RAI RESEARCH SEMINAR
Tuesday 19 January 2027, 4.00-6.00pm (GMT)
This is a hybrid event. (Registration links will be added soon)
Arthur’s Stone:
Revealing a Prehistoric Monument Complex in Herefordshire
Julian Thomas, University of Manchester
Since 2011 the Beneath Hay Bluff Project has been conducting archaeological excavations in the Golden Valley of southwest Herefordshire, within sight of the Black Mountains of Wales. Here, we have identified two previously unknown clusters of Neolithic monuments. On Dorstone Hill, three long mounds had been constructed on the footprint of three timber halls that had been deliberately burned, while a causewayed enclosure had been constructed nearby. At Arthur’s Stone, the well-known chambered long cairn proves to have been a multi-phase construction, containing fragmentary human remains. The tomb provided the focus for a hitherto unexpected group of prehistoric structures of various kinds, indicating that gathering and ceremonial activity on the hilltop was very long-lived. In this presentation I will detail the discovery of this complex, before discussing its implications for social practice and social development in the region.
Julian Thomas is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Manchester. He specialises in the archaeology of Neolithic Britain, and archaeological theory. He is currently the Hon. Treasurer of the RAI, and was formerly a Vice President. His books include Archaeology and Modernity and Neolithic Britain: The Transformation of Social Worlds (with Keith Ray).