Seahenge

[1] Contemporary theory is that they were used for ritual purposes; in particular Holme II has been interpreted as a mortuary monument that may originally have formed the boundary of a burial mound.

The site consisted of an outer ring comprising fifty-five small split oak trunks forming a roughly circular enclosure around 7 by 6 metres (23 by 20 ft).

This was only increased due to the protests held against the excavation by both locals, who wanted it to remain as a tourist site, and Neopagans, who believed that the removal of the structure was an insult to the religious beliefs of its original builders, among other concerns.

Seahenge was constructed during the early Bronze Age, a period of time that saw the increasing adoption of agriculture and sedentary living in Britain.

[6](p 63) Using a variety of scientific techniques, archaeologists have come to the conclusion that the trees used in the construction of the monument had all been felled in the same year, 2049 BC,[b] whilst the condition of the sapwood indicated that it had been cut down in spring or early summer.

Through this process, Seahenge eventually found itself from once being inland to being on the beach, where it was revealed by the eroding away of the sand and peat by the late 20th century, four thousand years since its original construction.

Theories about the site have focused on the idea of inversion, as represented by the upside-down central tree stump and the single post turned 180 degrees from the others, within the circle itself.

In view of the relatively small diameter of the post circle and its height and its "privacy" entrance, some have suggested it is a "sky burial" (excarnation) site, similar in use (although different in construction) to those found in Tibet, Mongolia, Pakistan, and North America.

Intrigued, Lorimer visited the area repeatedly, eventually finding a lone tree stump that had been unearthed on the beach – unusual in that it seemed to be upside down.

Wave erosion gradually exposed a surrounding ring of wooden posts, confirming that the site was an intentional human construction.

[6](pp 1–4) The museum contacted Edwin Rose, at the time Norfolk Landscape Archaeology's Development Control Officer, who then visited the site with Lorimer on 12 August 1998.

[6](pp 24–25) Despite projected expense, English Heritage decided full excavation would be worthwhile, because the site had begun to suffer from erosion: Sections of wood had been exposed to corrosive oxygen and salt brine after millennia protected in the mud.

This changed on Saturday 9 January 1999, when The Independent ran a front-page story by environmental correspondent, Michael McCarthy, headlined "Shifting sands reveal 'Stonehenge of the Sea'".

Soon a great debate began in the media, with some adherents involved in the Neopagan and New Age movements arguing that they had "a kind of spiritual ownership of the circle".

[6](pp 33–34) The team also had to contend with protests mounted both by locals and by Neopagan groups led by Parish Council Chairman Geoff Needham, a former fisherman.

One of the most vocal protesters, the Neopagan and conservationist Buster Nolan, informed a reporter from the Eastern Daily Press that "Seahenge has more meaning and power on the beach here at Holme than it does anywhere else ...

[6](pp 40–41) English Heritage gained an interim injunction banning several of the most prominent protesters from the vicinity of the site, including Des Crow, Geoff Needham, Buster Nolan, and Rollo Maughfling, who at one point climbed on top of Seahenge to declare an eight-point proclamation.

[6](pp 54–55) After several weeks work, the excavators decided to physically remove the main timbers from the site, an event for which the media had been tipped off.

[6](p 53) With Seahenge excavated, the timbers that it had been built out of were transported 50 miles (80 km) away to the Fenland Archaeology Trust's field centre at Flag Fen in Cambridgeshire, where it immediately underwent conservation by being immersed in fresh water.

English Heritage employed laser scan technology[10] (developed by Alistair Carty of Archaeoptics) to precisely image timbers in three dimensions, allowing archaeologists to create a virtual model of the whole site.

[13][14][15][16] One hundred metres east, another, much larger[17] ring was found, consisting of two concentric timber circles surrounding a hurdle-lined pit containing two oak logs.