30 Sep

A HENGE REVEALED:
RECENT WORK AT MARDEN HENGE
A talk by Jim Leary from English Heritage

The summer of 2010 saw excavations at one of the largest Neolithic henge monuments in Britain: Marden. It is located in the heart of the Vale of Pewsey between Stonehenge and Avebury and for centuries it has remained hidden because it does not have any surviving stone settings, but even so much remains concealed only just below the surface and its sheer size is astounding.

The excavation was the culmination of a two-year multi-disciplinary project and provided evidence for a now demolished mound – said to be the second largest in Wiltshire after Silbury Hill. More remarkable, however, was the discovery of an extraordinarily well-preserved Neolithic building – undoubtedly one of the best preserved in Britain outside Orkney. This lecture challenges many previous views of Wiltshire’s prehistory and will discuss the findings from the project, and explore some reasons of why it was constructed and what it could have been used for.

Jim Leary is the archeologist who was in charge of the successful restoration work on Silbury Hill in 2006, which had to deal with the imminent collapse of this world heritage monument as previous centuries tunnels attempting to find treasure made it increasingly unstable.

Tickets for talks are available from Swindon Museum & Art Gallery cost of £4.50 (£3.50 for members of the Friends) + a discount of 50p per ticket when buying three or more tickets either for the season or for a single talk.

Payment by cash or cheque only.

Phone the museum on 01793 466556 for info on tickets & access.

07.30PM - 09:30PM | £4.50