All done and dusted - what has the Timewatch dig achieved?

The trench has been filled, the trowels bagged up, and the news crews have drifted away. In all probability the great standing stones won't be disturbed by another major archaeological excavation for decades. So what has the Timewatch dig achieved? What do we know about Stonehenge today that we didn't know a few weeks ago?

The short answer is, well, we're not entirely sure - yet. In the meticulous and painstaking life of a major archaeological project, the digging, scraping and cleaning that happens at the coal (or in this case, chalk) face is only the beginning. But at the end of it all, the dig will have fitted a few more pieces into the great jigsaw puzzle of Stonehenge.

"People like its mystery," says Professor Geoff Wainwright, one of the leaders of the dig. "I like reading mystery novels, but I also like a few facts. And (this dig) will have given people facts."

But the facts will not become clear just yet. Material of interest from the dig will now be taken to labs around the country for more thorough analysis. Appropriate organic material will be sent for radio carbon dating. When the results of that come back - in time for the Timewatch programme in the autumn - we may finally know when the first bluestones were erected at Stonehenge.

"The first step now will be to store and stabilise the excavated materials," says Finds Coordinator Yvette Staelens. "Some of the artefacts will decay significantly unless we introduce them to the correct storage environment. For example items made from metal."

Metal items include a Roman coin made from a bronze alloy that is particularly susceptible to decay. Other finds from the dig include a large quantity of bluestone chippings, flint, Beaker pottery fragments that are as old as the monument itself, and a plethora of animal bones. An ancient grain suggests agriculture on or near the site. All have a part to play in telling the story of Stonehenge.

"What are we looking for? This depends upon the material," says Staelens. "In the case of the bones we are seeking to identify species, age at time of death, disease, are there any butchery marks and what tools have produced them". Answers to those questions can tell us so much more. Are the bones just rubbish, or does their presence represent something more significant? Were the animals consumed in celebration, perhaps, or slaughtered as part of some ancient ritual? What was the state of animal husbandry in the area 4,000 years ago?

Clues to the why and when of Stonehenge don't just come from the bigger finds. Soil samples will be analysed for microscopic evidence of Neolithic flora and fauna. Charred plant life and charcoal suggest human activity. The remains of tiny land snails can tell us a huge amount about the ecology of the area thousands of years ago, because different species of snail thrive in different conditions.

And that microscopic analysis is partly why the Timewatch dig is so important - and so exciting. Archaeological practice has moved on significantly since the 1960s. Scientific methods that hadn't been invented the last time an archaeologist put a spade into the soil of Stonehenge can be brought to bear on the latest finds.

Like bones, stones and snails, some of the material unearthed by the dig will help to progress our understanding of the origins and purpose of Stonehenge. Plenty of it won't - but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold an intrinsic fascination.

Much of it, says Staelens, "represents the debris left behind, accidentally - or perhaps deliberately - by visitors and picnickers in the recent past. One of the items was a fragment of wine glass stem and one likes to think that it perhaps represents an Edwardian luncheon party. There is a lot of bottle glass, again representing people stopping for wine, ginger beer, cider, etc and discarding their bottles."

What it also suggests is that ordinary people, and not just academics and archaeologists, have long been drawn to Stonehenge. It has always been a place for day trips, picnics and fun. "A small but interesting find to me was a piece of Roman pottery that had been deliberately shaped into a roundel," says Staelens. "I think that it might have been a gaming counter and it shows that the Romans were having some fun at Stonehenge too."

But what of the bluestones, and their place at the heart of the theory that Stonehenge was a place of pilgrimage and healing, a Neolithic Lourdes? Hopefully, we'll have a reliable date for the beginnings of the bluestone circle when carbon dating results come back in a few months time. But the dig itself produced more evidence of just how important the bluestones were.

As the dig moved from a previously excavated trench into virgin territory, it soon became clear that the soil was heavy with bluestone fragments. According to Professor Timothy Darvill, one of the archaeologists behind the 'healing' theory, "The bluestones are being broken up pretty systematically... because people want bits of those stones to take away."

Later in the dig the archaeologists found evidence that the bluestones have been removed and reset over many centuries. In Professor Darvill's words, "They are celebrated and reused many times over", which also hints at the importance of the bluestones to our late Neolithic ancestors.

And there was another surprise. As the excavation continued, the sockets that held the bluestones were uncovered in an unexpected sequence. "We all concluded that the stereotypic idea of Stonehenge having some really rather fixed phases (of construction) is going to be questioned," says Professor Darvill. The sockets cut through and into each other in a way that suggests a much more fluid chronology of the monument's construction than previously thought.

Much has already been learned from the Timewatch dig, and much more will be discovered as the excavated material slowly gives up its secrets. But to Professor Darvill and the other participants in this once-in-a-generation archaeological excavation, one thing is already crystal clear: "There's no doubt that what we've found in this little trench is going to fundamentally change perspectives on Stonehenge..." That is a thought that must make the two weeks hard labour seem all the more worthwhile.

Published: April 2008