Neolithic (New Stone Age) Houses, Stonehenge, Wiltshire

These two huts are reconstructions of Neolithic houses. Their shape is based on excavations of Neolithic houses at Durrington Walls. They are made from thin hazel rods woven around upright posts (like a hazel hurdle fence). The woven structure is then covered, inside and out, with a mixture of crushed chalk, chopped straw and water. This is called chalk daub. Their roofs have been thatched with straw (from wheat). There are 5 houses in total, outside the Visitor Centre at Stonehenge. Each house has been thatched in a different way, as although archaeology tells us about the walls, there is no surviving evidence to prove exactly how the roofs would have looked.

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