Stonehenge a Place of Healing
In 2008, Timewatch followed the first major excavation inside Stonehenge for over 40 years. This dig was led by Tim Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright. They believe that Stonehenge was a place of healing and that the so-called bluestones held the key to understanding the monument.
Tim Darvill “The stones we’re looking at are the bluestones. These are the ones that we see on the right of us now. These are the small stones. Bringing those bluestones here really made a difference.”
The team focused their dig on one of these distinctive smaller stones. They hope to find evidence that pilgrims were chipping off pieces of the bluestones to take away with them as healing relics or charms. To explore if there was any other evidence for this healing theory, Timewatch investigated the story of a recently discovered skeleton.
The Amesbury Archer
In 2002, at Amesbury, just two miles from Stonehenge, archaeologists discovered a remarkable grave. It contained the richest collection of Early Bronze grave goods ever found in Europe. Amongst the finds were numerous arrowheads, leading to the buried man being nicknamed the Amesbury Archer.
Timewatch presenter “So is there anything in this skeleton that might support Darvill and Wainwright’s healing theory?”
Jacqueline McKinley, Wessex Archaeology “Now as soon as this skeleton was laid out, there was one thing that struck us as immediately obvious. And that was that there had been some major trauma to the left knee.”
Timewatch presenter “So what were the physical consequences of his injury?”
Jacqueline McKinley makes her forensic examination of the Amesbury Archer skeleton
Jacqueline McKinley “The most obvious effect of this trauma is evident at the end of the femur or the thigh bone. What you’ve got is a groove, running down towards the knee joint. There is evidence of infection within the bone itself, the pus from which is draining through this hole. It would have been excruciatingly painful.”
Professor Tim Darvill believes that this is what brought the Amesbury Archer to Stonehenge.
Tim Darvill “This is a man who was not awfully well when he got to this part of southern England. This is a man who was probably motivated in his travels to find some relief, to find some way of getting better.”
After 12 days of digging, the team uncovered evidence which suggested that in the past, people had indeed been chipping away at the bluestones, adding weight to their healing theory. They also found some crucial organic remains.
By using radiocarbon dating, they hope to reveal when the bluestones had first arrived on site. And what they discovered was striking.
Timewatch presenter “It was previously thought that the bluestones arrived at Stonehenge around 2,600 BC. But that was essentially an educated guess. The new accurate date from the Stonehenge dig shows that the bluestones actually arrived in 2,300 BC – 300 years later than was thought. And what’s even more remarkable is that the new date for the arrival of the bluestones at Stonehenge coincides exactly with the date of the burial of the Amesbury Archer.”
Tim Darvill “Our new date for Stonehenge actually gives us, if you like, a glimpse of the moment in prehistory when things are happening at and around Stonehenge, and it’s quite extraordinary that the date of the Amesbury Archer is identical with our new date for the bluestones at Stonehenge.”
The healing theory is still hotly debated and doesn’t convince some archaeologists.
