Latest Newsletter - Issue 5
Van Walt equipment... it gets everywhere!
We are delighted to report that Dr Mike Allen from Allen Environmental Archaeology together with Bournemouth University has been using our 4cm Edelman combination augering kit during new excavations at Stonehenge in April 2008.
The results of the Stonehenge excavation - the first archaeological dig allowed for over 40 years revealed the site's use as an ancient healing place and that this was probably the reason the stones were transported some 250 km from the Preseli Hills in west Wales to Wiltshire. It was the magical qualities of these stones which, they believe, transformed the monument and made it into a place of pilgrimage for the sick and injured of the Neolithic world.
New evidence discovered during the excavations shows interest in the Bluestones by the Romans that wasn't previously documented and clearly reveals the continued re-positioning and systematic break-up of the stones through to medieval times and beyond.
Items recovered during the excavations included broken bottles from the 19th century, coins and animal bones from the Roman period, and prehistoric beaker pottery and worked pieces of flint. The team also recovered carbonised plant and other organic material taken for radiocarbon dating.