Andante Travels

Introduction

As your guide is likely to tell you, looking at Stonehenge without its surrounding prehistoric religious landscape is like entering a cathedral and looking only at the altar. For this world-famous site is not just a uniquely-crafted set of huge stones - it stands at the heart of an extensive area of monuments both sacred and domestic, which developed over thousands of years. New excavation and fieldwork keeps adding to our knowledge and changing our understanding. Whilst we may never fully comprehend the meaning and importance of it all, there is a great deal of pleasure to be had in the interpretation...

Itinerary

morning
9.00am meet for introductory lecture in the Chapel Lecture Theatre of Salisbury Museum, Salisbury Cathedral Close. Continue with a visit round Salisbury Museum including the Stonehenge Gallery. Flint-knapping demonstration in the museum garden.

Set off in our private coach. We start with a visit to this season’s excavations (to be confirmed) led by Professor Mike Parker Pearson.

lunch
Andante will prepare a picnic lunch at nearby Woodhenge and we will be able to look out over the massive henge of Durrington Walls from this vantage point.

afternoon
Drive to and visit Robin Hood’s Ball causewayed enclosure and the long barrows nearby. Late afternoon walk (2 hours) through the extraordinary prehistoric landscape surrounding Stonehenge, finally approaching along the Avenue, so that the stones appear on the horizon as they would have done to those approaching on foot 4000 years ago.

early evening
7.30pm private access to the area inside the stones of Stonehenge - a fitting climax to our day.

Included

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Local Travel to all sites in programme by private coach
• Meals Picnic Lunch
• Guide Lecturer
• Introductory lecture
• Flint knapping demonstration
  
• Fieldnotes written for the tour
• Entry Entry to all sites in programme including a private visit inside the stones at Stonehenge
• Picnic lunch and snacks after the walk

You Arrange

• Transport to Salisbury
• Meals independent dinner

Reading List

This list is no more than a guide to some books that you may find useful to read in advance of the tour. Talks given on the tour will attempt to fill in the background to what we are seeing, so no prior knowledge or pre-tour cramming is expected or needed. In many cases, we expect that you will find some of these books even more interesting and useful to read once the tour is over.

*Guide Lecturer's Choice (if you only want to read one or two books)

 

GENERAL

Bradley, R., 2007. The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland (Cambridge University)

Cunliffe, B.W., 1993. Wessex to AD 1000 (Longman)

AVEBURY

Brown, G. et al. (eds.) 2004. The Avebury Landscape (Oxbow)

Burl, A., 2002. Prehistoric Avebury (Yale University)

Gillings, M. & Pollard, J. 2003. Avebury (Duckworth)

Malone, C., 1990. Prehistoric Monuments of Avebury, Wiltshire (English Heritage Guidebook)

*Pollard, J. & Reynolds, A.2002 Avebury: the Biography of a Landscape (Tempus)

Whittle, A., 1997. Sacred Mound, Holy Rings. Silbury Hill and the West Kennet palisade enclosures: a Late Neolithic complex in North Wiltshire (Oxbow Monograph 74)

Whittle, A. et al., 1999. The Harmony of Symbols (Oxbow) - on Windmill Hill

 

STONEHENGE

Chippindale, C., 2004. Stonehenge Complete (Thames & Hudson)

Cunliffe, B. & Renfrew, C. Science and Stonehenge (Proceedings of the British Academy 92)

(eds), 1997

«Darvill, T,. 2006. Stonehenge: the Biography of a Landscape (Tempus)

English Heritage, 1995. Stonehenge and Neighbouring Monuments (Guidebook)

Richards, J., 1990. The Stonehenge Environs Project (English Heritage)

Cleal, R., Walker, K. Stonehenge in its Landscape: twentieth century excavations

& Montague, R., 1995 (English Heritage)

For the ongoing Stonehenge Riverside Project see (http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/research/stonehenge/stonehenge01.html)

SALISBURY

Royal Commission on Salisbury (Vol I)

Historical Monuments (England), 1980

Chandler, J., 1983. Endless Street (Hobnob)

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