The mysterious origins of Arthur’s Stone — a Neolithic monument that inspired the ‘stone table’ in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — have finally been discovered by archaeologists.
They said the imposing Stone Age tomb was once part of a much larger ceremonial landscape than previously thought.
It is linked to two 6,000-year-old ‘halls of the dead’ that were hailed as ‘the discovery of a lifetime’ when they were unearthed in Herefordshire in 2013.
This is the first time Arthur’s Stone, which dates back to 3,700BC and is located on a hilltop outside the village of Dorstone, has been properly excavated.
Legend has it that King Arthur slew a giant who left the impression of his elbows on one of the stones as he fell.
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The origins of Arthur’s Stone (pictured) — a Neolithic monument that inspired the ‘stone table’ in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — have finally been discovered by archaeologists
In C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the ‘stone table’ is the sacred place where Aslan, a talking lion, is killed by the White Witch.
Archaeologists always thought that Arthur’s Stone’s massive capstone, raised on a series of supporting stones and lesser chamber with a right-angled passage, had stood within a wedge-shaped stone cairn, similar to those found in the Cotswolds and south Wales.
But an excavation by the Universities of Manchester and Cardiff has now revealed it originally extended into a field immediately to the south of the tomb.
When the tomb was first built, archaeologists say it was probably covered in a mound of compressed turf, with a series of posts to hold it in place.
This long mound stretched into the nearby field, but rot caused it to collapse over time. The mound was then rebuilt with a slightly different orientation.
Professors Julian Thomas, from Manchester University, and Keith Ray, from Cardiff University, said the first mound likely faced Dorstone Hill, while the second pointed to an area between Skirrid Hill and Garway Hill to the south-east.
‘Although Arthur’s Stone is an iconic Megalithic monument of international importance, its origins had been unclear until now,’ said Professor Thomas.
‘Being able to shine a light on this astonishing 5,700-year-old tomb is exciting, and helps to tell the story of our origins.’
An excavation by the Universities of Manchester and Cardiff (pictured) has revealed that Arthur’s Stone was once part of a much larger ceremonial landscape than previously thought
In C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the ‘stone table’ (pictured) is the sacred place where Aslan, a talking lion, is killed by the White Witch
In 2013, the hillside of Dorstone was also found to house three similar burial mounds, including two ‘halls of the dead’.
‘Each of these three turf mounds had been built on the footprint of a large timber building that had been deliberately burnt down,’ said Professor Thomas.
‘So Arthur’s Stone has now been identified as being closely connected with these nearby “halls of the dead”.
‘Indeed, the block of upland between the Golden Valley and the Wye Valley is now becoming revealed as hosting an integrated Neolithic ceremonial landscape.’
The ancient ‘halls of the dead’ are thought to pre-date Stonehenge by almost 1,000 years.
An artist’s impression of the Neolithic long hall. Two earth long barrows were uncovered that archaeologists believe date to about 3,800BC, almost 1,000 years before Stonehenge
Arthur’s Stone, which dates back to 3,700BC, is on a hilltop outside the village of Dorstone
A flaked flint knife (pictured) was among the items discovered on Dorstone Hill back in 2013
Examples of flint weapons and tools, thought to have been buried in the barrows when first created or later left as offerings to the dead, were also discovered at the site eight years ago.
Among the finds were two stone axe-heads, a flint hand knife and an arrowhead, with some of the raw materials used in their construction pointing to origins hundreds of miles away from where they were found, according to the dig team.
The barrows themselves date to the early Neolithic period when the ancient Britons were starting to settle into small communities.
The findings from the recent excavations have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.