Archaeologists reveal origins of famous Stone Age monument

The origins of Arthur’s Stone, one of the UK’s most famous Stone Age monuments, were discovered by archaeologists from the Universities of Manchester and Cardiff.

Unveiling the Secrets of Arthur’s Stone: A Neolithic Monument Revealed

According to Manchester’s Professor Julian Thomas, who led the excavation, the ominous Herefordshire tomb links to nearby “halls of the dead” discovered in 2013.

This construction inspired the ‘stone table’ in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and, for the first time, it has been properly excavated.

Located on an isolated hilltop outside of the village of Dorstone, facing the Black Mountains in South Wales, Arthur’s Stone dates back to the Neolithic period in 3700BC.

Archaeologists consistently assumed that its large capstone elevated on a collection of supporting stones and lower chamber with a right-angled passage had stood within a wedge-shaped stone cairn, comparable to those discovered in the Cotswolds and South Wales. However, Professor Thomas and Cardiff’s Prof Keith Ray demonstrated the monument initially extended into a field immediately south of the tomb.

Arthur’s Stone: Unraveling the Mysteries of a 5700-Year-Old Tomb

The English Heritage cares for Arthur’s Stone which is a scheduled monument. Outside the area of guardianship in an area south of the burial chamber, the excavations took place.

They discovered that the tomb had initially been a long mound composed of piled turf, retained by a palisade of upright posts embedded in a slim palisade bordering the pile. However, when the posts deteriorated away and the mound had broken down, an avenue of bigger posts was included, leading towards the pile from the Golden Valley below.

Thomas states that Arthur’s Stone’s origins had been unclear until now, despite being an iconic Megalithic monument of international importance. He also muses about how being able to shine a light on this astonishing 5700-year-old tomb is exciting, and helps to tell the story of our origins.

The first pile, recognizable in the palisade slot and the parch-marks noticeable from the air surrounding the stone chambers – points towards the nearby hilltop of Dorstone Hill.

Arthur’s Stone: Unveiling an Integrated Neolithic Ceremonial Landscape

However, the later avenue of posts, along with the two stone chambers and an upright stone located promptly in front of them, straighten on the far horizon in the space between Skirrid and Garway Hill to the southeast.

Professor Thomas adds that the diverse orientations of the two-phase of construction are substantial since their excavations on Dorstone Hill in 2011-19 revealed three long mounds similar in construction to what’s now known to represent the first stage of Arthur’s Stone.

“Each of these three turf mounds had been established on the footprint of a big timber building that had been intentionally burnt down. So Arthur’s Stone has currently been recognized as being strongly related to these neighboring ‘halls of the dead’, which hit the headlines in 2013.

“Certainly, the block of upland in between the Golden Valley and the Wye Valley is currently coming to be revealed as holding an integrated Neolithic ceremonial landscape.”

The excavations at Arthur’s Stone form part of the “Beneath Hay Bluff Project”, which has been examining early prehistoric southwest Herefordshire ever since 2010, under the directorship of Keith Ray and Julian Thomas, with associate directors Nick Overton (University of Manchester) and Tim Hoverd (Herefordshire Council).

This article was provided by University of Manchester.