
Our knowledge about Stonehenge has changed dramatically as a result of the Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009), led by Mike Parker Pearson, & included not only Stonehenge itself but also the nearby great henge enclosure of Durrington Walls. This book is about the people who built Stonehenge & its relationship to the surrounding landscape. The book explores the theory that the people of Durrington Walls built both Stonehenge & Durrington Walls, & that the choice of stone for constructing Stonehenge has a significance so far undiscovered, namely, that stone was used for monuments to the dead. Through years of thorough & extensive work at the site, Parker Pearson & his team unearthed evidence of the Neolithic inhabitants & builders which connected the settlement at Durrington Walls with the henge, & contextualised Stonehenge within the larger site complex, linked by the River Avon, as well as in terms of its relationship with the rest of the British Isles. Parker Pearson`s book changes the way that we think about Stonehenge; correcting previously erroneous chronology & dating; filling in gaps in our knowledge about its people & how they lived; identifying a previously unknown type of Neolithic building; discovering Bluestonehenge, a circle of 25 blue stones from western Wales; & confirming what started as a hypothesis
- that Stonehenge was a place of the dead
- through more than 64 cremation burials unearthed there, which span the monument`s use during the third millennium BC. In lively & engaging prose, Parker Pearson brings to life the imposing ancient monument that continues to hold a fascination for everyone.