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Abstract
An extensive high-resolution geophysical survey covering 2 km2 was undertaken to the north of Stonehenge in June and October 2011. The survey is important in providing, for the first time, abundant detail on the form and structure of the Stonehenge Cursus, including the recognition of entrances in both of the long sides. Much additional information about the internal form of round barrows in the Cursus Round Barrow Cemetery, the course of the Avenue, the course of the so-called Gate Ditch, and numerous tracks and early roads crossing the landscape was recorded. A series of previously unrecognized features were identified: a pit-arc or cove below a barrow on the west side of King Barrow Ridge, a square-shaped feature surrounded by pits on the east side of Stonehenge Bottom, and a linear ditch on the same solstical axis, and parallel to, the southern section of the Stonehenge Avenue. An extensive scatter of small metallic anomalies marking the position of camping grounds associated with the Stonehenge Free Festival in the late 1970s and early 1980s raise interesting conservation and management issues.
En juin et octobre 2011, une vaste prospection géophysique à haute résolution fût effectuée sur une surface de deux kilomètres carrés au nord de Stonehenge. L'importance de cette étude réside dans le fait que pour la première fois on a pu obtenir d'abondants détails sur la forme et la structure du Cursus de Stonehenge, avec l'identification d'entrées sur les deux côtés longs. Une grande quantité d'informations supplémentaires sur la forme interne des tumuli ronds dans le Cursus Round Barrow Cemetery (cimetière des tumuli ronds du Cursus), sur le cours de l'Avenue ainsi que sur le cours du soi-disant Gate Ditch (fossé de la porte) a pu être récoltée. De plus, de nombreuses traces et anciens chemins traversant le paysage ont été enrégistrées. Toute une série de structures non identifiées préalablement ont pu être reconnues: une fosse en forme d'arc ou caverne en-dessous d'un tumulus du côté ouest du King Barrow Ridge, une structure carrée entourée de fosses du côté est de Stonehenge Bottom, et un fossé linéaire sur le même axe solstical et parrallèle à la partie méridionale de la Stonehenge Avenue. Un vaste éparpillement de petites anomalies métalliques marquant l'emplacement du camping associé au Stonehenge Free Festival fin des années 1970 et début des années 1980 soulève un intéressant éventail de questions sur la conservation et la gestion. Translation by Isabelle Gerges.
Im Juni und Oktober 2011 wurde nördlich von Stonehenge eine hochauflösende geophysikalische Prospektion auf einer Gesamtfläche von 2 km2 durchgeführt. Diese Prospektion lieferte zum ersten Mal detaillierte Aufschlüsse über Form und Struktur des Stonehenge Kursus, und es gelang, mehrere Zugänge in beiden Langseiten der Anlage zu identifizieren. Darüberhinaus konnten sehr viele Detailinformationen zur inneren Gliederung und zum Aufbau von Rundhügeln im Barrow Hügelgräberfeld, zum Verlauf der Avenue und zum Verlauf des sogenannten Torgrabens sowie zahlreicher neu entdeckter Wagenspuren gewonnen werden, die kreuz und quer über das gesamte prospektierte Gelände verlaufen. Eine ganze Reihe weiterer bis dato unbekannter Objekte konnte identifiziert werden: eine bogenförmige Grubenstruktur unter einem Grabhügel im Westen des 'King Barrow Ridge', eine rechteckige, von Gruben kreisförmig umgebene Struktur östlich des Stonehenge Tiefs, sowie ein linear auf der Sonnenwenden-Achse und parallel zum südlichen Abschnitt der Stonehenge Avenue verlaufender Graben. Ein dichter Schleier von kleinen metallischen Anomalien kennzeichnet die Fläche eines Zeltplatzlagers, das während der Stonehenge Festivals in den späten 70er und frühen 80er Jahren genutzt wurde, und wirft neue Fragen zu Konservierungs- und Managementstrategien auf.
Acknowledgements
Funding and technical support for this research was provided by Bournemouth University, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI), and SENSYS Sensorik und Systemtechnologie GmbH (Bad Saarow). For discussions, field assistance, and help with data processing, we thank Günter Bochmann, Vanessa Constant, Elke Dommagk, Patrick Mertl, Nils Müller-Scheeßel, Georg Schafferer, Jana Schuseil, Torsten Stascheit, and Rainer Vogel. The surveys were carried out under an Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (as amended) Section 42 Licence issued by English Heritage on 12 May 2011 and 16 September 2001 (Ref. AA/80000/5) and Archaeological Research Agreements issued by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty on 31 May 2011 and 20 October 2011. We would like to thank Dr Amanda Chadburn (English Heritage) and Dr Nicola Snashall and Janet Tomlin (National Trust) for facilitating licensing and access arrangements, Mike Dando (National Trust) for his enthusiasm and practical help, and tenant farmers Robert Turner, Phillip Sawkill, and Huge Morrison for access to the survey area. The preliminary results of the research were made public at a seminar for English Heritage and National Trust staff that was held in Avebury on 24 October 2011. Robin Skeates and the four anonymous referees who commented on a draft of the paper are thanked for their efforts and suggestions.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Timothy Darvill
Timothy Darvill is Professor of Archaeology in Bournemouth University, UK. He is a prehistorian and an active field archaeologist. His research interests are: prehistoric Britain, Neolithic northwest Europe, and archaeological resource management. His book Prehistoric Britain was published in its second edition in 2010 by Routledge. In 2008, together with Professor Geoff Wainwright, he excavated within the central stone setting at Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Current projects include fieldwork on the Neolithic sites in the Preseli Hills of west Wales, in the Cotswolds in central England, on Malta, and in North Germany.
Address: Archaeology Group, School of Applied Sciences, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, United Kingdom [email: [email protected]]
Friedrich Lüth
Friedrich Lüth is a director and Professor at the headquarters of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin. He is a prehistorian, an active field archaeologist, and a former state conservator at Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania. His research interests are mainly in the seventh to fourth millennium cal BC with a special focus on climate change, coastal change, and the implications of these on social behaviour. Current projects include fieldwork on Neolithic sites in North Germany, France, England, Malta, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and the Ukraine.
Address: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Podbielskialle 69–71, D-14195 Berlin, Germany [email: [email protected]]
Knut Rassmann
Knut Rassmann is a researcher at the Römisch-Germanische Kommission of the German Archaeological Institute in Frankfurt. He is a prehistorian with special interests in the Neolithic monuments and settlements of eastern, central, and northern Europe. Current projects include fieldwork on Neolithic sites in Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, and the Ukraine.
Address: Römisch-Germanische Kommission, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Palmengartenstraße 10–12, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany [email: [email protected]]
Andreas Fischer
Andreas Fischer is the founder and owner of SENSYS, a Germany-based company. He is an electronic engineer specialized in data processing of X-ray images and magnetic field signatures. In his company, research work in electromagnetic fields is undertaken as is the development and production of magnetometers for a wide variety of applications. With the potential of detecting very low magnetic anomalies SENSYS developed special data acquisition systems for archaeological surveys.
Address: SENSYS Sensorik und Systemtechnologie GmbH, Rabenfelde 5, 15526 Bad Saarow, Germany [email: [email protected]]
Kay Winkelmann
Kay Winkelmann is a consulting engineer in the fields of unexploded ordnance (UXO) detection, engineering geophysics and archaeological prospection. Since 2008, together with the German Archaeological Institute, he has conducted large-scale magnetometry surveys on project sites in Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Slovakia, Spain, and the UK.
Address: Dr Kay Winkelmann, Tannenweg 83, 13587 Berlin, Germany [email: [email protected]]