Time Team
Durrington, Somerset - Durrington Walls
E26 Nov 28, 2005 50m TV-G
Stonehenge may be Britain's most famous henge: a massive monument and ancient construction that is shrouded in mystery. But a mile away is an even bigger henge: Durrington Walls. In a major excavation this summer, archaeologists linked the two monuments and revealed an extraordinary and sophisticated picture of Stone Age life.
The henge at Durrington was a mile round, a gleaming white bank of chalk sitting in the Wessex landscape. Leading down to the nearby river, a road was uncovered: the first Neolithic road to be discovered in Europe. Down that road would have tramped thousands of people, carrying the cremated remains of their recent dead.
Can the team prove it was the start of a journey for the ancestors' spirits down the River Avon to the permanent memorial of Stonehenge? Even more remarkable, inside the henge was a huge wooden monument with 160 trees arranged in perfect circles. The piles of finds indicate the aftermath of great feasts, so to understand the monument better, Time Team takes on the mammoth task of building a full-size replica. It is impressive and the theories flow thick and fast. Could the midwinter alignment mean this may be the first recorded "Christmas", 2,500 years before Christ was born? Prod: Sian Price; Exec Prod: Philip Clarke.
The henge at Durrington was a mile round, a gleaming white bank of chalk sitting in the Wessex landscape. Leading down to the nearby river, a road was uncovered: the first Neolithic road to be discovered in Europe. Down that road would have tramped thousands of people, carrying the cremated remains of their recent dead.
Can the team prove it was the start of a journey for the ancestors' spirits down the River Avon to the permanent memorial of Stonehenge? Even more remarkable, inside the henge was a huge wooden monument with 160 trees arranged in perfect circles. The piles of finds indicate the aftermath of great feasts, so to understand the monument better, Time Team takes on the mammoth task of building a full-size replica. It is impressive and the theories flow thick and fast. Could the midwinter alignment mean this may be the first recorded "Christmas", 2,500 years before Christ was born? Prod: Sian Price; Exec Prod: Philip Clarke.
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