Neolithic axe found near Stonehenge

Archaeologists have discovered a 5000-year-old polished stone axe head during an investigation of an area that forms part of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.

Dating back to the Neolithic Age - 3000 to 2500 BC - the axe head was found, along with a leaf-shaped arrowhead, during a three-week field walk of farmland by Wessex Archaeology.

Covering a 90-hectare area, the farmland is situated within a kilometre of both the Stonehenge monument and the stone circle at Avebury.

Tony Trueman of Wessex Archaeology told the 24 Hour Museum the exercise was part of a project to improve the conservation of the area by turning ploughed land into grassland pasture.

Posted by David on September 20, 2003 12:18 PM