Ancient graves and mysterious enclosure discovered at Stonehenge ahead of tunnel construction
By Tom Metcalfe - Live Science Contributor 2 hours ago
The grave of a woman in her 20s, crouched around a pot or beaker, was found by archaeologists only a short distance from the Neolithic stone circle at Stonehenge. It is thought to date from about 4,500 years ago.
(Image: © Wessex Archaeology)
Archaeological work ahead of the construction of a controversial road tunnel beside Stonehenge has led to the discovery of ancient graves, including one with the remains of a baby dating back more than 4,500 years; a strange earth enclosure; and prehistoric pottery, among other buried treasures.
Some of the finds may have been used by people who built the mysterious Neolithic monument, and all of the discoveries show that the region was inhabited by different ancient peoples for thousands of years.
"Collectively, [the finds] allow us to build up an ever-more-detailed picture of what people were doing and how they were living in the area around Stonehenge," Matt Leivers, a consultant archaeologist for Wessex Archaeology, told Live Science.
Related: In photos: A walk through Stonehenge
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Before breaking ground on the $2.4 billion project to move a nearby highway underground, U.K. authorities have tasked Wessex Archaeology with making a thorough investigation of the land above it. To do this, archaeologists walked the fields and created trenches and pits to test for archaeological remains and artifacts along the 2-mile-long (3 kilometers) strip where the road tunnel is planned, Leivers said in an email. The team was guided by surveys from the air and used geophysical survey equipment to look for land disturbed by digging and structures in the distant past.
Although the U.K. government approved the controversial Stonehenge tunnel in 2020, the project still faces legal challenges; opponents say it will damage one of the world's most precious ancient landscapes. The latest finds were made during preliminary studies of the area, before 18 months of full archaeological excavations are expected to begin later this year, Leivers said.
Beaker graves
Foremost among the latest finds are several graves, unearthed just to the southwest of the Stonehenge circle, that are thought to be from the Beaker culture, which is named after their practice of burying the dead with bell-shaped pottery drinking vessels. The Beaker people lived in Western Europe between 4,800 and 3,800 years ago, beginning in the Chalcolithic period when the first copper tools came into use. In one of the graves., the researchers found a simple pot alongside the remains of a baby, though only the ear bones remain. Another pit nearby contains the remains of a woman who died in her 20s, her body crouched around a relatively ornate pot or beaker. The research team also found a fragment of a copper awl or needle and a mysterious cylindrical shale object, perhaps part of a staff or club, in her grave.
Both graves are thought to be about 4,500 years old, which would make them about the same age as the smaller "bluestones" around and within the main circle of large sandstone "sarsens" at Stonehenge, Leivers said.
Buried caches of other ancient artifacts, including pottery vessels, flints, and deer antlers that may have been used for digging have also been found along the planned tunnel route.
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