Stonehenge

I first saw Stonehenge in 1966, on the day England won the world cup. After reading Richard Atkinson’s 1956 book on the monument I decided I wanted to be an archaeologist, and to my complete astonishment, in 1979 I found myself directing an excavation there (a story I have told in Hengeworld, and elsewhere: right of centre in the photo above you can see the Heelstone in the distance, shimmering against the rising sun – we showed there used to be a stone in the space to its left). One way and another I have never really been able to escape from the stones, and much of my journalism, photography and original research has been inspired by the place.

You will find my Stonehenge posts here. I’ve answered quite a few common questions about Stonehenge on the Welcome page.

Select Stonehenge works

(For general reading about the archaeology of Stonehenge, see this list I compiled in 2008, bearing in mind that much excavation and research has since been conducted and has yet to be fully published.)

2009

A year at Stonehenge. Antiquity 83, 184–94

2008

A photo by Bill Brandt, and the intimacy of perceptions of Stonehenge and landscape. Landscapes 9, 1–27

Stonehenge: now what? British Archaeology 99, 10–15

The henge builders. Archaeology Jan/Feb 2008, 48–55 (cover story)

Response: Stonehenge is unique – the road tunnel would have respected that. Guardian Mar 11

Stonehenge [review of recent excavations]. British Archaeology 102, 12–17 (with extra reading list online)

2007

A revised date for the early medieval execution at Stonehenge. Wiltshire Studies 100, 202–3 (with D Hamilton & A Reynolds)

Stonehenge. In Gaimster, D, McCarthy, S & Nurse, B (eds) Making History: Antiquaries in Britain 1707–2007 (London: Royal Academy of Arts), 227–31

2006

The real Stonehenge. Society of Antiquaries of London presentation, May 5

Letters to Times (with Julian Richards & Aubrey Burl) Feb 23, Guardian Jun 17, Daily Telegraph Jun 24 (on the A303 tunnel)

2005

Hysteria gloom and foreboding [Allan Sorrell at Stonehenge]. British Archaeology 83 (Jul/Aug), 16–19

Stonehenge… Live. Channel 5, June 20–21

2003

A future for Stonehenge. Current Archaeology 185, 197–201 (with J Richards)

Stonehenge for All. Report for English Heritage (66,000 words)

Don’t knock the ancestors. Antiquity 77, 172–8

Obituary Gerald Hawkins. Guardian 24 July

2002

An Anglo-Saxon decapitation and burial at Stonehenge (with Alex Bayliss, Jacqueline McKinley, Anthea Boylston, Paul Budd, Jane Evans, Carolyn Chenery, Andrew Reynolds & Sarah Semple). Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine 95, 131–46

2001

Hengeworld (2nd ed). Arrow

2000

Hengeworld. Century

Murder at Stonehenge. Channel 4

1987

Three exhibited photos in Visions of Stonehenge, Southampton City Art Gallery

1982

On the road to Stonehenge: report on investigations beside the A344 in 1968, 1979 and 1980. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 48, 75–132

1981

Stones, pits and Stonehenge. Nature 290, 46–7

The discovery of a new stone at Stonehenge. Archaeoastronomy 4.2, 16–21

Excavation in 1979 looking west, emptying the stone pit beside the Heelstone. Crouching on the grass are Richard Atkinson (left) and Mike Pitts; standing are Andrew Saunders and Collin Bowen; in trench are Hilary Howard and Sue Davies (photo A ApSimon)