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I found this press release from the University of Buckingham, which indicates that a settlement near what became Stonehenge was permanently occupied during much of the British Mesolithic.
www.buckingham.ac.uk/contact-us/information-for-the-media/press-releases/stonehenge-dig-latest-findings/
The authors of the press release seem to feel that, in addition to explaining why Stonehenge developed where it did, the permanent nature of the settlement calls into question how early Britons used the landscape during the Mesolithic, with land clearing and a permanent settlement being an important feature during a time when the population was presumed to be nomadic in nature. Here's part of what the University had to say.
"History will have to be rewritten – astonishing new findings reveal Amesbury is now the oldest place in the country, where history began, and is also the longest continuous settlement in the UK. Previously it was thought that Stonehenge was conceived by European immigrants but this shows that British settlers were behind its construction.Carbon dating from an archaeological dig by the University of Buckingham shows that the parish of Amesbury, which includes Stonehenge, has been continually occupied for every millennium since 8820BC. The origins of Amesbury have been discovered as a result of carbon dating bones of aurochs (twice the size of bulls), wild boar and red deer following a dig at Vespasian’s Camp, Blick Mead, a mile and a half from Stonehenge last year.
The dates date the activities of the people who were responsible for building the first monuments at Stonehenge, made of massive pine posts, and show their communities continuing to work and live in the area for a further 3,000 years, close to the ‘dawn of the Neolithic’ when Stonehenge was first built. The results thus provide the “the missing link” between the erection of the posts between 8820 and 6590BC and the later siting of Stonehenge in 3000BC. The findings provide evidence which suggests that Stonehenge, rather than being seen as a neolithic new build in an empty landscape, should be viewed as a response to long term use of the area by indigenous hunters and home makers. The backstory to the monument has been discovered and with it the earliest British story.
Further startling finds from the dig challenge previous definitions of the Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures. Clearance of land, an activity previously thought to be a part of the ‘farming package’ brought in by Neolithic immigrants from the continent in the 5th millennium BC, appears to have taken place around a substantial area of the spring at Blick Mead between 7500 and 4600BC, a time when Mesolithic culture had been seen as purely nomadic. The persistent use of the site for nearly 3,000 years and the fact that many of the tools found were for domestic purposes rather than hunting ones also points to the fact that people were settling there – previously it was thought that there weren’t any settlers until Neolithic times."
www.buckingham.ac.uk/contact-us/information-for-the-media/press-releases/stonehenge-dig-latest-findings/
The authors of the press release seem to feel that, in addition to explaining why Stonehenge developed where it did, the permanent nature of the settlement calls into question how early Britons used the landscape during the Mesolithic, with land clearing and a permanent settlement being an important feature during a time when the population was presumed to be nomadic in nature. Here's part of what the University had to say.
"History will have to be rewritten – astonishing new findings reveal Amesbury is now the oldest place in the country, where history began, and is also the longest continuous settlement in the UK. Previously it was thought that Stonehenge was conceived by European immigrants but this shows that British settlers were behind its construction.Carbon dating from an archaeological dig by the University of Buckingham shows that the parish of Amesbury, which includes Stonehenge, has been continually occupied for every millennium since 8820BC. The origins of Amesbury have been discovered as a result of carbon dating bones of aurochs (twice the size of bulls), wild boar and red deer following a dig at Vespasian’s Camp, Blick Mead, a mile and a half from Stonehenge last year.
The dates date the activities of the people who were responsible for building the first monuments at Stonehenge, made of massive pine posts, and show their communities continuing to work and live in the area for a further 3,000 years, close to the ‘dawn of the Neolithic’ when Stonehenge was first built. The results thus provide the “the missing link” between the erection of the posts between 8820 and 6590BC and the later siting of Stonehenge in 3000BC. The findings provide evidence which suggests that Stonehenge, rather than being seen as a neolithic new build in an empty landscape, should be viewed as a response to long term use of the area by indigenous hunters and home makers. The backstory to the monument has been discovered and with it the earliest British story.
Further startling finds from the dig challenge previous definitions of the Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures. Clearance of land, an activity previously thought to be a part of the ‘farming package’ brought in by Neolithic immigrants from the continent in the 5th millennium BC, appears to have taken place around a substantial area of the spring at Blick Mead between 7500 and 4600BC, a time when Mesolithic culture had been seen as purely nomadic. The persistent use of the site for nearly 3,000 years and the fact that many of the tools found were for domestic purposes rather than hunting ones also points to the fact that people were settling there – previously it was thought that there weren’t any settlers until Neolithic times."