History Forum / General / Archaeology / January 2007

On Jan 30, 1:08 pm, "Jack Linthicum" <jacklinthi...@earthlink.net>
wrote:

High angle picture of the site and the NY Times article and a lot of
instant symbolism and analysis of the site. This may be old stuff as
the discovery last summer is mentioned but we are entering the
National Geographic and public relations phase of the discovery.

Photo caption
Archaeologists at work within Durrington Walls, part of the Stonehenge
World Heritage site, in a project funded by National Geographic. In
the foreground is the faint outline of a small, square house; the
house's hearth stands in the center. A line of holes in the background
is what is left of a fence that once surrounded the house.

   *

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: January 30, 2007

New excavations near Stonehenge have uncovered hearths, timbers and
other remains of what archaeologists say was probably the village of
workers who erected the brooding monoliths on Salisbury Plain in
England.

The archaeologists announced today that the 4,600-year-old ruins
appear to form the largest Neolithic village ever found in Britain.
The houses at the site known as Durrington Walls were constructed in
the same period that Stonehenge, less than two miles away, was built
as a religious center presumably for worshippers of the Sun and their
ancestors.

Mike Parker Pearson, a leader of the excavations from Sheffield
University, said the discoveries last summer supported the emerging
recognition that the ring of standing stones and earthworks at
Stonehenge was part of a much larger religious complex.

In a teleconference conducted by the National Geographic Society, Dr.
Parker Pearson said a circle of ditches and earthen banks at
Durrington Walls enclosed concentric rings of huge timber posts -
"basically a wooden version of Stonehenge," he said.

The excavations exposed not only the timber circle but also a roadway
paved with stone leading to the Avon River, about 500 feet away, which
was similar to a river road from Stonehenge. The evidence, Dr. Parker
Pearson said, "shows us these two monuments were complementary" and
that "Stonehenge was just one-half of a larger complex."

The project, begun in 2003, is exploring the wider landscape of the
Stonehenge World Heritage site, about 100 miles southwest of London.
The research is directed by six British universities and financed in
part by the National Geographic.

Over the years, mystical Stonehenge has inspired a wide range of
conjecture, although it is now assumed that this was a place of
worship that seemed to be related to solar cults. A decade ago, more
precise radiocarbon tests dated the first constructions at Stonehenge
to 2600 to 2400 B. C., more than 600 years earlier than previous
estimates. The houses at Durrington have been dated to 2600 to 2500 B.
C.

Eight houses were discovered last September, and a broad survey
detected traces of many more buried over a wide area, the
archaeologists said. Each house, constructed of wattle and daub, was
no bigger than 14 to 16 feet square and had a hard clay floor and a
central fireplace. Indentations in the floor were interpreted as
postholes and slots that once anchored wooden furniture.

The occupants were a messy lot, the excavators concluded. Debris of
broken pots and jars and animal bones could be found everywhere. Some
of the people may have been builders of Stonehenge, the archaeologists
surmised, and others may have been pilgrims to the sacred complex
whose worship included lively feasting.

By contrast, Julian Thomas of Manchester University found neater house
remains in a western part of the Durrington site. The two excavated so
far were small, neat structures, each surrounded by its own ditch and
wood palisade and set apart from others in the vicinity. At least
three other such structures probably are buried nearby.

Dr. Thomas offered two possible interpretations in the telephone news
conference. These may have been dwellings of special people, chiefs or
priests. Or their cleanliness may mark them as not living quarters at
all, but places set aside as shrines and cult centers.

Scholars and other archaeologists not involved with the project
reserved judgment on the ramifications of the findings. But Dr. Parker
Pearson and Dr. Thomas emphasized the importance of the Durrington
roadway in understanding the two sites' intimate connection..

They said the road was paved with flint and led straight from the
Durrington enclosure to the Avon. A similar road at Stonehenge,
discovered in the 18th century, is aligned on the midsummer solstice
sunrise, the archaeologists noted, while the one at Durrington lines
up with the midsummer solstice sunset. Similarly, the Durrington
timber circle was aligned with midwinter solstice sunrise, while a
giant stone monument at Stonehenge frames the midwinter solstice
sunset.

Venturing into the bumpy field of Stonehenge interpretation, Dr.
Parker Pearson suggested that the durable stones of the better-known
site were a memorial and final resting place for the dead, and the
wood architecture at Durrington Walls symbolized the transience of
life. People from all over the region, he said, probably came there to
celebrate life and deposit the dead in the river for transport to the
afterlife.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/science/30cnd-stonehenge.html?
hp&ex=1170219600&en=2c4f736d5cfe3235&ei=5094&partner=homepage