The age of Stonehenge

Parker-Pearson., M.; Cleal, R.; Marshall, P.; Needham, S.; Pollard, J.; Richards, C.; Ruggles, C.; Sheridan, A.; Thomas, J.; Tilley, C.; Welham, K.; Chamberlain, A.; Chenery, C.; Evans, J.; Knüsel, C.; Linford, N.; Martin, L.; Montgomery, J.; Payne, A.; Richards, M.P.

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00095624

The age of Stonehenge

Parker-Pearson., M.; Cleal, R.; Marshall, P.; Needham, S.; Pollard, J.; Richards, C.; Ruggles, C.; Sheridan, A.; Thomas, J.; Tilley, C.; Welham, K.; Chamberlain, A.; Chenery, C.; Evans, J.; Knüsel, C.; Linford, N.; Martin, L.; Montgomery, J.; Payne, A.; Richards, M.P.

Authors

M. Parker-Pearson.

R. Cleal

P. Marshall

S. Needham

J. Pollard

C. Richards

C. Ruggles

A. Sheridan

J. Thomas

C. Tilley

K. Welham

A. Chamberlain

C. Chenery

J. Evans

C. Knüsel

N. Linford

L. Martin

Professor Janet Montgomery janet.montgomery@durham.ac.uk
Professor

A. Payne

M.P. Richards

Abstract

Stonehenge is the icon of British prehistory, and continues to inspire ingenious investigations and interpretations. A current campaign of research, being waged by probably the strongest archaeological team ever assembled, is focused not just on the monument, but on its landscape, its hinterland and the monuments within it. The campaign is still in progress, but the story so far is well worth reporting. Revisiting records of 100 years ago the authors demonstrate that the ambiguous dating of the trilithons, the grand centrepiece of Stonehenge, was based on samples taken from the wrong context, and can now be settled at 2600-2400 cal BC. This means that the trilithons are contemporary with Durrington Walls, near neighbour and Britain's largest henge monument. These two monuments, different but complementary, now predate the earliest Beaker burials in Britain – including the famous Amesbury Archer and Boscombe Bowmen, but may already have been receiving Beaker pottery. All this contributes to a new vision of massive monumental development in a period of high European intellectual mobility….

Citation

Parker-Pearson., M., Cleal, R., Marshall, P., Needham, S., Pollard, J., Richards, C., …Richards, M. (2007). The age of Stonehenge. Antiquity, 81(313), 617-639. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00095624

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Sep 1, 2007
Deposit Date	Jul 14, 2009
Publicly Available Date	Jun 24, 2011
Journal	Antiquity
Print ISSN	0003-598X
Electronic ISSN	1745-1744
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	81
Issue	313
Pages	617-639
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00095624
Keywords	Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, Amesbury Archer, Stratigraphy, Radiocarbon dating, Beakers.