Capturing the Material Invisible: OGS Crawford, Ghosts, and the Stonehenge Avenue

Abstract

Why do archaeologists excavate? What should we expect from archaeological archives? OGS Crawford’s discovery and excavation of the course of the Stonehenge Avenue in the summer of 1923 – perhaps the first time that a cropmark was identified on an aerial photograph and the first such site to be excavated, and moreover a discovery that had considerable impact on the understanding of Stonehenge’s construction and its relationship with the wider landscape – has left virtually no material trace within the relevant archives. This paper aims to offer an explanation for that absence, and to shed some light on Crawford’s belief that his excavations were unlikely to yield ‘tangible results’.

Keywords

• Stonehenge, Avenue, Crawford, Spirit photography, aerial photography