Stonehenge's earliest phase began around 3000 BC: a 110m circular ditch dug with red deer antler picks, chalk piled into inner/outer banks. Mesolithic activity goes back even further - pine charcoal found dates to 8000 BC. 🦌🏛️ A 2022 survey also uncovered a 10,000-year-old hunting trap nearby.
Stonehenge's First Phase: 3000 BC Earthwork Construction with Antler Tools
EnglandGeneral
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Key facts
- First stage of Stonehenge occurred around 3000 BC
- A 110m circular ditch was dug on a chalk plain using antler tools
- Chalk from the ditch was piled to create inner and outer banks
- Antler picks found at the bottom show battering marks from use as pickaxes
- Antlers were predominantly from red deer, shed annually in spring
- The Cursus earthwork, 500m long and 100m wide, was dated to 3500 BC, predating Stonehenge by 500 years
- Mesolithic pits and post holes discovered in 1966 during visitor car park extension
- Pine charcoal from these holes dated to 8000 BC, 5000 years before Stonehenge
- 2022 electromagnetic induction survey uncovered hundreds of large pits including a 10,000-year-old hunting trap 4 meters wide and 2 meters deep
Sources
english-heritage.org.uk
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