Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Stonehenge's huge support settlement

Yesterday's BBC Radio 4's programme Secrets of Stonehenge (U.K.) has provided an update about the state of knowledge about the broader human landscape associated with Stonehenge in Wessex.

Archaeologists working near Stonehenge have uncovered what they believe is the largest Neolithic settlement ever discovered in Northern Europe.

Remains of an estimated 300 houses are thought to survive under earthworks 3km (2 miles) from the famous stone rings, and 10 have been excavated so far.

But there could have been double that total according to the archaeologist leading the work.

"What is really exciting is realising just how big the village for the Stonehenge builders was," says Professor Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University.

Allowing four per house, he estimates there could have been room for more than 2,000 people.


See the above page for the full story.