Durrington Walls

Durrington Walls was according to the current state of research in the 4th millennium BC, the largest Stone Age settlement in Northern Europe. The plant is one of the so-called Henge monuments and is located in Wiltshire, UK. The Class II henge (after Stuart Piggott ) consists of an oval wall, which is preceded by a ditch. The approximately 10 -acre oval has one entrance in the southeast and northwest. In the meantime, go to the archaeologists from at least 300 houses that stood on this site. The plant was built during the Neolithic Grooved ware and used.

Location

Durrington Walls is on a loop of the Avon between Amesbury and Durrington on the Salisbury Plain. The earthwork is located in the immediate vicinity enclosure to Woodhenge and the Packway and just 2.5 miles from Stonehenge.

By farming the Wall is very slurred and visible only in the Northeast. In the lower part, however, worn by erosion sediments were deposited, thus protecting the underlying layers. Here ditches and post holes are well preserved.

History of Research

The plant was described by the antiquarian Colt Hoare as "circular embankment " and placed under protection in 1928. OGS Crawford in 1929 documented the plant by aerial photographs. From 1950 to 1951, when a ditch along the line A 345 ( old) was transferred, the system was first archaeologically investigated and uncovered a Beaker grave.

In the course of construction work on the A345 Amesbury to Marlborough Durrington Walls 1966-1967 by Geoffrey Wainwright and Ian Longworth were partially excavated. As part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project dug among other things, Julian Thomas (Manchester ) and Mike Parker Pearson ( Sheffield ) between September 2003 and 2010 in Durrington Walls. Eight houses from the time of the Grooved Ware were uncovered. They had about 5 m in diameter, clay floors and hearths in the center square. Two of the houses were a little off to the west of the plant. The floors of the houses were covered with waste, including large quantities of animal bones.

Dating

Charcoal, which was found under the wall, provided data from 4575 ± 40 ( GrO - 901a ) and 4585 ± 70 BP ( GrO -901 ) ie 3490-3100 BC ( 1σ ). The finds date it to the time of Grooved Ware.

UNESCO declared the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, including Durrington Walls heard in 1986 as a World Heritage Site.

Interpretation

Durrington is temporally in parallel with the nearby Marden Henge. The huge Henges remain for the time being ambiguous. The assumption that it is regional centers for large territories and the accommodation of an elite is obsolete. The location of the Superhenges suggests that the boundaries of the old territories not shifted. In any case, these huge Henges were not built far from the older Causewayed Enclosures. Euan MacKie assumes, for example, that Mount Pleasant was intended for the theocratic elite and Maumbury Rings represents the associated ceremonial center. The old enclosures has not been modified but Henges were built near rivers and in low areas. Therefore, the higher ground Maiden Castle in favor of a 66 m deep foundation was left, which is just 300 meters from the River Frome. The move took place about 2600 BC, although the henge ditch (which relates datable finds) has apparently not been excavated before 2170 BC. In a process similar to the early Neolithic earthwork of Robin Hood 's Ball by 45 m low -lying and nearer to the Avon facility of Durrington was replaced.

Similar units

The plant is one of the largest of its kind and is only surpassed by the Avebury much better preserved. ( W50.70888 - 2.41194470 50 ° 42 '32 " N, 2 ° 24' 43 " ) reach Marden (51 ° 19 ' 20 " N, 1 ° 52' 14" W51.322176 - 1.870618110 ) and Mount Pleasant ( Dorchester ) comparable proportions.

UNESCO declared the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, including Durrington Walls heard in 1986 as a World Heritage Site.