stonehenge - English Heritage

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135-150 section 4.qxd 6/21/05 4:29 PM Page 127 venture involving specialist teams from a number of universities using externally derived initiative funding. Short or medium term in its execution, it would be set within the context of exploiting development-related opportunities wherever possible and targeted investigation. Objective 3: Modelling environment and landscape change One of the great fascinations of the Stonehenge area in particular is the long-term pattern of how periodically people and natural forces transformed the landscape. In many ways the Stonehenge Landscape represents a microcosm of this over much wider areas, and also provides a way of communicating this particular piece of research to a wider audience. Over the last 150 years, there have been more studies undertaken within a relatively limited compass than for almost any area of the country, not least through the numerous extensive surveys undertaken in connection with management initiatives over recent decades. This evidence needs to be synthesized and used. Critical here is the use of environmental data in order to help reconstruct the local environment and answer some of the ‘what it was like’ questions (English Heritage 2000, 4.7.6). Although a fair amount of data relating to environmental change is already available from within the Stonehenge Landscape it has been gathered as and when it can within the context of other determining factors. As a result it is patchy and there are gaps in coverage both spatially and chronologically. A programme of sampling to achieve highquality environmental reconstruction is urgently needed. The results will form a major component of future interpretative and presentational materials. Like the dating programme (Objective 2), use can be made of antiquarian excavations to recover samples from existing sections. This objective should be pursued whenever development-related opportunities arise, and may also be relevant in cases of relatively minor management works. Targeted investigations will be needed as well, and this can be done in conjunction with monument dating work. Objective 4: Understanding occupation Finding out where the builders and users of Stonehenge lived is widely perceived as a key issue, although not without problems in terms of how it can be resolved. A primary objective is therefore to identify the ‘signature’ of the sort of settlements (using the term here in a general sense) that might be expected within the Stonehenge Landscape. Key data sets can then be reviewed. One is the concentrations of surface lithics that have been identified and characterized, but which we know little about in terms of what lies beneath them. Stray finds also need to be considered, residual material in the matrix of later monuments, and the structure and variability of identified pits and pit clusters. The objective needs some desk-based research to start with, followed by sample excavations and field-checking. It is one of the areas, however, where unexpected discoveries could make rapid advances. Every opportunity provided by development work and ground disturbance as a result of management works should be checked for postholes, pits, beam slots, and occupation debris. During the 1930s and 1940s this kind of observation was very successful around Countess Road, and it could be again. Especially important is the full investigation of medium and large areas along the Avon Valley where occupation is most strongly suggested. STONEHENGE AND RELATED MONUMENTS This second group of objectives relates to issues connected with specific monuments and our interpretation of them, including Stonehenge itself. Objective 5: The Stonehenge structural sequence, phasing, and interpretation The publication in 1995 of the twentieth-century excavations at Stonehenge (Cleal et al. 1995) allowed for the first time a clear view of the supporting evidence, or lack of it, for the main threefold phasing of Stonehenge. The report highlights many areas of uncertainty, the fact that many key features cannot be firmly attached to established core phases, and the plethora of other undated features. The post-Bronze Age history of the monument and its decay is hardly touched upon through the twentieth-century excavations and this needs to be solved. Many of these could be tied down with limited closely targeted excavation and re-excavation. This objective could be achieved in one season with relatively little damage to undisturbed deposits. It needs to be done under the direct control and patronage of English Heritage, although the participation of specialists and other interested parties is to be encouraged. Objective 6: The Avenue – ground checking geophysical anomalies and mapping The geophysical surveys carried out on the Avenue in 1990 revealed localized anomalies tentatively interpreted as pittype features and in some cases perhaps stone sockets on the line of the internal banks (Cleal et al. 1995, 506–10; Illustration 93). Testing this proposition is relatively straightforward and would involve the excavation of only about 25 square metres. If these anomalies are stone sockets then the conventional interpretative reconstructions of the Avenue will need to be significantly amended; Stonehenge would also fit more closely into the wider pattern of contemporary avenues, as at Avebury and Stanton Drew. Only a part of the Avenue has so far been surveyed and mapped using geophysical survey. Confirming the exact location and route of the remaining (eastern) section of the Avenue would be of very considerable benefit for the management of the site as well as being of importance for interpreting its construction and use. The first part of this objective could be undertaken as a straightforward piece of contract-based research that could be carried out by any one of a number of organizations over a short period. There would probably be considerable public interest in such an investigation and this should be factored into the project. Mapping the remaining length of the Avenue (east of Stonehenge Bottom) is a piece of nondestructive research which might make a valuable fieldtesting ground for new approaches, or the practical component of a geophysical training programme. Equally, the need for future management decisions relating to landuse patterns may provide a suitable opportunity to carry out and fund this work. 127
135-150 section 4.qxd 6/21/05 4:29 PM Page 128 Illustration 93 Geophysical surveys and excavations along the Avenue. [Based on Cleal et al. 1995, Plan 3, with additions.] Objective 7: Mapping the surfaces of the Stonehenge stones Although a number of attempts have been made to record the surfaces of the stones of Stonehenge in the past, none has been entirely successful and none has been useful in the analysis of carvings (ancient and modern). The availability of high-resolution laser scanners that can produce highly accurate surface models means that the technology is now available to overcome this long-overdue need. As well as providing a resource for the study of the carvings it also provides base-line data for monitoring the condition of the stones. The process is indirect in the sense that there need not be any direct contact with the stone surfaces, although a number of control points would need to be established to allow sections of the survey to be tied together. Either tied to this work or separately, further characterization of the stones themselves would be desirable, especially the ‘bluestones’. The use of a portable XRF device would allow the non-destructive analysis of the near-surface geochemistry of the stones and provide a quantitative study of intra-stone variability as well as inter-stone comparisons to complement the petrological studies and laboratory-based chemical analyses undertaken to date. This objective is a one-off short-term initiative in the first instance, repeatable at intervals (perhaps every 10 years or so) for monitoring purposes. Such monitoring might be done on a sample basis rather than with total coverage, as a full survey to the level of detailed required to measure change over short time periods would be very time-consuming. The data would be of interest to a wide range of researchers. Objective 8: Investigate the Palisade Ditch northwest of Stonehenge One of the little-known features of the Stonehenge Landscape whose potential importance was highlighted in the report on twentieth-century excavations is the Palisade Ditch northwest of Stonehenge revealed by excavations and perhaps also in geophysical surveys (Cleal et al. 1995, 154–60). The dating, constructional details and interpretation of this feature urgently require definition. Initially, a single well-placed excavation would provide most of the essential data, but tracing the feature to determine whether it is a linear boundary or an enclosure will require further geophysical survey in the area between the present A344 and the Stonehenge Cursus together with a series of targeted sample excavations to ground-truth the geophysical survey. Consideration must also be given to the relationship between the palisade ditch and the fieldsystems on Stonehenge Down. The implications for the interpretation of Stonehenge itself, whether for example this feature is an enclosure or a boundary, are very considerable. The broad similarity of the Stonehenge Palisade Ditch to the boundaries of the West Kennet enclosures near Avebury has been noted (cf. Whittle 1997b); this is an objective 128
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