Ancient Village Found Near Stonehenge

Archaeologists have just discovered the largest New Stone Age village ever found in Britain!

They think that the 100s of people who built Stonehenge may have lived in the houses they've found. The dig is at a place called Durrington Walls.

They're very, very excited about this find. Read on to find out why...

Showing a view from above of three archaeologists working on the dig at Durrington Walls.

The houses date back almost 5,000 years to the same time period as Stonehenge, 2600-2500BC (Neolithic). Wow!

Here are archaeologists at the site. They've worked on 8 houses but think there were over 100 buildings.


From this photo, you can see the clay floors of the buildings. The outlines of beds and cupboards have even been found, as well as 4,600 year old rubbish on the floors! © Adam Stanford /Aerial-Cam for National Geographic.


	Archaeologists love finding old rubbish because it tells them what people got up to in the past. Here are some cow bones from the site, probably the remains of a Neolithic winter feast! © Mike Parker Pearson for National Geographic.


What experts didn't find was evidence that people stayed here all year round, not just winter time. For example, there were no tools for cutting the crops.


It is thought that Neolithic people also held funerals at Durrington. When people died (hopefully not as a result of over-eating at the big feasts!), their bodies may have been floated away on the nearby river to the afterlife.

Here's Professor Mike Parker Pearson from Sheffield University who lead the dig.

So why the excitement? Well, the find gives us lots of clues about the famous stone circle at Stonehenge.

Shows a photo of the stone circle at Stonehenge, at sunset.

The houses are clustered around the remains of a wide avenue which leads from an enormous wooden circle straight to the River Avon.

There's another avenue just like this one leading from Stonehenge (left), again to the River Avon.

The finds at Durrington prove that the area was part of the same development as Stonehenge. Finally it looks as if we may soon know lots more about this mysterious place.

Want to find out more? Show Me has loads of great prehistory info and games from the UK's museums. You can find them on our Prehistory page.

Don't forget if you've been to a site like Stonehenge, why not get in touch and tell us all about it. Maybe you've got some great pictures to share too? Can't wait!