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STONEHENGE visitors had the opportunity to get a glimpse of what life was like in Britain more than 4,000 years ago over the bank holiday weekend.

A team of 100 archaeologists, from various universities around Britain, along with Wessex Archaeology, has been carrying out excavations as part of the seven-year Riverside Project at Woodhenge, Durrington Walls and Stonehenge Cursus to find out more about the sites and their links with Stonehenge in the 26th Century BC.

Over the weekend the public was invited to attend excavation open days which included tours of the site, the opportunity to meet the archaeologists, and re-enactments of life 4,000 years ago. The open days were a great success with over 2,000 people turning up to see what the team had unearthed.

The group of archaeologists has been excavating the sites for two weeks already and will continue to look for new finds until September 17.

Professor of archaeology at Sheffield University Mike Parker- Pearson is leading the dig: "I think our most exciting discovery is the ceremonial avenue which leads from Durrington Walls to the river.

"We excavated some of it last year, but we've finally uncovered it and it's much bigger than we thought," he said.

The road, which formed an avenue aligned on the Midsummer Solstice sunset, suggested that Durrington Walls and Woodhenge were connected to Stonehenge by their avenues and the river Avon.

Mike added: "The avenue is 30 metres across - about as big as a modern dual carriageway."

The team has now found remains of five Neolithic houses at Durrington Walls, one of which is the first ever seen with a perfectly preserved floor.

The discoveries they have made so far suggest that Durrington Walls was the site of feasting and partying and Stonehenge was a side chapel for the ancestors.

They have also found a stone monument that is a symbol of a house, called a cove, at Woodhenge that was missed in an excavation in 1926.

After the success of the first open days, the project will be having another open weekend on September 9 and 10 and everyone is welcome to visit the sites on these days to learn more about the excavations.

8:25am Monday 11th September 2006

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