Stonehenge dig day 2

Lots of willow pattern crockery, a shard of bluestone, a couple of flint scrapers. The question has to be asked; What exactly are the Timewatch chaps expecting to be discovered that will prove the 'Stonehenge as Lourdes' hypothesis?

DD

From BBC Timewatch.

After yesterday's media storm, today the Timewatch team were buffeted by strong winds instead. Fortunately there were some useful windbreaks around: 40-tonne upright standing stones that have endured for over 4,000 years.

At 9am sharp the archaeologists got back to the business of digging, scraping, brushing and sieving. No time is wasted, and of course no stone is left unturned. As they rolled their sleeves and got stuck in, the camera team arranged their live video-feed and timelapse cameras nearby.

This makes for a scene of striking technological contrast, but some things never change: carrying stuff to get the job done. Archaeologists carry shovels, trowels and eventually bags of stones. TV crews carry cameras, tripods and bags of sand (to hold the equipment down in the wind).

But back to the action. The new excavation also takes in previous digs - one from the 1920s and the last one, from 1964. Though they contain jumbled-up 'backfill', you never know what might have been missed. Different digs have different objectives and 'treasure' takes many forms.

Fragments of Victorian pottery and clay tobacco pipes were again in evidence, but the best finds were two razor-sharp Neolithic flint scrapers and the kind of stone hammer that might have shaped them. We'll know more about these tomorrow when a flint tools specialist is due to visit.

Full story here.