Bluestone Henge - Stone circle or stone oval?

Bluestone Henge – Stone Circle or Stone Oval?

A new  digital reconstruction of the monument, discovered by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2009 suggests that the circle of Welsh blue stones found at the Southern terminus of the avenue may well have been oval, and not round. If this is correct, it echoes the layout of the Bluestone oval at the centre of Stonehenge.
Henry Rothwell, Creative Lead at Heritage Data Solutions explains;

"The model was created as part of the forthcoming smartphone app ‘Journey to Stonehenge’. When we built the first wire-frame of the circle we ended up with a fairly standard circular representation. We were using a low level aerial image taken by Adam Stanford. It showed the full extent of the excavation, including the socket holes of the bluestones, into which the Stonehenge Riverside Project team had placed upturned black buckets. Luckily Adam was on hand and, after having cast an eye over the wireframe, pointed out a bucket on the far right, which had been missed out of the model. Initially we tried expanding the circumference of the circle to make it fit, but that made it far too large – so we settled on an oval, which lined up perfectly. We ended up with a configuration which is very similar to the Bluestone oval in the centre of Stonehenge. If this interpretation is correct, it adds an intriguing angle to the relationship between the monuments that lie at each end of the Avenue."

Bluestone Henge stone 'oval'. Image copyright HDS/Aerial-Cam.

The shape of Bluestone Henge is still open for re-interpretation however, as most of the monument was not excavated, but left for future generations to explore.

For the full story of the Bluestone Henge excavation see: http://www.digitaldigging.co.uk/features/blue-stone-henge/blue-stone-henge-press-release.html

For more details of the ‘Journey to Stonehenge’ app see: http://www.journeytostonehenge.co.uk/

For more examples of Adam Stanford’s heritage images see: www.adamstanfordphotography.co.uk

Heritage Data Solutions: http://www.heritagedatasolutions.co.uk/

Live Blog reports from the CBA AGM in Truro, courstesy of Adam Spring.

CBA AGM in Truro this year - follow live blog reports from Adam Spring - http://cornwall2010.wordpress.com/

Not so thin end of the wedge?

Not so thin end of the wedge?

 "Today Notts County Council have just published proposals to cut their conservation budget by 75% and to reduce their staff from 33 to 6. This will effectively mean the end of all county archaeology services in Nottinghamshire. At the moment it seems unlikely that any of the remaining 6 staff will be archaeologists."
Richard Tyndall - http://goo.gl/uzZj

New Michael Wood series begins tonight.

Michael Wood's 'Story of England' begins tonight - it's a 'Groundbreaking series in which Michael Wood tells the story of one place throughout the whole of English history. The village is Kibworth in Leicestershire in the heart of England - a place that lived through the Black Death, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution and was even bombed in World War Two.'


Full details here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tw231

Saxon boat uncovered in Norfolk's River Ant

From the BBC

A Saxon boat has been found during flood defence work on a Norfolk river.

The boat, which is about 9.8 ft (3m) long and had been hollowed out by hand from a piece of oak, was found at the bottom of the River Ant.

Five animal skulls were found near the boat, which has been taken to York for treatment to preserve it.

The Environment Agency had commissioned work to take place between Horning Hall and Browns Hill when the discovery was made last month.

Once preservation has been finished the vessel will return to Norfolk, where the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service want to display it at Norwich Castle Museum, an Environment Agency spokeswoman said.

Environment Agency project manager, Paul Mitchelmore, said: "This is the latest in a number of remarkable finds on the project.

"We are pleased that the Environment Agency has been able to uncover items that contribute to the knowledge of the rich history of the local area."

From the BBC