Stonehenge
In my columns to date I have barely mentioned Stonehenge. This is deliberate; for all that I love archaeology I am an atheist about this most famous of sites. I do not denigrate the emotion that it arouses, but personally it leaves me cold. There are so many other prehistoric places that I prefer. But to tell the story of the archaeology of the British Isles and conclude in Wiltshire without speaking of Stonehenge is impossible, and it is by sheer volume the single most mentioned location in the history of the magazine. Below, therefore, I provide some highlights from this coverage.
THE 1960s AND 1970s (ISSUES 1 – 69)
One of the interesting things in tracking the story of Stonehenge through the pages of Current Archaeology is that the changes observed over the years reflect trends within the magazine as well as in wider society. In the 1960s and 1970s, the politics that the site is mired in today are largely absent. This is partly because the magazine at that time was not so interested in reporting on them, and partly because divisions in opinion over the site’s management had yet to become so impassioned. The first big mention of Stonehenge thus comes in CA 5 (November 1967), in relation to the exploration of Durrington Walls on the eastern edge of the World Heritage Site (WHS). There is discussion too of the site’s dating in CA 32 (May 1972), and of the sources of the stones in CA 16 (September 1969). But the first overtly political discussion does not come along until CA 55 (March 1976), when the editorial lambasted what remains a sensitive subject to this day: the control of access to the stone circle itself in response to ever-growing visitor numbers (at the time, around 700,000 per year, compared to a pre-covid peak of 1.6m in 2019). This was amid wider discussion of both visitor facilities and traffic management, and there were replies in support and opposition alike in CA 65 and 67 (February and June 1979).
THE 1980s AND 1990s (ISSUES 70 – 166)
Reporting in the 1980s and 1990s followed the theme of the previous decades – one senses a determination from the editors to focus on the science not the society. There is steady correspondence about the origin of the bluestones and phasing of the site to be seen in CA 127, 128, 143, and 151 (December 1991, March 1992, June 1995 and February 1997), and of finds within the wider WHS, notably that of the Wilsford shaft near Amesbury, in CA 118 and 307 (January 1990 and October 2015). The politics of this period creep in around the edges though, particularly in CA 96 and 98 (April and October 1985). The former sombrely discussed the access report produced at this time, which is also discussed in an interview with English Heritage Chairperson Lord Montagu in CA 129 (May 1992). The latter was in more ebullient form on solutions to managing the growing numbers of people attending the summer solstice. The next steps on both these issues came in CA 134 and 145 (May 1993 and November 1995), the second of which includes the first, brief mention of the biggest debate of them all: whether to divert the A303 into a tunnel beneath the site and, if so, how long that tunnel should be.
THE 2000s (ISSUES 167 – 237)
The 1960s to 1990s were in hindsight quieter times for Stonehenge. The 2000s in comparison are full of fire and fury. I could devote a single column to this decade alone, such is the density of its coverage. CA 167 (March 2000) provides an overview of the political situation at the start of the century, with discussion of the tunnel options and wider management plans. CA 176 (October 2001) provides a contrast to this, outlining the latest research into the site and its landscape. CA 183, 185, and 187 (December 2002, April 2003, and August 2003), though, are when the sparks really flew, first with Ian Baxter and Christopher Chippindale’s proposals for site management without the scale of investment proposed in a new visitor centre; next with a reply to these proposals from Mike Pitts and Julian Richards defending the official plan; and finally with a follow-up reply to that reply. The final decision on a new visitor centre took a long time coming, but was eventually discussed in CA 232 and 237 (July and December 2009). For those of you interested in the science beneath these politics though, do not despair – there was research aplenty at this time. A return to Durrington Walls appeared in CA 208 (March 2007); new fieldwork within the stones themselves was reported on in CA 219 (June 2008); and other fieldwork as part of the wider ‘riverside’ landscape project was discussed in CA 221 (August 2008). A different take on the site’s history came in CA 222 (September 2008), when Julian Richards shared some highlights from his collection of Stonehenge-themed memorabilia. But CA 215 (February 2008) set the tone for future decades, reporting on the scrapping – or so everyone thought – of the tunnel scheme.
A discussion of the stones themselves made the cover of CA 252 in 2011, and CA 344 reported on isotopic analysis of cremated remains from the first construction phase of the monument.
THE 2010s (ISSUES 238 – 358)
The early years of the 2010s saw repeated coverage of the impact of government cutbacks on Stonehenge, notably the proposed loss of the planned visitor centre discussed in CA 245, 246, 247, and 250 (August, September and October 2010 and January 2011). But the first big story on the site in this decade came in CA 252 (March 2011) when Tim Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright updated on their 2008 fieldwork, followed up in CA 287 (February 2014). Similarly, CA 270 (September 2012) delivered an update from Mike Parker-Pearson’s ‘riverside’ landscape project. CA 271 (October 2012) built on both of these with what became the big new Stonehenge story of the 2010s – that of Blick Mead to the east of the WHS, near Amesbury. This is a site with evidence of human occupation dating back millennia before Stonehenge was built – the ritual site before the site, so to speak – which the magazine returned to repeatedly across the 2010s in CA 293, 324, 325, and 354 (August 2014, March 2017, April 2017 and September 2019). CA 288 (March 2014), though, put us back in more prosaic surroundings amidst the then newly-opened visitor centre, which had been built at long last – much to the dismay of CA’s founder Andrew Selkirk. CA 337 (April 2018) expressed ongoing rumblings about the proposed tunnel at this time. More happily, CA 296 (November 2014) saw the magazine back in the field with the new ‘Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project’, surveying the WHS with the latest geophysical tools and techniques, and CA 334 and 344 (January and November 2018) took us back to the origin story of both the stones and the magazine in nearby Durrington Walls.
THE 2020s (ISSUE 359 ONWARDS)
The provenance of the bluestones made the cover of CA 366, and CA 380 reported on the conservation of the monument since the start of the 20th century.
What then of the most recent reporting on Stonehenge? CA 360 (March 2020) visited a new exhibition of photos of the site down the ages, many provided by members of the public, nicely contrasting with CA 405 (December 2023), which reported on the reintroduction of its 19th century ‘flower festival’. CA 366 (September 2020) then provides a focus on the latest science, examining the provenance of the stones, which matches neatly with CA 380 (November 2021) on their conservation. This includes the vexed question of the tunnel scheme which is also mentioned in CA 379 (October 2021) and CA 390 (September 2022) on the environmental archaeology of Blick Mead. The most recent Stonehenge cover story, CA 384 (March 2022), is a great finishing point of the wider world of the monument linked to a British Museum exhibition at this time. Future features are assured, especially when (if) the long-proposed tunnel ever commences construction, a project – and a political football – likely to take decades to resolve.
But that is it for my speedy stroll through Stonehenge. Next month I turn to its linked and loved WHS, nearby Avebury, for a contrast in pace and approach.
About the author
Joe Flatman completed a PhD in medieval archaeology at the University of Southampton in 2003, and since then has held positions in universities, and local and – most recently – central government. Since March 2019, he has been a Consultancy Manager in the National Trust’s London and South-East Region, leading a team working on Trust sites across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. You can follow him on X: @joeflatman.
