4 ms·

Archaeologists unearth bronze age graves at Stonehenge tunnel site

24 points by diodorus 6y ago

samizdis 6y ago
The controversy over this tunnel project has been ongoing since 1995: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_road_tunnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_road_tunnel The campaign to prevent it also continues: https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/ https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/ It is truly a remarkable place, of great importance for many reasons. The tunnel plan looks like cultural and historical vandalism.
- oh_sigh 6y ago
  Why? I've been to Stonehenge and the ambiance is completely ruined by the nearby roadway.
- kitd 6y ago
  "Vandalism" implies wanton, or needless destruction. There is very much a need for this tunnel. The road is virtually unusable at the moment. All those west of the site need proper access and that is the only viable route. As much as we'd like to preserve our archaeology untouched, IMHO the real lives of real people trump that.
  - darkerside 6y ago
    I think you make a fair point. A counterpoint is that those people should have known what they were getting into when they decided to live near a historical landmark, similar to people who decide to live in a hurricane or flood zone, for example.
    - kitd 6y ago
      For context, the road going past Stonehenge is one of the principal routes from London to south west England (Somerset, Devon, Cornwall etc), all major holiday destinations. At Stonehenge, that main route goes down to a single carriageway. It is a total nightmare in the summer months. It's all those people who would benefit from having a tunnel, not just locals, and potentially to the tune of billions in extra revenue.
      - darkerside 6y ago
        Yeah, we've got beach traffic on the states, too. If I know people, the tunnel will still full up, and everyone will still complain about it.
- INTPenis 6y ago
  The road tunnel makes perfect sense to me as an outsider. Humans made the first mistake by building a road so near and now we can fix it. Also archaeologists keep saying how important the landscape was around the henge and now tourists can finally take it in without a busy road in their field of view.
  - pantalaimon 6y ago
    Couldn't they just build a new road further away?
    - INTPenis 6y ago
      That would be a long way away and it would cause a lot more work, and environmental pollution, from the construction compared to just burying part of the existing route. Plus no one seems to be considering the archaelogical discoveries that can be done by digging out the tunnel.
- ascorbic 6y ago
  It is by no means opposed by all archaeologists either. It's not a great solution, but it's better than the status quo and is likely to be the best we can get. A lot of opponents are letting perfect be the enemy of good. They are proposing solutions that are never going to be viable, and the current situation is really bad. Right now the A303 tears right through the landscape, and is only a couple of hundred metres away from the stones. It is also a constant bottleneck on a major route, in no small part because so many poeple slow down to look at the stones as they drive past, or even stop on the verge and get out. Source: live nearby, married to an archaeologist.
JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Its a good idea to move the road because its proximity to Stonehenge is onerous and disrupting. Its a bad idea to make a tunnel because, there's lots of buried stuff near a site as ancient as Stonehenge. Its inevitable because Britain has limited land area and growing population and infrastructure. Have I left anything out?

24 points by diodorus 6y ago

The controversy over this tunnel project has been ongoing since 1995: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_road_tunnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_road_tunnel The campaign to prevent it also continues: https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/ https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/ It is truly a remarkable place, of great importance for many reasons. The tunnel plan looks like cultural and historical vandalism.

oh_sigh 6y ago
Why? I've been to Stonehenge and the ambiance is completely ruined by the nearby roadway.
kitd 6y ago
"Vandalism" implies wanton, or needless destruction. There is very much a need for this tunnel. The road is virtually unusable at the moment. All those west of the site need proper access and that is the only viable route. As much as we'd like to preserve our archaeology untouched, IMHO the real lives of real people trump that.
- darkerside 6y ago
  I think you make a fair point. A counterpoint is that those people should have known what they were getting into when they decided to live near a historical landmark, similar to people who decide to live in a hurricane or flood zone, for example.
  - kitd 6y ago
    For context, the road going past Stonehenge is one of the principal routes from London to south west England (Somerset, Devon, Cornwall etc), all major holiday destinations. At Stonehenge, that main route goes down to a single carriageway. It is a total nightmare in the summer months. It's all those people who would benefit from having a tunnel, not just locals, and potentially to the tune of billions in extra revenue.
    - darkerside 6y ago
      Yeah, we've got beach traffic on the states, too. If I know people, the tunnel will still full up, and everyone will still complain about it.
INTPenis 6y ago
The road tunnel makes perfect sense to me as an outsider. Humans made the first mistake by building a road so near and now we can fix it. Also archaeologists keep saying how important the landscape was around the henge and now tourists can finally take it in without a busy road in their field of view.
- pantalaimon 6y ago
  Couldn't they just build a new road further away?
  - INTPenis 6y ago
    That would be a long way away and it would cause a lot more work, and environmental pollution, from the construction compared to just burying part of the existing route. Plus no one seems to be considering the archaelogical discoveries that can be done by digging out the tunnel.
ascorbic 6y ago
It is by no means opposed by all archaeologists either. It's not a great solution, but it's better than the status quo and is likely to be the best we can get. A lot of opponents are letting perfect be the enemy of good. They are proposing solutions that are never going to be viable, and the current situation is really bad. Right now the A303 tears right through the landscape, and is only a couple of hundred metres away from the stones. It is also a constant bottleneck on a major route, in no small part because so many poeple slow down to look at the stones as they drive past, or even stop on the verge and get out. Source: live nearby, married to an archaeologist.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

Its a good idea to move the road because its proximity to Stonehenge is onerous and disrupting. Its a bad idea to make a tunnel because, there's lots of buried stuff near a site as ancient as Stonehenge. Its inevitable because Britain has limited land area and growing population and infrastructure. Have I left anything out?