History Forum / General / Archaeology / February 2007

Ritual piece of Stonehenge discovered
Feb 20 2007

Sam Burson, Western Mail

A MISSING stone which could be an integral part of rituals at Stonehenge
may have been discovered by a Welsh archaeologist.

Dennis Price, pictured below, who has done years of research on the
mysterious stone structure, believes he has tracked down a previously
lost altar stone, identified during one of the first studies of the site
in the 17th century.

He is convinced it is now in two pieces on either side of a road in a
Wiltshire village, just a couple of miles from Stonehenge itself.

Mr Price, who is from Monmouthshire, and now based in Exeter, has studied
the archaeology of Stonehenge for years, and in 2003 filmed the
excavation of the graves of the Welsh Boscombe Bowmen who helped build
Stonehenge.

He believes the stones found used to be the altar stone which was named
and described by 17th century architect Inigo Jones.

Jones, one of his era's most prominent architects, was the first person
known to have carried out detailed measurements of Stonehenge. He did so
in 1620.

Now Price, 47, says he can account for the altar stone's history.

The stones are made of Jurassic limestone - found in Dorset and the
Cotswolds, but not locally. It is known not all stones used in Stonehenge
were Welsh Preseli bluestone.

And the stones, if put together, would look remarkably similar to one in
a Victorian woodcut picture he has acquired. Price believes the stone was
taken from the site in the Victorian era, when such raids were
commonplace.

He said, "We have a woodcut of an easily carved stone with a distinctive
shape being cut in two at Stonehenge, and we have accounts of a curious
altar stone as described by Inigo Jones being transported to somewhere
called St James. We have drawn a blank at the Palace of St James, but
when we look at the nearby village of Berwick St James, we find two
standing stones that once formed two bridges across a stream, and if we
mentally reunite the parts, they bear an uncanny resemblance to the stone
in the woodcut.

"There is always the possibility, however remote, that a few centuries
ago, someone trekked either to Dorset or to the Cotswolds and back again
with two ungainly and extremely heavy pieces of stone to make two bridges
across a small stream in a tiny village in Wiltshire, while ignoring the
established and well-documented practice of retrieving perfectly suitable
stone from Stonehenge, just a few miles north."

He added, "On the balance of probabilities, there can be little doubt
that Inigo Jones's fabled and once-lost altar stone from Stonehenge now
stands in two pieces in a nearby village either side of a small lane, in
plain view of anyone who wishes to inspect them. There can also be little
if any doubt that our ancestors went to great pains to select this stone
and to transport it from either Dorset or the Cotswolds to Stonehenge,
where it formed an integral part of the ancient observances and
ceremonies there over four thousand years ago."

Dr Julie Gardiner from Wessex Archaeology, a leading authority on
Stonehenge, said many stones had been taken from the site.

She said, "Lots have been broken up and taken away, especially by the
Victorians."

She added one "altar stone" was already accounted for, but admitted there
could be more.

Dr Gardiner said, "There is a stone called the altar stone, which is
still at the site. It's under a larger stone and would have been knocked
over when it fell.

"But a lot of stones have been removed, and may have been given any
number of names."

http://tinyurl.com/ypncoj