STONEHENGE will be giving visitors a taste from the past in September as they launch their first ever Big Feast weekend.
Across the first weekend of September (next Saturday) the English Heritage site will be giving visitors an insight into some of the first ever meals tasted at the stones.
The Big Feast is coming to Stonehenge ©English Heritage
The Neolithic event will begin on Saturday, September 1, from 9.30am, and flints, roasting spits and stews will be just some of the historic touches to the feast, with celebration foods that have not been seen or tasted for around 4,500 years, including historical dish roasted pork shoulder with honey and blackberries.
Food demos will be held at the event so visitors can learn for themselves how to make a successful Neolithic dish, demonstrated with prehistoric- style cook-ware, and recipe cards will be provided so meals can be replicated within the home for years to come.
For those with a big appetite, history…
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How the current heatwave is providing unprecedented opportunities for archaeologists
Gold-rush style excitement as researchers scramble into aircraft and fly drones to find the outlines of previously hidden remains before the rain makes them disappear again.
Newly discovered crop marks showing the outline of a prehistoric or Roman farm near Langstone, Newport, south Wales (RCAHMW/SWNS)
The current heatwave is providing a near-unprecedented bonanza for archaeologists, as scorched conditions all over Britain expose the previously undiscovered or long-hidden outlines of everything from ancient fortifications to remnants of the Second World War.
In what was described as “a frantic race against time and weather”, archaeologists are scrambling into aeroplanes or flying drones to search for the outlines which are visible from the air as “crop marks”, before they are once more erased by rain.
In Wales alone the new discoveries have included an early medieval cemetery in south Gwynedd, a Roman villa in the Vale of Glamorgan, a prehistoric or Roman farm near Newport and a Roman fortlet near Magor, south Wales.
Members of the public are spotting the signs of everything from Bronze Age burial grounds in their local park to long-forgotten Second World War air raid shelters in back gardens and schools.
And for the professionals, something akin to archaeological gold-rush fever has set in.
“It’s hugely exciting,” said Louise Barker, a senior archaeological investigator at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW). “There have been whole new discoveries, covering all periods of time.
“Our senior aerial investigator Dr Toby Driver is flying all over Wales, going over landscapes and saying, ‘Oh my goodness, there is something I never expected down there.’ He says so much new archaeology is showing it is incredible.
“There probably hasn’t been anything like this for more than 40 years. It is pretty spectacular.”
Source: The Independent
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Stonehenge builders may have transported megaliths down ‘stone highway’ from Wales. Has the secret of Stonehenge been solved?
The mystery of how the gigantic rocks of Stonehenge were transported may finally have been solved.
A new study claims the huge hunks of hardened earth and minerals were moved from Welsh quarries on a ‘stone highway’ encompassing roads and rivers.
Experts have long been baffled by how the massive boulders were transported from Wales to Salisbury Plain.
Now, they believe they may have found the source for the stones as well as the route used to deliver them from Pembrokeshire to Wiltshire.
- New study claims to have uncovered the mystery of how Stonehenge was built
- Giant stones that made up the monolith were transported from Wales to England
- Experts are baffled as to how neolithic man moved them to Salisbury Plain
- New study claims ‘stone highways’ of roads and rivers were used
Stonehenge, located near Amesbury, in Wiltshire, is an iconic site but historians often debate the origins of its…
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World Heritage Day Event at Stonehenge: 18th April 2018
World Heritage Day 2018
A celebration across Wiltshire of everything that is unique and special about our World
Heritage Site. Join people in other World Heritage Sites around the globe in getting out, having fun and learning more about our internationally important heritage.
World Heritage Day is a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of the many things that are so special about the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site landscape and to help people explore and enjoy it. This year the theme is Heritage for Generations.
Why not get together across the generations with your family and friends and explore more about World Heritage right here in Wiltshire.
Our amazing partners have arranged special talks, walks and exhibitions, and there is a fun day for families too. Turn over for more detail about all of the events and visit
View the Event Flyer for the 2018 World Heritage Day: WHDleaflet_online_version-1
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Celebrating the building of Stonehenge may have been as important to Neolithic people as worshipping there
Building Stonehenge ‘may have been ceremonial celebration.
English Heritage will begin moving a replica stone on Friday using teams of volunteers in an “experiential archaeology” project
The arduous task of building Stonehenge may have been part of a ceremonial celebration, claim historians.
The circle in Wiltshire was built more than 4,000 years ago using bluestones from south Wales – a decision which has long baffled experts.
Susan Greaney, from English Heritage, said they now believed that Neolithic people did not want to make “things as easy and quick as possible”.
Building the monument was as important as “its final intended use,” she added.
Experts have tried to discover why the people who built Stonehenge chose to use some stones from the Preseli Hills, about 155 miles (250km) away.
The stones were probably transported via water networks and hauled over land, using a huge amount of labour over the long and…
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New theory over Stonehenge origins
THE community that built the Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Larkhill may have been the architects of the Stonehenge landscape, archaeologists believe.
The causewayed enclosure, which dates between 3650 to 3750 BC – pre-dating Stonehenge by 600 years, was uncovered by archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology in 2016.
Si Cleggett, project manager and archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology now believes the community who built the causewayed enclosure may have been more closely involved in the planning of Stonehenge than previously thought.
He said: “The causewayed enclosure at Larkhill was constructed during the late Stone Age, a period of transition when our ancestors gradually moved away from a mobile hunter-gatherer lifestyle and embraced a farming existence where the domestication of livestock and control of agriculture began.”
Causewayed enclosures are believed to be meeting places, centres of trade and cult or ritual centres to name but a few. They are only 70 known examples.
The…
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Visiting Stonehenge and need a local tour guide?
The Stonehenge Travel and Tour Company are based near Stonehenge and widely considered at the local Stonehenge experts. Operating both scheduled Stonehenge tours and customised bespoke driver / guide tours from Salisbury, Bath and London. If you are travelling independently and would like to make your visit to Stonehenge truly memorable then why not use one of our expert local tour guides. We can arrange for them to meet you at the English Heritage visitor centre any time of day throughout the year
Perfect Individual, family and group tours
Stonehenge Inner Circle special access tours
Sunrise or Sunset private access tours
Stonehenge landscape tours including Durrington Walls, Woodhenge, The Cursus and ceremonial landscape.
Astronomical tours.
Virtual reality tours
Nearby Avebury Stone Circle and West Kennet Long Barrow
“The best way to approach Stonehenge is on foot across the landscape, the same way that the ancient Neolithic and Bronze Age people did over 4000 years ago”
Our guides can meet you at Stonehenge for a guided inner circle tour.
“Travelling on foot is a great leveller of centuries, reminding you of the impact sites such as Stonehenge must have had millennia ago”
Our Stonehenge tour guides are all experienced, local and passionate about prehistory and ancient Britain. Some have archaeological backgrounds, others are authors, story tellers, astronomers – all eager to share their in-depth knowledge with you. We can often arrange these tours at short notice but we recommend booking in advance
Please email us for further information: tours@StonehengeTravel.co.uk
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