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 all my Stonehenge posts here. I’ve answered quite a few common questions about Stonehenge on the Welcome page. This rant about a TV production, and what’s really going on at Stonehenge, was one of my post popular blogs ever: Operation Stonehenge: what the TV films left out (October 7 2014).
I followed progress as the new visitor facilities and landscape improvements were implemented, and more recently I’m keeping an eye on the road tunnel debate. You can watch the changes at the posts listed below, with many photos (other strictly archaeological Stonehenge posts are not listed here):
What did the world heritage site mean to people who built Stonehenge? Nothing (April 8 2017): A walk along part of the proposed A303 southern route
The strange case of the dog in the Stonehenge tunnel (October 18 2016):
“secret excavations” (and a mesolithic dog tooth goes walkabout)
Tunnel truths (October 29 2015): ICOMOS visits Stonehenge
What has the mesolithic got to do with Stonehenge? Not a lot (September 19 2015): claims about Blick Mead
The boring Stonehenge story takes off again (December 1 2014): latest tunnel announcement
The weeds are starting to grow at Stonehenge (May 9 2014): bedding in, spring arrives (The eagle eyed might spot Will Self in some of my photos, he wrote about the day in the Guardian, Will Self: has English Heritage ruined Stonehenge?)
Is new Stonehenge centre a disaster? (Feb 20 2014): immediate visitor responses, photos of Stonehenge, and “neolithic” houses going up
More snapshots at Stonehenge (Dec 18 2013): photos the day before it opened to the public
The new Stonehenge centre (Dec 17 2013): photos as it readies to open
A344 memories: Real archaeology at Stonehenge, as work continues to remove the road and car park (Aug 28 2013): photos from 1979/80 and 2013
Digging up the A344 (Jun 27 2013): photos showing the A344 newly closed off, and works elsewhere to roads
Spring (or is it summer?) (Jun 1 2013): photos of the (old) visitor centre
Stonehenge is changing (May 7 2013): photos of construction work at Airman’s Corner
Out in Wiltshire (Sep 12 2012): photos as roadworks at Airman’s Corner progress
The Airmen take off (Jun 26 2012): Airman’s Cross is removed and work starts in the field
And here’s another document I like (Jun 5 2012): job adverts and notices for the planned operation
Visiting Stonehenge 10 years ago (May 9 2012): photos of the Stonehenge car park in 2002
Visits to Stonehenge, 185 years apart (May 2 2012): photos of the car park and the stones in 2012
Airman’s Cross 1912–2012 (Apr 16 2012): before the works began
The metaphorical first turf (Apr 15 2012): English Heritage announces that it is ready to start creating a new Stonehenge landscape
A quick spin around Stonehenge (Dec 21 2011): discussion of road changes and problems with byways
How much is Stonehenge really “cancelled”? (Jun 18 2010): reflections on an announcement that the proposed Stonehenge visitor centre had been cancelled
Why axe Stonehenge Visitor Centre? (Jun 17 2010): a popular, effective and cheap solution supposedly scrapped by the government in its first round of project savings
The new new Stonehenge visitor centre (Sep 7 2009): first sight of plans that came to fruition in 2014
Stonehenge: still a choice (Aug 14 2009): text based on a presentation I gave to the Society of Antiquaries in London, May 2006
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.)
2016
The dead of Stonehenge (with C Willis, P Marshall, J McKinley, J Pollard, C Richards, J Richards, J Thomas, T Waldron, K Welham & M Parker Pearson). Antiquity 90, 337–56.
The Stonehenge people: senior and high status… and not all men (with M Parker Pearson, C Willis et al). British Archaeology 147, 26–33.
2014
New era for Stonehenge (with C Chippindale, C Gosden, N James & C Scarre). Antiquity 88, 644–57.
Seven (new) things to do when you visit Stonehenge. British Archaeology 137, 16–23.
2013
Context & significance of the stone assemblages, in A re-examination of rhyolitic bluestone “debitage” from the Heelstone & other areas within the Stonehenge Landscape, by RA Ixer & RE Bevins, Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine 106, 13–14
Introduction to A Year at Stonehenge (Frances Lincoln), photos by James O Davies
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
Mike Pitts – Digging Deeper 
To Mike Pitts
Would they move the large rocks during the winter over the frozen ground to stonehenge to set them in the summer ?
No – the climate was as warm if not warmer than now. I’ve more on my blog http://www.sarsen.org about moving the rocks.
I think that to answer how rocks were moved we should answer how the 67 ft megalith at Carnac was moved-this is another order of difficulty.Stonehenge must have been a piece of cheese in comparison.
This is (to me) a surprisingly common question. I commented on it at some length elsewhere on the site (on the Welcome page, https://mikepitts.wordpress.com/about/)
Dear Mr. Pitts,
greetings from Saalfeld, Germany.
I just saw you in a reportage about Stonehenge here on German TV. Some folks there were trying to lift up bigger stones with the help of bigger pieces of woods (truncs) in order to find out how the “ancients” might have managed to build these megalithic structures like Stonehenge. You were also interviewed in this reportage..
The ancient pyramids are probably even a bigger mystery. But for those with open eyes and ears no secret will remain for all too long..
Let me tell you that I had actually watched a really good reportage about the ancient giants (= nephilim) and that they were the teachers and rulers of mankind at one point in time. These giants were also the beings who built these ancient megalithic structures.
Unfortunately or fortunately humanity did erase these giants during the “giant wars”. This did occur long before the Great Flood where God Himself then destroyed 99.9% of the world population.
You might remember the famous story of “David vs. Goliath”. Goliath was one of these ancient giants.
These giants had super brain capabilities (due to their larger heads and brains), and they were also much stronger, bigger and faster than we “standard humans”. So they usually took over and ruled society. But this has been no coincidence given the fact that these giants were the late offspring of the Annunaki “gods” that had come from “heaven”. So, they regularly considered themselves as something better and more special and they knew about their origin in comparison to us “standard” humans.
However, the standard humans frequently visited them to learn from them and sometimes forge cooperations. Many giants, – according to my information – were quite friendly and cooperative.
Giants did usually live in small communes, far away from the “ordinary / standard ” human settlements. They did not like to be constantly around with us. Why, I have no idea.. Interestingly, giants used to smell a lot and they did live totally different life styles than we do..
The giants knew a lot about the ancient energy lines within earth. They knew and understood the sciences and mathematics far better than we do, even today. The giants did probably also understand concepts like levitation space travel, wormholes, quantum mechanics, concepts of creation, etc.
If you search on youtube, you can find lots of fantastic videos about them:
E.g.: The Nephilim (Biblical Giants) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m88EShXlaw&t=436s
We humans are probably simply too naiv and at the same time too blind about our own mistkes and weaknesses and we do not even remember our very own past!
Instead we have been having war after war after war as if our standard human generations have not learnt nothing at all.. This is just my obseveration. Apologies if I am wrong.
Maybe the giants had been “fallen” too, and maybe this is why they potentially had difficulties on earth. Maybe this is why they got extinct themselves in the end..
In any case, don’t forget that we all – all of humanity – have actually always been related and connected to each other one way or another. I observe at the same time that even we “modern day people” forget this fact.
Blessings,
Christian Bernd Jesus Alber
[07318] Saalfeld, Germany
http://www.facebook.com/christian1alber
http://stone-lord.blogspot.co.uk/
A new, fictional interpretation of the tale of Arthur, set back in prehistory and using
real archaeology and anthropological evidence from the Stonehenge landscape where I’ve lived and worked these last six years. Marden, Durrington and Avebury are featured. When it comes out in the Autumn you can have a copy, Mike. I’d be curious to see what you think!
Washington’s Testament, 21 January 1653
Little Braxted, Essex County, England
On his deathbed Rev. Lawrence Washington (1602-1653) ancestor of U.S. first President George Washington (1732-1799) who inherited from his father Sir Lawrence Washington (1579-1643) ownership of Stonehenge in Great Britain said;
Embedded in the Ancient’s Concrete mixture of 1 part Bluestone and 3 parts Limestone cement, four feet (4 ft, 1.2 m) below my Helestone in Wilts, is my brass Altar of Burnt Offering (5c-5c-3c) containing my Seven (7) golden Tabernacle relics:
My gold Mercy Seat (2.5c-1.5c), my gold Ark of the Testimony (2.5c-1.5c-1.5c), my gold Table for the Shewbread (2c-1c-1.5c), my gold Candlestick, my gold Ephod-Girdle, my gold Breastplate, and my gold Altar of Incense (1c-1c-2c), are there.
Elizabeth Washington, baptized at
Tring Parish, 17 August 1636
Herefordshire, England
http://books.google.com/books?id=zq4UAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA237#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.sulgravemanor.org.uk/pages/56/rev_lawrence.asp
Click to access washington.pdf
1697
Just a thought but would it have been possible as well as easier to raft the stones along rivers and across somerset if flooded. Then where the path leads up to Stonehenge you use the wet logs of the raft to provide lubrication to pull the raft over timbers placed along the path. You pull up side on to top of first part of path and then end on up to where the stones stand now
Good news mates. Druid leader King Arthur Pendragon does not oppose Radiocarbon (C-14) dating of Jewish Moses’ bones and Rev. Washington’s artefacts below Heelstone. (BBC News-16 May 2013). King Arthur Pendragon claims the Druid cremated bones (2008) are remains of the royal line, but not Jewish Moses’ bones (2013) and other Rev. Washington’s artefacts. “We shall not take this development lightly and will oppose any such intention by English Heritage at Stonehenge,” said King Arthur Pendragon.
Dig programme.
Hi Mike. Really good site. Good work. Me and a friend are trying to work out which of the “Stonehenges” (I assume it must be a good replica somewhere) is the one being constructed in the photos on the page below. I’ve pretty much ignored the text which accompanies the photos. It’s just the photos which are baffling. Any light on this would be welcome. Cheers.
http://tranceworldnews.com/home/?p=785
Hi Mateo, thanks for your comments, glad you like the site. This idea that Stonehenge was built in the 1950s (which is what the article on your link claims) is one of the silliest conspiracy theories I’ve come across. But people do ask about it, so here is why its promoters are either mendacious or stupid:
1. Stonehenge was around before the 20th century: there are late medieval illustrations that show it looking pretty much as it does today, and a survey done in 1740 showing it almost exactly as it is now.
2. Much of Salisbury Plain has been under military use since the late 19th century, a function of it being what was then the largest area of barely inhabited open land in southern England – and ever since almost completely uninhabited. Stonehenge is immediately south of that area, so the site, or the immediate environs, have inevitably got caught up in various military activities from time to time. But there is no link between Stonehenge and the military.
3. There was a major restoration programme (not the first) at Stonehenge in the late 1950s. Stones known to have fallen in recent times were re-erected and set in concrete. It’s all been widely described, one recent example being in my preface to James O Davies’ book of Stonehenge photos published last year by English Heritage.
The photos in “SHOCK: 1954 PHOTOS SHOW STONEHENGE BEING BUILT” are all real, showing restoration work at Stonehenge. They are a small selection from the English Heritage archives website: click through here http://www.englishheritagearchives.org.uk/results/results.aspx?t=Quick&l=all&cr=stonehenge&io=True&so=dateoldestfirst
Cheers Mike. That clears that up. I never gave the claims much attention. It was the photos that baffled me. So thanks for the reply. I’m well aware that some renovations of historical sites often change considerably said sites. I’d love to hear what you have to say on that issue. I’m also aware that it can be a touchy and controversial subject in your profession.
Superficially, at least, things have been pretty well done at Stonehenge, in that restoration has not sought to change or rebuild the monument – it really does now look pretty much as it did before 1797 (three stones that fell then were repositioned in 1958), the main differences being relatively minor surface damage and weathering and one or two visible patches of concrete. What is more controversial is how the work was done, as in both of the major restoration events (1920s and 1958–64) archaeological intervention went beyond what was strictly required for reasons of conservation, and was not always well done even by standards of the time.
Mike, I have just watched a very interesting documentary in which you feature which used a Bronze Age sewn plank construction boat called ‘Holgar’ to move a bluestone towards Stonehenge. Where can I find more information on this, has anyone published on this and related technology or thinking? I have an interest in transportation in prehistory, particularly the use of rivers for transport and communication, which also encompasses water tables, river depths and changes to river structures through time. Any advice or pointers would be gratefully received. Thanks, Simon
Where did you see it? Assuming it’s what I think it is the film was about one of three sewn boat experiments done at around the same time. The Morgawr is a full-scale “replica” based on remains from Ferriby, launched in Falmouth in 2013. She was made with replica bronze age tools (see British Archaeology May/Jun 2013/130, page 8). I don’t know of any academic publications about the project yet. A half-scale replica was made of the bronze age Dover boat in Kent, and successfully launched in the sea in late 2013; British Archaeology featured the project in the Sep/Oct 2012/126 edition (search online for Dover boat “Beyond the Horizon”). A third was made specifically for a TV film which has not yet been broadcast: a proper sewn boat, but not documented in the same way as the other two.
It was on the Discovery History channel, broadcast last week. The constructor of the boat was Swallow Boats in Cardigan (http://www.swallowboats.com/news/swallow-boats-build-bronze-age-boat), you featured and the University of Exeter were also credited. As I mention in my post it is of interest to me as the whole issue of river navigability and boat construction of the period interests me. I am a part time Archaeology student at the University of Bristol, which goes some way towards explaining my obscure interest. So, any more information or written papers would be of great interest
I guess it has been broadcast then! I was brought in to talk about the boat that was made in Wales (and impressive it was), but I wasn’t involved with its construction. The key people to talk to are those who took part in the Falmouth and Dover projects, both of which you can find online. When I’ve seen the film, I might post some photos I took at the time.
Thanks
Hi Mike,
I am currently conducting a multi-tiered research project on burials at Stonehenge as a project for one of my undergraduate courses at Juniata College. I would love to interview you via Skype, phone call, or email. What is the best way I can contact you?
Hi Paige. You can email me at British Archaeology magazine here: editor@archaeologyUK.org