DATING STONEHENGE

As part of the post-excavation process a major programme of radiocarbon dating was undertaken to provide a reliable set of dates for the Monument which archaeologists can be confident in using.

To carry out this work the English Heritage Scientific Dating Service gathered and co-ordinated a multi-disciplinary team of experts, consisting of the archaeological team from Wessex Archaeology, the high-precision radiocarbon dating laboratory of the Queen's University of Belfast, and the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit.

In addition to this core team of archaeologists, chemists, paleoenvironmentalists, physicists, and statisticians, specialist input on the animal bone and antler was provided by the Faunal Remains Unit of the University of Southampton, on curatorial issues by the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, and on project management and the wider issues surrounding Stonehenge by the Central Archaeology Service of English Heritage.

Aims
Methods
Results

Aims

The dating programme for this project was designed to address a series of specific aims:

The provision of a series of reliable absolute dates and the construction of a reliable chronology for each major phase of the monument.

The elucidation of the chronology and sequence of major events or sub-phases within phase 3.

The assigning of specific features to a phase by radiocarbon dating where other evidence was sparse.

The dating of specific cultural artefacts with intrinsic significance.

Methods

To address the aims of the dating programme the following procedures and methods were used:

A thorough reassessment of all existing radiocarbon dates was attempted.
New samples were selected according to rigorous selection procedures.
Radiocarbon dating was carried out on these samples, either using Liquid Scintillation Counting or Accelerator Mass Spectrometry.
Rigorous quality control procedures at the dating laboratories ensured the scientific reliability of the measurements.
Statistical analysis and calibration of the reliable results using the calibration and analysis program OxCal (v2.16) enabled us to model the chronology of Stonehenge.

Results

This project has produced or identified 52 radiocarbon determinations which are considered reliable. These are from the Monument itself and associated activity.

Mesolithic activity in the car park.

Phase 1 - the construction of the main Ditch and Banks, the deposition of `structured deposits' within them, the primary silting of the Ditch, and activity which took place on top of this silting.

Phase 2 - the secondary silting of the main Ditch, the wooden post settings within the Monument, and the Aubrey Holes

Phase 3 - a burial cut into the top of the secondary fill of the main Ditch, the Sarsen and Bluestone settings, the Y and Z Holes, and the Avenue. We also investigated the chronological sequence of these elements of the Monument.

Post-Monument use of the site.

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