5 Top Archaeological Sites In England

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is one of the famous prehistoric archaeological site at Wiltshire in England. The site consists of a ring of standing stones. Each standing stone has a height of 13 feet, seven feet width and weight of 25 tons.

The site was built between 5000 and 4000 years ago, though there are signs of human activity as long as 10,000 years ago. The prehistoric site is still a mystery as the researchers are yet to find how the site was built and why. To construct the sacred circle of stones, the ancient engineers had to haul stones weighing up to 25 tons from 20 miles away.

---

Avebury

Avebury is another neolithic stone circle which dates back to 2850-2200 BCE. It is a neolithic henge monument consist of three stone circles, around the village of Avebury at Wiltshire, in Southwest England.

The archaeological site, Avebury is one of the well known prehistoric site in the UK. It contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the globe. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans.

Avebury is larger than Stonehenge. The stone circle really contains a traditional English village, where you can have lunch, shop, and enjoy village life in the neolithic era site. The National Trust, responsible for the management of the site, holds guided walks in the region occasionally.

Vindolanda

Vindolanda is another unique archaeological site located in the UK. It was a Roman auxiliary fort just south of Hadrian's Wall in Northern England. Archaeological excavations conducted in the region show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD.

The site is located near the modern village of Bardon Mill in Northumberland. It protected the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth.

The site is well-known for the Vindolanda tablets, a set of wooden leaf-tablets. The leaf-tablets, at the time of their revelation, they were the most ancient surviving handwritten records in Britain. The tablets discovered are a unique treasury of information about the life style of the ordinary Romans as the tablets narrate the stories of the Roman soldiers stationed at Vindolanda.

At the museum in the site, the visitors can read about the day-to-day activities, concerns of the Roman soldiers, in the letters they wrote to their beloved residing in Italy or other regions of then vast Roman Empire.

Hadrian’s Wall

Hadrian’s Wall extends from the East to West Coast of England, close to Scottish boarder. Vindolanda is one of the Roman army camp along with the Hadrian wall.

According to the historians, Hadrian who was the ruler of the Roman Empire from 117 to 138 CE may have had constructed the structure to keep out aggressive Scots. However, there are arguments that the wall was merely constructed to keep the Roman soldiers busy.

The visitors can visit the sites along with the wall or walk the entire length (74 miles) of the wall from East to West coast The Hadrian’s Wall path moves continuously along the wall. The tourists can see the various construction materials and techniques used in the wall as geographical features change from one place to another.

Summer season is the best time to visit the wall as the winter season in the Northern parts of the England is more rash.

Bignor Roman Villa

Bignor Roman Villa is located in West Sussex dates back to 3 CE. According to the experts, the villa must have housed a very rich family as it can be judged by the incredible mosaics which have been preserved.

The villa had included its own Roman bath. The villa still has unique heating system underneath the bath floors, an example for engineering talent of ancient Romans.