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Barrow Clump has a remarkably long history of human activity. The Bronze Age burial mound built on an even older Neolithic settlement, was reused as an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. It had already been damaged by ploughing, but permission to excavate a listed site was granted because of damage by more recent trouble makers -- badgers which were burrowing out the entire site, and kicking out human bones as they dug. This year's excavation was just beside the burial mound -- "the badgers are happily back in residence in the barrow now" Osgood said -- carried out in scorching heat and clay...

Researchers have shown that cremated humans at Stonehenge were from the same region of Wales as the stones used in construction. The key innovation was finding that high temperatures of cremation can crystallise a skull, locking in the chemical signal of its origin. The first long-term residents of Stonehenge, along with the first stones, arrived about 5,000 years ago. While it is already known that the "bluestones" that were first used to build Stonehenge were transported from 150 miles (240 km) away in modern-day Pembrokeshire, almost nothing is known about the people involved. The scientists' work shows that both people...

TROWBRIDGE, England, - Archeologists say they have unearthed several tins for U.S. Army bacon and sunscreen at Salisbury Plain, England, home of the famous Stonehenge ruins. Wessex Archeology shared the find on its website in celebration of American Independence Day. Salisbury Plain has been a British military training ground since the early 20th century, but U.S. military forces staged there in preparation for the 1944 invasion of Nazi-occupied France during World War II. "The military has been on Salisbury Plain for decades so it's not been ploughed up or disturbed by developers," the BBC quoted Matt Leivers, from Wessex Archaeology,...

Injured soldiers from Gloucestershire-based 1st Battalion The Rifles, who have returned from front line duties in Afghanistan, are helping with an archaeological dig on Salisbury Plain. The project is designed to help them recover from battlefield injuries, including combat stress.