Overview
- Wessex Archaeology announced Thursday that analysis of 48 chalk‑filled pits at Bulford dates a timber feature to around 2950 BC, roughly 500 years before the Stonehenge stone circle.
- The pits are interpreted as sockets for two wooden posts about 120 metres apart that align to summer‑solstice sunrise and winter‑solstice sunset, indicating deliberate solar orientation.
- Excavators recovered pottery, animal bone, worked flint, charcoal and a rare disc‑shaped flint knife from the pits, which researchers say were likely placed as ritual deposits.
- Fieldwork was carried out between 2015 and 2017 as part of a Ministry of Defence housing project on Salisbury Plain and parts of the site now lie under modern military housing, limiting public access.
- Researchers say the Bulford timber feature adds a new early phase to the Stonehenge landscape and will guide further study of Neolithic ceremony, preservation of timber monuments, and links between nearby sites.