...An Assemblage of Ponderous Stones: Recent Archaeological Fieldwork at Stanton Drew Stone Circles

Despite containing one of the largest stone and timber circles in Britain, the Late Neolithic
monument complex at Stanton Drew, Somerset, has seen surprisingly little archaeological work.
This paper presents the results of new fieldwork, which included excavation around a recently
discovered recumbent stone, test-pitting on the floodplain of the River Chew and fieldwalking
close to the monuments. The excavations revealed that the recumbent stone had been deliberately
buried in the medieval period and also uncovered other archaeology of this date. The test-pitting
exposed thick deposits of alluvium and from this it is argued that the landscape has changed
dramatically since the monuments were constructed. The fieldwalking revealed a relatively low
density of lithics which may indicate that activities around the monuments were carefully
controlled. Also considered is the siting of the Stanton Drew monuments and their intimate
relationship with the River Chew.