Archaeologists making 'good progress' on major Stonehenge excavation

Archaeologists working on the first dig at Stonehenge in 40 years have made "good progress", English Heritage said today.

A trench is being excavated at the World Heritage site in a bid to establish the precise dating of the Double Bluestone Circle, the first stone structure that was built there thousands of years ago.

After 10 days digging, the team uncovered sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing - which formed the site's original structure.

The researchers will now remove organic material from the holes, which they will analyse in an attempt to determine when the stones first arrived.

Timothy Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright, the professors leading the dig, previously said their project could answer the "eternal questions" of when and why Stonehenge was first built.

Speaking today, a spokeswoman for English Heritage, said: "They are making good progress. They targeted a specific patch with the hope of finding the bluestone holes so they have found something they expected to find.

"The next step of progress will be when the stone goes into the lab for analysis."

The last time an excavation was allowed inside the sarsen stone pillars was in 1964.

Stonehenge remains open as normal and visitors are able to observe up close the excavation as it happens on plasma screens inside a special marquee.

BBC Timewatch and Smithsonian Networks have funded the project.