The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 312 • Timothy Darvill
Archaeological Unit, however,
revealed that at least a third of the
stones had been repositioned in AD
1882, and that another third of them
were leaning or displaced at this
time. Two stones were probably
added. Of the stones visible today,
only about one-third are in the same
positions they occupied in the
seventeenth century AD.
Social, political and ethical issues
are also important, as Stonehenge,
Wiltshire, demonstrates time and
again. While for decades the main
stone circle was accessible to the
public, it was closed off in 1983
when visitor numbers rose to over
Figure 17.9 Reconstructing archaeological remains: Roman gatehouse at 800,000 per year. The site had
South Shields, Tyne and Wear.
become a victim of its own success
Source: Timothy Darvill
in the sense that the experience
everyone came to see was clouded because so many other people were there too. Interest in the
site at the summer solstice followed a similar course. Until the early 1980s, various groups including
latter-day druids, hippies, travellers, and many others gathered to witness the sunrise and make
festival. Since 1985, the Stonehenge area has been inaccessible to the public over the solstice,
much to the dismay of almost everyone (Chippindale 1986; Chippindale et al. 1990). Now there
are new plans for the conservation and management of Stonehenge and its surroundings, including
the closure of the road that runs past the site, the removal of existing visitor facilities at the
stones, the creation of an archaeological park containing not only Stonehenge but also many
associated monuments, and the re-siting of visitor facilities to a new site beside a main road
anything up to 3 km away (Wainwright 1996).
Despite widespread acceptance that something needs to be done about the present arrangements
at Stonehenge, and a broad consensus that facilities close to the stones are inappropriate, new
conflicts have broken out. On one side are those who argue that the site is Britain’s best and most
important prehistoric monument, part of a World Heritage Site, and so should be easily accessible
to the public with appropriate explanations of what is known about it. On the other side are
those who argue that it is all so important and precious that nobody should be allowed near the
good bits in case they damage them in some way, and that if people really want to see it then the
infrastructure to transport them around must be so well hidden that it does not spoil any views or
get too close to the stones. The final solution will eventually err to one side of this argument or
the other: both at once is impossible and so compromise seems inevitable.
As an essentially academic subject, archaeology is driven forward by the results of research
and new discoveries (Figure 17.10). There has been much debate about what constitutes research
in this sense, who should do it, and who should be setting the agenda; but much of the discussion
misses the point that all archaeological work that involves the investigation or examination of
original data is research in one sense or another. To try to sub-divide and partition archaeological
research rigidly into discrete elements is futile, but two very broad and by no means mutually
exclusive groupings can be recognized: problem-orientated research and development-prompted
research.