With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Neolithic homes replicas to be built at Stonehenge

A contract to build three life-sized Neolithic homes at Stonehenge in Wiltshire (England) has been put out to tender. English Heritage is inviting contractors to bid for the £60,000 project, which is part of a £27m scheme to improve the setting of the monument. Using authentic materials, the prehistoric homes will be based on those excavated at Durrington Walls. English Heritage said the buildings will provide a "real and tangible link for visitors to the distant past".

The £27m scheme to build a new visitor centre and close the road alongside the ancient monument, was begun in July. But a 'key aim' for the new centre is to create "a sense of prehistoric people using, working and living in the landscape", an English Heritage spokesperson said.

The recreated Neolithic buildings will form part of an interactive and experiential external exhibition at the 3,500-year-old World Heritage site which receives more than one million visitors a year. The prehistoric homes will be based on the foundations of dwellings discovered at Durrington Walls in 2007. The large settlement, dating back to 2600-2500 BC, was discovered under earthworks 3km (2 miles) from the stone circle....

Read entire article at Archaeo News