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When we last reported from Arthur’s Stone in 2023 (CA 404), it was thought of as an isolated Neolithic monumental site overlooking the Golden Valley in Herefordshire. Now, the Universities of Manchester and Cardiff team that is leading the project has revealed it to be a whole monumental landscape.
Back in 2023, they were excavating the dolmen part of the site – traditionally, a single burial chamber formed from upright stones supporting a large horizontal slab. Intiguingly, however, the team found that the dolmen phase of Arthur’s Stone was never used for burial, with evidence that the chamber had probably collapsed during construction. It was not until the monument was later converted into a long cairn, similar in construction to those of the Cotswold-Severn group, that the site was first used for burial, with a passage created coming in from the western side of the monument with an antechamber at the end of it. A partial excavation of the antechamber revealed a series of ‘bundles’ of human bones, interleaved with deposits of stone and clay that filled up the passage and antechamber. Consisting of mostly disarticulated bones, it seems that, unlike in many other long cairns, the remains here are mainly secondary burials, having been brought into the tomb long after the bodies had decomposed.
Outside the cairn, leading south from Arthur’s Stone, is an avenue of timber posts that appear to have been replaced in stone sometime c.3400 BC. At the time of our last report, the team had only traced this for a few metres, but they have since found that it extends for at least 70m (230ft) and they have yet to reach the end of it.
On the west side of this avenue, on the higher ground just before it drops down into the Golden Valley below, a henge monument has been discovered, measuring roughly 25m (80ft) in diameter. Within it, the sockets of a former stone circle have been uncovered (see CA 416) and, at the centre, a series of pits with sherds from several different vessels dating to c.3800 BC. As the henge monument itself more likely dates to c.3000-2500 BC, this suggests that it was a significant feature in the landscape for many centuries. Meanwhile, on the east side of the avenue, almost parallel with the western henge, another, smaller henge monument has been discovered (below), although this one appears to have had a timber circle at its centre instead of a stone one.
That is not the end of the story, as this past digging season also explored a completely new feature. Last year, a drone survey picked out the outline of a trapezoidal ditched enclosure north-west of Arthur’s Stone, measuring approximately 120m long (400ft). Running north–south, the feature appears to have many intriguing anomalies inside it. To learn more, this year the team opened two small trenches: one over the ditch and the other over one of the internal features. They discovered that the ditch was roughly 1m (3ft) deep and had been recut at least once (and possibly a few times) and then deliberately backfilled. The anomaly was discovered to be a small, empty pit. The team hope to return next year to explore this area of the site more.
Overall, this project continues to paint a picture of Arthur’s Stone having been a significant site in the Neolithic, which saw almost constant reworking for almost 1,000 years. With architectural links to the southern long cairn building traditions and evidence of trading links with Scotland and Wales – through the presence of Arran pitchstone and Snowdonia rock quartz – this was a site that was probably adapted to suit changing cultural and political influences. Situated just over a kilometre to the south-east, on the other side of the Golden Valley, is Dorstone Hill (see CA 285), another enigmatic Neolithic site, raising questions about how these two diverse monumental sites may have been linked.
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Photo: Buckler’s Hard Shipyard Trust
