bring dogs, pets or other creatures – they are not permitted into Stonehenge, with the exception of registered assistance dogs. Apart from potentially upsetting wildlife and stock in the area, animal faeces present a health risk to children and also to people walking barefoot.

Due to the large number of people in attendance, naked flame is extremely dangerous and it infringes local bylaws/regulations and constitutes a potential fire hazard, so please do not light any fires – this includes BBQs, flaming torches, candles, night-lights, Chinese lanterns or fireworks.

Stonehenge is a world renowned historic Monument and it is seen by many who attend the access as a sacred site. Amplified Music is inappropriate and will not be permitted at the Monument or in the surrounding landscape so please do not bring any sound systems or portable amplifiers. Acoustic instruments will be permitted.

Drunken, disorderly, and anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated; ejection, possibly by the Police without return, will be the outcome.

Illegal drugs are still illegal at Stonehenge as they are anywhere else. The police will be on site during the access period and will take immediate action against anyone flouting the law.

Do not climb or stand on any of the stones – this includes the stones that have fallen. This is in the interest of personal safety, the protection of this special site and respect for those attending. As well as putting the stones themselves at risk, climbing on them can damage the delicate lichens. 

In order to ensure personal safety, random searching may be undertaken, but we hope that self-policing and personal responsibility will prevail. Any items that might be used in an illegal or offensive manner will be confiscated.

EH - Stonehenge Visitor Centre News - Dec 2012

English HeritAge

STONEHENGE PROJECT UPDATE

December 2012

As Stonehenge gears up for winter, we wanted to let you know we're making good progress with the new visitor centre at Airman's Corner. This time next year, work will have been completed and we'll be busy preparing for the opening.

As you can see from the photo below, the visitor centre and the car park are  taking shape behind the hoardings. The building should be water-tight by Christmas and a 'bird cage' scaffold will be used in the New Year to help install the delicate canopy roof.

Aerial view of Airman's Corner

We've taken great care with the design and construction of the building - disruption to the ground has been kept to a minimum and we have used locally sourced materials wherever possible. 

The new visitor centre taking shape

At Last, a Proper Place to Tell Stonehenge's Story

A visit to the stones will, for the first time, be enhanced by special exhibition galleries curated by English Heritage experts which will tell the story of Stonehenge and its relationship with the wider landscape. They will feature important objects excavated near Stonehenge kindly loaned by the Wiltshire Heritage Museum and the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum.

Curators discussing the objects on loan from the two local museums

Neolithic Builders Needed

One exciting feature of the outdoor gallery is the reconstruction of three Neolithic houses based on rare evidence of buildings unearthed near Stonehenge. We need volunteers to help us build three prototype houses at Old Sarum Castle in spring 2013 and then build the actual houses at the new visitor centre in autumn 2013. To find out more or to register your interest, please go to Stonehenge volunteering.

An attempt at reconstructing a Neolithic house in East Sussex

Business As Usual at Stonehenge

The construction work is not visible from Stonehenge at all; throughout the construction period Stonehenge will continue to welcome visitors at its existing facilities.

An opening date for the new visitor building will be announced in 2013, and the switch-over to the new facilities will be overnight so that there will be no disruption to visitors.

When the new visitor centre and its captivating galleries open in winter 2013, we will start dismantling the existing facilities and restore the landscape around the stones. We look forward to keeping you posted as these exciting developments progress.

Computer-generated image of the new visitor centre when completed

Road Improvements

We understand the closure of the A344 has raised some concerns - it's a vital change to help create a more tranquil and dignified setting for Stonehenge, but we are working hard to mitigate the impact. The Highways Agency is carrying out works to improve the capacity of Longbarrow Roundabout to cope with the diverted traffic (see details below) and the section of the A344 between Stonehenge Bottom and Byway 12 will only close when these improvements are complete in May 2013. The rest of the road will remain open until we move operations to Airman's Corner.

Work is also underway to improve the Airman's Corner roundabout. During the construction, we're keeping the use of traffic lights to a minimum but some are needed to ensure safe traffic flow.

Longbarrow Roundabout Roadworks (A303/A360 Junction)

The Highways Agency has started a six-month scheme to improve the Longbarrow roundabout at the junction of the A360 and A303. The proposed improvements to the northern and eastern approaches to the roundabout will accommodate changes in traffic flows following the planned A344 closure in May 2013. New lanes will be added to the roundabout to take the extra traffic caused by the closure of the A344 and the centre of the roundabout itself will be realigned.

During the works, there will be lane closures on the northern and eastern approaches to Longbarrow roundabout and a temporary 40mph speed limit in place. The A360 south of Longbarrow will be closed for up to eight days and nights on dates to be confirmed in either February or March 2013. Diversion routes will be in operation using the A345 or the A36 depending on journey destinations.

If you have any questions regarding the project please email English Heritage at stonehenge.project@english-heritage.org.u
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Stonehenge Chronology - The Video

http://community.novacaster.com/showarticle.pl?id=11334 has a brilliant animation of the new chronological stages of Stonehenge.

The Chronology of Stonehenge - Comparison Table

Antiquity magazine has a new article on the Chronology of Stonehenge. 

Volume: 86 Number: 334 Page: 1021–1040
Stonehenge remodelledTimothy Darvill, Peter Marshall, Mike Parker Pearson and Geoff Wainwright

It is a much better article than the Press Releases suggest. I highly recommend it.

To quote:

In developing a new sequence, we rejected the idea of neat architectural phases, in favour of five main periods or ‘stages’, each of which embraces a set of activities related to a more or less coherent pattern of archaeological evidence. Dating each stage, of varying duration, involves dating the events and activities assigned to it. This entails a consideration of vertical and horizontal stratigraphy, associated finds, and synchronisms established through the dating of particular items, deposits and horizons.  Naturally, some components can be assigned more confidently to a particular stage than others, and we have tried to make this explicit. Here attention focuses only on the evidence relating to the third and early second millennia cal BC.We retain all existing naming, numbering, and lettering of stones and cut features such as stoneholes, so that the revised sequence is easily comparable to all previous (and subsequent) literature.

 I thought it worthwhile to provide a table to facilitate that comparison.

	Darvill et al 2012	Darvill et al 2012	Atkinson 1979	Atkinson 1979	Cleal et al 1995
1	Construction of a circular earthwork enclosure 110m in diameter bounded by a bank and ditch with main access on the NE and smaller entrance to the S (3000–2920 cal BC). Deposition of ancestral tokens in the base of the ditch. Digging of 56 Aubrey holes around the inner edge of bank, possibly to hold bluestones and/or posts. Cremation burials begin to be inserted into the ditch, bank, and Aubrey holes. Pits dug in the central area. Timber posts and stakes set up, in some cases forming simple rectangular structures. Possibly in this stage (or earlier) a post-built structure in the NE entrance; stones B, C and 97 outside the NE entrance.	3000–2620 cal BC	Construction of the bank, ditch, and Aubrey holes. Erection of the Heel stone, stones D and E, and the timber structure at A. Inception and use of the cremation cemetery. Station stones perhaps erected near the end of this period.	2800–2100 BC	Bank and ditch construction; Aubrey holes supporting timber settings; primary backfill in the ditch 2950–2900 cal BC
2	Trilithon horseshoe comprising five sarsen trilithons set up in the centre of the site with SW–NE solstitial axis (midwinter sunset/midsummer sunrise). Double bluestone circle of between 50 and 80 bluestones set up outside the trilithon horseshoe with a shared SW–NE axis. Sarsen circle comprising 30 shaped uprights linked by 30 lintels built outside the double bluestone circle. Altar stone perhaps placed within the trilithon horseshoe. Four Station stones. A D-shaped rammed chalk floor (?structure) around stone 92 at the SE entrance superceded by the south barrow. Stones B and C removed. Stone 95 (Slaughter stone) erected with stones D and E added inside the NE entrance. Possible modifications to the earthworks in the NE entrance. Cremations continue to be deposited through to c. 2400 cal BC. EITHER stone 96 (Heel stone) added to the existing stone 97 outside the NE entrance to form a pair fixing the solstice axis OR the stone formerly in stonehole 97 removed and re-erected as stone 96 (Heel stone). Ditch dug around the Heel stone (or early Stage 3).	2620–2480 cal BC	Widening of the entrance causeway and transfer of stones D and E to holes B and C. Digging and filling of the Heel stone ditch. Construction of the first part of the Avenue. Erection of the double bluestone circle in the Q and R holes, unfinished.	2100–2000 BC	Timber settings in the interior, including the southern passage Natural filling of the ditch; deposition of cremations in bank and ditch fill; timber settings in the Aubrey holes dismantled; cremations in the top of Aubrey holes 2900–2400 cal BC
3	Bluestones (perhaps from Bluestonehenge) arranged as the central bluestone circle within the trilithon horseshoe. Main ditch recut. Stones D and E in the NE entrance removed. Avenue constructed to link Stonehenge to the henge built around the former Bluestonehenge beside the River Avon 2.8km away. Large pit dug against great trilithon. Beaker-style inhumation burial in ditch	2480–2280 cal BC	IIIa Dismantling of the double bluestone circle. Erection of the trilithon horseshoe, sarsen circle, and the Slaughter stone and its companion. Carvings made after erection. 2000 BC IIIb Tooling and erection of stones of the dressed bluestone setting. At the end, digging and abandonment, unfinished, of the Y and Z holes. 2000–1550 BC IIIc Dismantling of the dressed bluestone structure. Re-erection of all the bluestones in the present bluestone circle and bluestone horseshoe. 1550–1100 BC	2000 - 1100 BC	Arrival of the bluestones from south-west Wales 3i Double bluestone circle (Q and R holes) 3a Stones: 97, Heel stone, and station stones; topmost fill of ditch forms; cremations continue
4	Central bluestone circle and double bluestone circle dismantled and re-built as bluestone oval of c. 25 monoliths inside the trilithon horseshoe and the outer bluestone circle of between 40 and 60 monoliths in the space between the trilithon horseshoe and the sarsen circle.	2280–2020 cal BC	Extension of the Avenue from Stonehenge Bottom to West Amesbury	1100 BC	Arrival of sarsens from Wessex Downlands 3ii Sarsen circle and sarsen trilithon horseshoe 3b Heel stone ditch dug; north and south barrow ditches dug; stones D, E, and Slaughter stone raised 2550–1600 cal BC 3iii Bluestone settling with lintels
5	Extensive use of Stonehenge with working of some bluestones into artefacts. Working floor and occupation outside the earthwork on the NW side. Rock-art including Arreton-stage axes and daggers applied (c. 1650–1500 cal BC) to stones forming the sarsen circle and trilithon horseshoe. Construction of the Y and Z holes in the period 1630–1520 cal BC. Numerous round barrow cemeteries built in the surrounding landscape.	2020–1520 cal BC	Possibly some deliberate destruction of the stones.	AD 50–400	3iv Bluestone circle and bluestone oval 3c Avenue constructed; stones B and C raised; Beaker burial in ditch 3v Bluestone horseshoe 3vi Y and Z holes

Antiquity Articles on The Chronology of Stonehenge

Mike Pitts reported, and I reblogged, that Antiquity magazine has a new article on the Chronology of Stonehenge.

It is behind a paywall so we have had to rely on the Press Releases to what it actually says. But Brian John has an excellent article on the article which details its claims. To say he is unimpressed with the accuracy of the Press Releases compared to the actual article and to the "newness" of the discoveries is probably accurate.

I thought it worthwhile to provide links to two previous Antiquity articles, which are fully available, which cover similar ground.  Both are well worth reading, but especially The Age of Stonehenge in relation to the knotty question as to the chronology. (It is also indispensable for discussing my winter solstice sunrise alignment theory of the Great Trilithon as it clearly shows the construction of it and how 56 was re-erected by Gowland in its original place.)

The Age of Stonehenge

Mike Parker Pearson, Ros Cleal, Josh Pollard, Colin Richards, Julian Thomas, Chris Tilley, Kate Welham, Andrew Chamberlain, Carolyn Chenery, Jane Evans, Janet Montgomery & Mike Richards

2007 The age of Stonehenge. Antiquity 81: 617–39.

Who was buried at Stonehenge?

Parker Pearson, M. and Chamberlain, A. and Jay, M. and Marshall, P. and Pollard, J. and Richards, C. and

Thomas, J. and Tilley, C. and Welham, K. (2009) ’Who was buried at Stonehenge ?’, Antiquity., 83 (319). pp. 23-39.

When Did The Bluestones Arrive at Stonehenge

Stonehenge: New Study Challenges Timeline For Construction Of Ancient Monument

Ancient people probably assembled the massive sandstone horseshoe at Stonehenge more than 4,600 years ago, while the smaller bluestones were imported from Wales later, a new study suggests.

The conclusion, detailed in the December issue of the journal Antiquity, challenges earlier timelines that proposed the smaller stones were raised first.

"The sequence proposed for the site is really the wrong way around," said study co-author Timothy Darvill, an archaeologist at Bournemouth University in England. "The original idea that it starts small and gets bigger is wrong. It starts big and stays big. The new scheme puts the big stones at the center at the site as the first stage."...

Though only some of the stones remain, at the center of the site once sat an oval of bluestones, or igneous rocks (those formed from magma) that turn a bluish hue when wet or freshly cut. Surrounding the bluestones are five giant sandstone megaliths called trilithons, or two vertical standing slabs capped by a horizontal stone, arranged in the shape of a horseshoe.

Around the horseshoe, ancient builders erected a circular ring of bluestones. The sandstone boulders, or sarsens, can weigh up to 40 tons (36,287 kilograms), while the much smaller bluestones weigh a mere 4 tons (3,628 kg). ...

Like past researchers, the team believes that ancient people first used the site 5,000 years ago, when they dug a circular ditch and mound, or henge, about 361 feet (110 meters) in diameter.

But the new analysis suggests around 2600 B.C. the Neolithic people built the giant sandstone horseshoe, drawing the stone from nearby quarries. Only then did builders arrange the much smaller bluestones, which were probably imported from Wales. Those bluestones were then rearranged at various positions throughout the site over the next millennium, Darvill said.

"They sort out the local stuff first, and then they bring in the stones from Wales to add to the complexity of the structure," Darvill told LiveScience

From the sheer engineering point of view I thought the consensus has always been the big five trilithons first, then the sarsen ring and then infill with Bluestones. It is hard to see how they could have erected the big stones if they had to work round the Welsh stones. So I see nothing new there. But what is new is the idea that the Bluestones were not onsite or had not been used at Stonehenge before. Not in the QR holes nor in the Aubrey holes, nowhere.

Without access to the paper I don't know what they base this idea on.

Gowland's report from 1901 describes in detail the stones found when he dug round Stone 56 and under 55. He found Bluestone chippings at depth in all the holes, suggesting that the stones were erected when there was Bluestone debitage on the surface.  This would support the idea that the Bluestones arrived before the Sarsens and had been used and worked before they were removed from their holes to allow the erection of the Sarsens and the remodelling of Stonehenge and then put back in their present positions, plus or minus some further fine tuning.