Durrington 68 Neolithic Hall Induction Week

Week 1 Induction Week 30th September – 4th October 2025

Well, this incredible project is finally underway!

This week, 36 ‘Core Volunteers’ took their first steps on their long journey to building The Kusuma Neolithic Hall at The Stonehenge Visitor Centre.

This project, several years in the research, design and preparation seeks to take excavated evidence from the Neolithic site of Durrington Walls (about a mile from Stonehenge itself) and reconstruct the structure that might have once stood there.

My aim in these weekly blogs, is to look in detail at the process that underpins the complex task of taking 4500 year old archaeology and using it to build something 3 dimensional and tangible.

The finished structure will provide a unique education space for numerous educational visits to Stonehenge, allowing people of all ages to immerse themselves in Neolithic tasks and activities within the stunning ‘authentic’ setting of the finished building.

The project will explore a range of experiments that will attempt to understand the tools and construction methods evidenced in the Neolithic period and we hope to be able to discover and record the human experience of being involved in such a rare project.

Week 1 is designed to let our amazing volunteers get to grips with the realities of practical tasks and the use of hand tools. My mission to to start the long process of building stamina, fitness, knowledge and, as importantly on a project like this, safe working practice.

I have always designed my projects with volunteers in mind. My use of volunteers is (perhaps surprisingly) nothing to do with saving money! In fact, over the years I have valued the input of volunteers for several reasons. Firstly, their thinking is not generally constrained by a particular academic tradition (for example, archaeology) – allowing them to freely ask and question the accepted view of the past. This fosters a vibrant atmosphere where volunteers ask ‘Why?’ far more than professionally trained archaeologists. This factor alone tests me as the project leader to provide specific evidence that will support specific views and design choices. More often, however, volunteer questions will be unanswerable (due to lack of evidence) or challenge the accepted norm and demand the modification of experimental tasks to explore that specific question. It is a process that I enjoy and that I feel directly benefits any experimental project.

This project will see Core Volunteers taking the lead. This first week seeks to develop their skills and knowledge so they can become more confident and competent in the processes this project will require. Once trained, Core Volunteers will guide many other volunteers through the complex process of construction.

Induction Week has introduced Core Volunteers to the archaeological evidence and the process I have followed to develop a building design. We have already had several interesting debates and I’m hoping it has become clearer that archaeology does not know all the answers and that experimental archaeology exists as a means to find ways to ask more questions of the scant evidence we are confronted by.

Long before we start to experiment with incredible Neolithic replica tools – such as polished stone adzes, axes and chisels, the volunteers need to have developed some skills with hand tools. This week has seen the development of these skills with steel draw-knives and axes. This project will see authentic experiments with stone tools leading the way. Tool performance and efficiency will be recorded – along with the learning curves of individual volunteers, the aim being to understand the limitations of Neolithic tool sets and the constraints they place on structural design. Once these experiments are completed at each phase, steel hand tools will take over to – as far as possible – replicate the Neolithic aesthetic and construction detail. In this way, the building will still be entirely hand built, explore many aspects of Neolithic construction – but will not cost the earth in terms of project length.

Alongside the tool use, this week has seen the Core Volunteers learning traditional, non-mechanised ways of safely moving and lifting heavy timbers. Although the timber was initially delivered by Wessex Woodlands by lorry, a large part of this project will involve the subsequent movement and lifting of timbers into various positions for preparation and construction.

The Core Volunteers have already shown a willingness to be outside in all weathers and to immerse themselves in the practical and social aspects of this project – Well Done!

Next week, the project starts for real with experimentation and timber preparation running in tandem.

Stay tuned!