text: Britain's oldest settlement is not where we thought it was, a team of archaeologists said on Thursday as they announced with confidence that Amesbury should now hold the distinction. 
   
   It was previously considered that Thatcham in Berkshire held the distinction but researchers from the University of Buckingham are certain we need to look 40 miles west, to the parish of Amesbury, in Wiltshire, which also includes Stonehenge. 
   
   Carbon dating of bones of aurochs – the giant cattle that were twice the size of today's bulls – at the Blick Mead dig site, has shown that Amesbury has been continually occupied for each millennium since 8,820BC. Older than Thatcham, occupied since 7,700BC, it is in effect where British history began. 
   
   David Jacques, research fellow in archaeology at the University of Buckingham, led the dig. He said: "The site blows the lid off the Neolithic revolution in a number of ways. It provides evidence for people staying put, clearing land, building and presumably worshipping monuments. 
   
   "The area was clearly a hub point for people to come to from many miles away and in many ways was a forerunner for what later went on at Stonehenge itself. The first monuments at Stonehenge were built by these people. 
   
   "For years people have been asking 'why is Stonehenge where it is?' Now, at last, we have found the answers." 
   
   It was the same dig, at Blick Mead, which last year led to the discovery that Mesolithic Britons were enjoying eating frogs legs about eight millennia before the French. 
   
   At the time, Jaques expressed confidence that evidence would prove it was Britain's oldest settlement. That has now been confirmed and on Thursday it was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records. 
   
   The dig also unearthed the largest number of Mesolithic worked flints ever found; 31,000 were discovered in just over 40 days, all in a 16-sq-metre (172-sq-ft) area. 
   
   The discoveries put a date to the activities of those who built the first monuments at the Stonehenge site, using enormous pine posts. It shows their communities lived in the area for a further 3,000 years, close to the dawn of the Neolithic era when Stonehenge itself was built. 
   
   Archaeologists say the results provide something of a missing link between the erection of the posts, between 8,820 and 6,590BC, and of Stonehenge, in 3,000BC. The findings provide evidence which suggests that Stonehenge, rather than a Neolithic new-build sitting, at first, in an empty landscape should be viewed as a response to long-term use of the area by indigenous hunters and home-makers. 
   
   Bill Dunn, spokesman for the Amesbury History Centre, said: "We are naturally delighted at the confirmation of Amesbury's longevity as the oldest continuously inhabited place in England. We have always known Amesbury as somewhere special and this confirms it. All the visitors to the museum are amazed at what they find, and we hope even more people will now visit." 
   
   • This article was amended on 2 May 2014. An earlier version referred to Amesbury as being continually occupied for each millennia, rather than millennium, since 8,820BC. ||||| Image copyright PA Image caption Amesbury - including Stonehenge - is the UK's longest continually-occupied settlement 
   
   A Wiltshire town has been confirmed as the longest continuous settlement in the United Kingdom. 
   
   Amesbury, including Stonehenge, has been continually occupied since 8820BC, experts have found. 
   
   The news was confirmed following an archaeological dig which also unearthed evidence of frogs' legs being eaten in Britain 8,000 years before France. 
   
   Amesbury's place in history has also now been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records. 
   
   David Jacques, from the University of Buckingham, said: "The site blows the lid off the Neolithic Revolution in a number of ways. 
   
   Historic Wiltshire Stonehenge: Wiltshire's most famous historic site built 2500BC 
   
   Avebury: Stone circle is thought to date back 4,000 years 
   
   Silbury Hill: Europe's largest artificial prehistoric mound 
   
   West Kennet Long Barrow: One of the largest Neolithic chambered tombs in Britain 
   
   Westbury White Horse: Cut in the hillside in the 16th Century 
   
   "It provides evidence for people staying put, clearing land, building, and presumably worshipping, monuments. 
   
   "The area was clearly a hub point for people to come to from many miles away, and in many ways was a forerunner for what later went on at Stonehenge itself. 
   
   "The first monuments at Stonehenge were built by these people. For years people have been asking why is Stonehenge where it is, now at last, we have found the answers." 
   
   Mr Jacques said the River Avon, which runs through the area, would have been like an A road with people travelling along it. 
   
   "They may have had the equivalent of local guides and there would have been feasting," he added. 
   
   "We have found remains of big game animals, such as aurochs and red deer, and an enormous amount of burnt flint from their feasting fires." 
   
   Image copyright Andy Rhind-Tutt Image caption The dig unearthed the largest haul of worked flints from the Mesolithic period 
   
   Previously, Thatcham in Berkshire, 40 miles from Amesbury, held the record for the longest continuous settlement in the country. 
   
   The dig in Amesbury also uncovered 31,000 worked flints in 40 days as well as animal bones such as frogs' legs. 
   
   Mr Jacques said our ancestors were eating a "Heston Blumenthal-style menu". 
   
   Amesbury facts Queen Eleanor of Provence - consort to Henry III - is buried at the town's former abbey 
   
   Amesbury residents get a free visitors' pass to Stonehenge each year 
   
   In 1965, the Beatles stayed at the Antrobus Arms Hotel whilst filming Help! 
   
   The area's most famous resident - Police frontman Sting - lives in nearby Wilsford cum Lake 
   
   The find was based on a report by fossil mammal specialist Simon Parfitt, of the Natural History Museum. 
   
   Andy Rhind-Tutt, the founder of Amesbury Museum and Heritage Trust, said there was "something unique and rather special about the area" to keep people there from the end of the Ice Age, to when Stonehenge was created and until today. 
   
   "The fact that the feasting of large animals and the discovery of a relatively constant temperature spring sitting alongside the River Avon, may well be it," he said. 
   
   The dig was filmed and made into a documentary by the BBC, Smithsonian, CBC and others to be screened later in the summer. 
   
   The project was led by the University of Buckingham. ||||| Bones of cattle twice the size of bulls and pink flints which change colour have led the way to an archaeological breakthrough in Amesbury 
   
   © Courtesy University of Buckingham 
   
   © University of Buckingham 
   
   © University of Buckingham 
   
   Giant bull, wild boar and red deer bones left at a settlement a mile from Stonehenge prove that Amesbury is the oldest settlement in Britain and has been continually occupied since 8820 BC, according to archaeologists who say the giant monuments were built by indigenous hunters and homemakers rather than Neolithic new builders.Carbon dating of aurochs – a breed twice the size of bulls – predates the settlers responsible for the massive pine posts at Stonehenge, suggesting that people had first lived in Wiltshire around 3,000 years before the site was created in 3000 BC. Experts had previously thought the stones had been the work of European immigrants.“The site blows the lid off the Neolithic Revolution in a number of ways,” said David Jacques, from the University of Buckingham, who led the dig at Vespasian’s Camp in the open basin of Blick Mead.“It provides evidence for people staying put, clearing land, building and, presumably, worshipping monuments.“The area was clearly a hub point for people to come to from many miles away, and in many ways was a forerunner for what later went on at Stonehenge itself.“The first monuments at Stonehenge were built by these people."For years people have been asking 'why is Stonehenge where it is?' Now, at last, we have found the answers.”Land clearing had been considered part of the farming culture introduced by continental Neolithic immigrants during the 5th millennium. The finds date clearances around an area of the spring to between 7500 and 4600 BC, when Mesolithic culture had been seen as nomadic.“In effect, Blick Mead was the very first Stonehenge Visitor Centre, up and running in the 8th millennium BC,” said Jacques.“The River Avon would have been the ‘A’ Road – people would have come down on their log boats.“They would have had the equivalent of tour guides and there would have been feasting."We have found remains of big game animals, such as aurochs and red deer, and an enormous amount of burnt flint from their feasting fires. There’s also evidence for a multi-cultural population at the site.”Around 31,000 Mesolithic worked flints were found in a 16-square metre during excavations lasting little more than a month.“Tool types suggest people were coming to it from far to the west of Stonehenge and from the east,” added Jacques. “Another possible reason why people were attracted to the area was the striking bright pink colouring of the flint, which isn’t that colour anywhere else in the country.“The colouring is caused by algae - Hildenbrandia rivularis - and it is due to a combination of dappled light and the unusually warm spring water in the area.“It’s unique to have people of that time come from so many different faraway places. The site and the Stonehenge areas were very well-known places to visit for a very long time – the London of the Mesolithic.”Professor David John, of the Natural History Museum, said that the constant spring water temperature at the site would have been between 10 and 14 degrees, giving the flint its pink tinge once it had been removed from the stream for several hours.“It is a rather magical effect now,” said Jacques. “It may well have been seen so back then.”
target: – The ancient monument of Stonehenge dates back to between 2500 BC and 3000 BC—but when it was built, people had already been living in the area for millennia, researchers found after a dig. Artifacts from what is now Amesbury, the nearest settlement to Stonehenge, dated to 8820 BC. It's been inhabited ever since, the BBC notes, making it Britain's oldest settlement, something the Guinness Book of Records has now officially recognized. (As such, Thatcham has lost the honor.) The year was established after burnt flints and large animal bones were unearthed; they point to feasts held there, Smithsonian reports. "The site blows the lid off the Neolithic Revolution in a number of ways," says researcher David Jacques, who notes that it provides evidence of "people staying put, clearing land, building, and presumably worshiping, monuments." Experts had believed the stones were erected by European immigrants, notes Culture24, but in fact the area was a hub for people in the region, says Jacques. It "was a forerunner for what later went on at Stonehenge itself," he says. "The first monuments at Stonehenge were built by these people. For years, people have been asking why is Stonehenge where it is; now at last, we have found the answers." Giant pine posts were placed in the area long before Stonehenge was there, sometime before 6590 BC, reports the Guardian; the study offers a "missing link" between the posts and the stone monuments. (Click to read about Stonehenge's sonic secret.)