The first archaeological dig since 1964 was begun last week at one of England’s most treasured sites, Stonehenge, and already a discovery has been made which has validated the scientists desire to dig in the first place.
Last week I reported about the beginning of the dig, which is being excavated under the watchful eye of Timothy Darvill, a leading Stonehenge scholar from Bournemouth University, and Geoffrey Wainwright, president of the Society of Antiquaries.
The BBC – who are funding the dig as part of a special program to be broadcast in the autumn – reported that “they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built.”
Professor Darvill is seen on the BBC article in several mini-videos, explaining aspects of the dig. In the first video he shows how they have continued on from Richard Atkinson’s prior digs at Stonehenge in 1964.
The team of archaeologists working at Stonehenge has reached a series of sockets that once held smaller bluestones, stones that have long since been taken away, but which have left behind fragments of their existence. Small pieces of bluestone, theorized to have been shattered or broken off the larger stones when they were removed, are being found in newfound stone sockets.
The sockets aren’t the only find though, with bits of pottery from as far back as two millennia BC, popping up. But the big find is the bluestones, because it gives way to reasons as to why it was built in the first place.
The bluestones were brought in from Preseli, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) away in Wales, because at the time they believed that the stones had healing properties. This has provoked the possible explanation of Stonehenge as being a healing site.
"The first week has gone really well," Professor Time Darvill, "We have broken through to these key features. It is a slow process but at the moment everything is going exactly to plan."
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
