Time Team Special: Journey To Stonehenge | Classic Special (Full Episode) - 2005 (Durrington Walls)

FULL EPISODE | CLASSIC TIME TEAM SPECIAL

In this episode, archaeology students excavate Durrington Walls, Britain's biggest neolithic henge, which dwarfs the nearby Stonehenge. Mike Parker Pearson explains to Time Team his revolutionary theory about the connection between the two sites, where the cremated remains of the dead would, after a winter funerary festival, be thrown into the nearby River Avon to travel downstream to join their ancestors. As they travelled downstream towards Stonehenge, the dead would then be transformed into spirits and pass into the afterlife. The discovery of a curved avenue (the first neolithic road found in Europe) leading from the henge to the river helps to bear out his theory – of the spiritual transition from wood and decay to stone and permanence. Meanwhile, Harding takes part in Time Team's biggest ever reconstruction, a great timber henge aligned to the mid-winter sunrise.

Original broadcast date: 28th November 2005.

Discover more about the Stonehenge landscape:

Stonehenge Discovery - Mesolithic Pits (with Henry Chapman): https://youtu.be/f47Ie9_o9qU
Blick Mead - The Stonehenge Spring: https://youtu.be/ZdbOixQyWtw


** 10,000 MEMBER GOAL: SUPPORT NEW DIGS ON PATREON! **
Join Time Team's membership on Patreon to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content here: https://www.patreon.com/timeteamofficial

** MERCHANDISE **
You can now purchase Time Team's Official merchandise here: https://shop.timeteamdigital.com/

Website: https://www.timeteamdigital.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/timeteamofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timeteamofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thetimeteam
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialtimeteam