Investigations at Stonehenge as influenced by the European Cultural Dialectic

(adapted from Sherratt, 1996; Figure 1)

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  • 1620. Duke of Buckingham excavated in Stonehenge.
  •  1620’s. Indigo Jones conducted the first scientific survey.
  • 1666. John Aubrey surveyed Stonehenge.
  •  1721-1724. William Stukeley surveyed and excavated Stonehenge and its field monuments.
  • 18th/19th century, William Cunnington and Sir Richard Colt Hoare excavated c. 300 barrows within the area.
  • 1839. Capt. Beamish excavated in Stonehenge.
  • 1880. Prof. Petrie produced an enumerated plan.
  • 1901.  Prof. William Gowland recorded and excavated around stone number 56 at Stonehenge.
  •  1917.  P Farrer excavated the Stonehenge Cursus.
  •  1919-1926.  Col. William Hawley extensively excavated in advance of restoration programmes at Stonehenge for the Office of Works and later for the Society of Antiquaries.
  •  1926-28.   Mr and Mrs Cunnington excavated Woodhenge after aerial photography had identified its true form in 1925.  Also four circles and an earth work enclosure were excavated south of Woodhenge.
  •  1930’s.  Laidler and Young instigated a ‘field-walking’ survey of flint scatters at a domestic site near Stonehenge.
  •  Late 1940’s-1964.  Profs. Atkinson and Piggott and Dr Stone published Hawley’s work, and re-excavated some of Hawley’s trenches and undisturbed areas within Stonehenge.
  • 1950’s-1960’s.  Ministry of Public Buildings and Works contracted out work within the Stonehenge area.
  •  1960-1962.  Paul Ashbee, Martin Bell and Edwina Proudfoot excavated Wilsford Shaft. 
  • 1960’s.  Ashbee excavated a number of the barrows at Amesbury.
  • 1964.  Nicholas Thomas excavated the Neolithic causewayed camp at Robin Hood’s Ball, Shrewton.
  • 1966-1968.  Geoffrey Wainwright and I H Longworth excavated Durrington Walls in advance of the A345 road construction.
  • 1967-1968.  Faith Vatcher and Major Lance Vatcher excavated and recorded archaeology at Winterbourne Stoke and Wilsford, Normanton Down, and other rescure works within the vicinity of Stonehenge.
  • 1970.  Wainwright, Donaldson, Longworth, & Swan excavated the prehistoric and Romano-British settlements near Durrington Walls.
  • 1973.  Smith excavated part of the Stonehenge Avenue.
  • 1973 onwards.  Central Excavations Unit investigated in the Stonehenge area.
  • 1978.  John Evans re-excavated a 1954 cutting through the Stonehenge ditch and bank to take samples for snail analysis and carbon dating.
  •  1979.  RCHME produced an evaluation of the archaeological monuments originally defined by Richard Colt Hoare 170 years before.
  •  1979-1980.  Smith excavated Stonehenge car park.
  • 1980.  Mike Pitts excavated and surveyed Stonehenge and its surrounds.  He located a hole belonging to a previously unknown stone close to the Heal Stone.
  • 1980 onwards.  Trust for Wessex Archaeology has carried out a number of investigations using survey, excavation and post-excavation techniques.
  •  1984.  Green and Rollo-Smith excavated eighteen round barrows near Shrewton.
  •  1990-1996.  Prof. Timothy Darvill carried out assessments and field evaluations in advance of the Stonehenge Conservation and Management Programme.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
     
     
     

All materials are copyright to the Stonehenge Research Project, Bournemouth University, 2001, unless stated otherwise.
Last updated 15th June 2001