In Current Archaeology 438 -August/September 2026 – there is an interesting article on recent excavations at Bulford Camp. When the army was pulled out of Germany for cost savings the troops had to be housed elsewhere so the ministry decided to update accommodation at Larkhill and Bulford camps. Previous to the building works an archaeological exploration was done in 2017 and 2018. Phil Harding of Wessex Archaeology was involved – better known for his activities with Time Team as seen on television. They unearthed 20th century military installations, an Anglo Saxon period cemetery, and a wealth of prehistoric features. The hill top at Bulford was circled with a series of 48 pits that seem to have featured, or became, rubbish dumps filled with a mix of animal bones, both wild and domesticated, as well as flint knapping debris and an interesting assemblage of early Grooved Ware shards. Some of the pit seem to have had a more structured filling and included unusual items such as a small chalk ball and a shaped flint knife. Large gatherings appear to have taken place on the site -with lavish meals [lots of meat was eaten]. The number of bones of aurochs would alone have fed a huge crowd of people. It is thought they were celebrating a special occasion – but what was it? This has racked the minds at Wessex Archaeology. It seems these events led to partial occupation at the site. People went home or back to their pastoral way of life in between such events. Some 40 samples that were dated via C14 methodology has produced a narrow range of dates. They cluster around 2950BC. The investigators suggest it was used seasonally over a period of a few decades at the most. It doesn’t seem to have been used over a long period of time. That didn’t stop them from invoking modern visits to Stonehenge at summer solstice. Why they would only come over a few decades and not over a few centuries is not addressed.
Why did the celebration take place on what was a hill top. What was the occasion we may wonder. Well, they also discovered two other large pits, spaced 400 feet apart. These were unlike the other pits filled with rubbish as all they had in them was chalk rubble. This is the sort of material used to pack around a post. Hence, the two pits are thought to have housed wooden post – which stood between 10 and 13 feet in height. Ash charcoal was also found at the bottom of one of them . This suggests the timbers were charred in order to aid preservation – yet the posts appear to have been removed after those few decades. No trace of wood was found in them. We can assume they were built, in the first instance, for a series of events – but over how long a time? That is an unknown. The chalk rubble infill points towards a deliberate removal of the posts suggesting it was dismantled as it was not required any more. What had happened?
Harding describes how the pits were plotted on paper to look for clues. When the two post holes were extended by Harding’s ruler they were seen to represent a solar alignment. One very similar to that at Stonehenge, constructed a few hundred years later. It was a perfect match – an alignment to the summer solstice. Midsummer sunrise one way and midwinter sunset in the opposite direction. The pits are not contemporary with the stone circle at Stonehenge, a short distance away, but they are contemporary with the earthen henge surrounding the stone circle. Hence, it could be argued both sites were aligned to the summer solstice at 2950BC. The problem Wessex Archaeology had is that archaeologists in the UK are not conversant with archaeoastronomy. In the drive to cancel culture the work of Alexander and Archie Thom mainstream had more or less separated archaeology from archaeoastronomy, and the latter published their studies in their own journals and archaeologists in their various journals. This is described by Prof Ronald Hutton in ‘The Strange History of British Archaeoastronomy‘ [2013] – see https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v714.376 … although that link may not work. Hutton has however done several talks to societies on the subject which can be accessed on the Net. Hutton is an academic and therefore does not critique his fellow academics. It is basically pointing out that the two disciplines have no meeting point and therefore archaeologists have no access to the thoughts and research of the other side. Harding and Wessex Archaeology had a dilemma. Who could they enlist to confirm their paper alignment. A year or so ago there was a new start up, Skyscape Academy. Students could enlist for courses on astronomy at ancient sites – particularly at megalithic monuments. See https://skyscape.academy …