Aug 24 2007
Digs at Woodhenge, Durrington Walls and the Stonehenge Cursus open to the public.
Until 14 September the public will be able to get a taste of prehistoric life when they visit archaeological digs at three important Neolithic monuments situated around the Stonehenge World Heritage Site: Durrington Walls, Woodhenge and the Stonehenge Cursus.
The digs form part of the Riverside Project, being carried out by the Universities of Sheffield, Bristol, Manchester and Bournemouth as well as University College London and Wessex Archaeology. The teams are digging around Woodhenge, Durrington Walls and the Stonehenge Cursus to find out more about these sites and their link to Stonehenge.
The sites will be open to the public throughout the dig, with guided tours and children's activities available. In addition, English Heritage is holding special open days on 25, 26 and 27 August and as part of Heritage Open Days on 8 and 9 September, where people can come along and learn more about the sites and the lives of the people who built them. The activities on these open days will include demonstrations of prehistoric archery, pottery and cookery by re-enactors, plus there will be a demonstration on flint tool making by Phil Harding of Time Team on the afternoons of 26 August and 9 September.
The monuments form part of the larger complex of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site which covers 2,600 hectares and includes many outstanding prehistoric monuments, in addition to the famous Stone Circle.
The dig will include excavations of ancient buildings to the south of Woodhenge's timber circle and the mysterious Cuckoo Stone, a fallen standing stone. At Durrington Walls, the team will be excavating the houses of the builders of Stonehenge and looking for the ancient pathway which once linked Durrington Walls to Woodhenge. Meanwhile at the Stonehenge Cursus, they will be trying to discover when the earthwork was built by excavating parts of the ditch and its interior.