Editing Stonehenge (section)

====1901–2000====
[[File:Stonehenge from the air - Philip Henry Sharpe (Royal Engineers) - 1906.jpg|thumb|upright|Stonehenge from the air. Taken by 2nd Lt Philip Henry Sharpe in Summer 1906 from a [[Royal Engineers]]' [[tethered balloon]].]]

[[William Gowland]] oversaw the first major restoration of the monument in 1901, which involved the straightening and concrete setting of sarsen stone number 56 which was in danger of falling. In straightening the stone he moved it about half a metre from its original position.<ref name="Johnson, Anthony 2008"/> Gowland also took the opportunity to further excavate the monument in what was the most scientific dig to date, revealing more about the erection of the stones than the previous 100 years of work had done. During the 1920 restoration, [[William Hawley]], who had excavated nearby [[Old Sarum]], excavated the base of six stones and the outer ditch. He also located a bottle of [[port wine|port]] in the Slaughter Stone socket left by Cunnington, helped to rediscover Aubrey's pits inside the bank and located the concentric circular holes outside the Sarsen Circle called the [[Y and Z Holes]].<ref name="SiiL">{{cite web |last=Cleal |first=Rosamund |title=Y and Z holes |work=Archaeometry and Stonehenge |publisher=English Heritage |year=1995 |url=http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/stoneh/yz.htm |access-date=4 April 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090228211449/http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/stoneh/yz.htm |archive-date= 28 February 2009|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

[[Richard J. C. Atkinson|Richard Atkinson]], [[Stuart Piggott]] and [[J. F. S. Stone|John F. S. Stone]] re-excavated much of Hawley's work in the 1940s and 1950s, and discovered the carved axes and daggers on the sarsen stones. Atkinson's work was instrumental in furthering the understanding of the three major phases of the monument's construction.

In 1958, the stones were restored again, when three of the standing sarsens were re-erected and set in concrete bases. The last restoration was carried out in 1963 after stone 23 of the Sarsen Circle fell over. It was again re-erected, and the opportunity was taken to concrete three more stones. Later archaeologists, including [[Christopher Chippindale]] of the [[Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge]] and Brian Edwards of the [[University of the West of England]], campaigned to give the public more knowledge of the various restorations and, in 2004, English Heritage included pictures of the work in progress in its book ''Stonehenge: A History in Photographs''.<ref name="emmayoung">{{cite magazine |last=Young |first=Emma |title=Concrete Evidence |magazine=[[New Scientist]] |issue=9 January 2001 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn310-concrete-evidence.html |access-date=3 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923160924/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn310-concrete-evidence.html |archive-date=23 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Taverner |first=Roger |title=How they rebuilt Stonehenge |work=[[Western Daily Press]], quoted in Cosmic Conspiracies: How they rebuilt Stonehenge |date=8 January 2001 |url=http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicstonehenge.htm |access-date=3 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309014637/http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicstonehenge.htm |archive-date=9 March 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Richards |first=Julian C.|author-link = Julian C. Richards |title=Stonehenge: A History in Photographs |publisher=English Heritage |year=2004 |location=London |isbn=978-1-85074-895-3}}</ref>

In 1966 and 1967, in advance of a new car park being built at the site, the area of land immediately northwest of the stones was excavated by Faith and Lance Vatcher. They discovered the Mesolithic postholes dating from between 7000 and 8000 BC, as well as a {{convert|10|m|adj=on}} length of a [[palisade]] ditch&nbsp;– a V-cut ditch into which timber posts had been inserted that remained there until they rotted away. Subsequent [[aerial archaeology]] suggests that this ditch runs from the west to the north of Stonehenge, near the avenue.<ref name="SiiL" />

Excavations were once again carried out in 1978 by Atkinson and John Evans, during which they discovered the remains of the [[Stonehenge Archer]] in the outer ditch,<ref>{{cite news |title=Stonehenge execution revealed |work=BBC News |date=9 June 2000 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/784348.stm |access-date=4 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413233350/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/784348.stm |archive-date=13 April 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> and in 1979 [[rescue archaeology]] was needed alongside the Heel Stone after a cable-laying ditch was mistakenly dug on the roadside, revealing a new stone hole next to the Heel Stone.

In the early 1980s, [[Julian C. Richards]] led the Stonehenge Environs Project, a detailed study of the surrounding landscape. The project was able to successfully date such features as the [[Lesser Cursus]], [[Coneybury Henge]] and several other smaller features.

In 1993, the way that Stonehenge was presented to the public was called 'a national disgrace' by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. Part of English Heritage's response to this criticism was to commission research to collate and bring together all the archaeological work conducted at the monument up to this date. This two-year research project resulted in the publication in 1995 of the monograph ''[[Stonehenge in its landscape]]'', which was the first publication presenting the complex stratigraphy and the finds recovered from the site. It presented a rephasing of the monument.<ref name=Whitt>{{cite journal |last=Whittle |first=Alasdair |year=1996 |title=Eternal stones: Stonehenge completed |journal=Antiquity |volume=70 |issue=268 |pages=463–465 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00083459|s2cid=163697929 }}</ref>