Journal of Nordic Archaeological Science 14, pp. 45–60 (2004) The Stonehenge Riverside project Research design and initial results Mike Parker Pearson*1, Colin Richards2, Mike Allen3, Andrew Payne4 & Kate Welham5 * Corresponding author (
[email protected]) 1 Dept of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West street, Sheffield, S1 4ET, UK 2 Dept of Archaeology & Art History, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK 3 Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum, Salisbury, UK 4 English Heritage, Fort Cumberland, Eastney, Portsmouth, UK 5 School of Conservation Sciences, University of Bournemouth, Bournemouth, UK Stonehenge was in use throughout the third millennium , within a land- scape of linked Neolithic and Early Bronze Age timber, chalk and earth monu- ments. Its stone phase began probably in the mid-third millennium and its famous sarsens were erected around the same time that the henge enclosure of Durrington Walls with its timber circles was constructed three miles upstream along the River Avon. The river may have been significant as a link between the living and the dead, represented in the use of perishable wood and per- manent stone materials. This theory has been elaborated to develop expecta- tions about the landscape which may be investigated on the ground. One of these is the expectation that Durrington Walls was connected to the river by an access in a similar way that Stonehenge is linked to the river by the Avenue. This paper sets out the research design for a new project “Stonehenge river- side” and reports on the findings of the 2003 field season. Keywords: Stonehenge, Woodhenge, Neolithic, Bronze Age, landscape, monuments “For what it’s worth, I predict that one day this cen- methods such as geophysical survey (David & Payne tury there will be a hugely important archaeological 1997), archive research (Cleal et al.