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| The Sanctuary (prehistoric site) | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Sanctuary |
| Caption | Stone and timber alignments at The Sanctuary |
| Location | Wiltshire, England |
| Built | Neolithic to Bronze Age |
| Epoch | Prehistoric |
| Culture | Neolithic Britain; Bronze Age Britain |
| Management | English Heritage; National Trust |
The Sanctuary (prehistoric site) The Sanctuary is a prehistoric ritual complex on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, comprising concentric rings of stone and timber alignments associated with Stonehenge, Avebury, and other Neolithic Britain monuments. Discovered and excavated in the 19th and 20th centuries, it has been interpreted as part of a wider ceremonial landscape that includes the Avon corridor, Durrington Walls, and the West Kennet Avenue. The site features timber posts, sarsen stones, and burial mounds dated to the Neolithic and Bronze Age and is managed within the framework of English Heritage and National Trust conservation.
The Sanctuary lies near Amesbury and Winterbourne Stoke on Salisbury Plain, close to the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and the Avebury World Heritage Site. First noted in antiquarian surveys by William Stukeley and later mapped by John Aubrey, it was systematically excavated by William Cunnington and Sir Richard Colt Hoare in the early 19th century and re-excavated by Maud Cunnington and Stuart Piggott in the 20th century. The site’s association with the Avon and nearby cursus monuments places it within the network of sites catalogued by Alexander Keiller and studied by archaeologists from University College London and the British Museum.
The Sanctuary originally comprised concentric rings: an inner ring of wooden posts and an outer ring of paired sarsen uprights, with an entrance aligned toward the Avebury avenue system and the West Kennet Long Barrow. Excavations revealed postholes, stone sockets, and recumbent sarsen blocks similar to elements at Stonehenge and Avebury Stone Circle. Its plan shows axial relationships with Durrington Walls, the King Barrow Ridge, and the Winterbourne Stoke Barrow Cemetery, suggesting sightlines comparable to those at Newgrange and Maeshowe in Ireland and Orkney.
Radiocarbon dating of charcoal and bone recovered by Stuart Piggott and later projects indicates construction phases from c. 3000 to 1500 BCE, spanning the late Neolithic Britain into the Bronze Age Britain transition. Timber phases precede stone re-layments, paralleling sequences at Durrington Walls and Stonehenge Phase 2. Stratigraphy correlates with burial activity at nearby round barrows and with material culture that aligns chronologically with the Beaker culture and later Bronze Age assemblages known from Wessex archaeology.
Interpretations have ranged from mortuary shrine to ceremonial procession route linked to the Avon corridor and the wider Salisbury Plain ritual landscape. Comparative studies cite parallels with processional avenues at Avebury Avenue and solar alignments investigated at Stonehenge and Newgrange. Ethnographic analogy and osteoarchaeological evidence from burials suggest that it functioned in ancestor veneration, feasting, and seasonal ritual, connecting communities who also used long mounds like West Kennet Long Barrow and meeting centres such as Durrington Walls.
Early recording by William Stukeley and excavation by Sir Richard Colt Hoare laid groundwork later refined by Maud Cunnington, Stuart Piggott, and A. L. Armstrong. 20th- and 21st-century work by teams from English Heritage, University College London, and the University of Sheffield applied radiocarbon dating, palaeoenvironmental sampling, and geophysical survey techniques pioneered by geophysical survey specialists. Recent landscape-scale projects, including research by the Stonehenge Riverside Project and the Salisbury Plain Research Framework, integrated LIDAR, magnetometry, and targeted excavation.
Finds include pottery sherds typologically attributed to Neolithic pottery traditions and Beaker culture vessels, flint tools consistent with Mesolithic/Neolithic lithic technologies, animal bone from feasting contexts, and human remains providing isotopic data comparable to those from Durrington Walls and Stonehenge. Sarsen stone tools and antler picks mirror implements recovered from Stonehenge and the Avebury complex. The assemblage contributes to debates on exchange networks that involved groups documented in contemporary sites such as Silchester and Hambledon Hill.
The Sanctuary is protected within the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site and managed by English Heritage and the National Trust. Conservation efforts follow guidelines from Historic England and apply techniques used at Stonehenge for stabilising sarsen stones and preserving timber evidence. Public access is controlled by permissive paths linking to the Salisbury Plain Training Area perimeter and interpretation provided through nearby visitor centres like Stonehenge Visitor Centre.
Category:Archaeological sites in Wiltshire Category:Neolithic sites in England