Whoopee! Archaeologists and Stonehenge afficianados get to delve down and try to discover more about the world's most famous rock pile. According to these sites:- The UK Independent
- Reuters Yahoo story
- BBC Timewatch (check out the animation)
excavations started March 31, 2008 at Stonehenge, with an aim of dating the earliest bit of building, the bluestone circles. This is the first dig there in 44 years. The archaeologists will hand-dig a trench 1.5 meters deep (that's around 4.5 feet, right?) by 3.5 meters (10.5 feet) wide in one quadrant of the henge.
The bluestones come from a quarry 160 miles away and were the first stones set up around 4,500 years ago. Personally, I doubt that archaeologists can find anything hinting at a reason for the initial building spurt (prove me wrong, please!), but anything that they do find will thrill history buffs like me to pieces. The presence of springs at Stonehenge Bottom will be investigated, which may link it to healing springs in the Preseli Hills--source of the bluestones.
Large chunks of funding come from groups like Smithsonian, who will make a documentary of the project that all of us can salivate over in the fall. Hopefully, I won't have hocked my TV by then.
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