The first recorded excavations at Stonehenge were carried out by William Cunnington and Richard Colt Hoare. In 1798, Cunnington investigated the pit beneath a recently fallen trilithon and in 1810, both men dug beneath the fallen Slaughter Stone and concluded that it had once stood up. They may have also excavated one of the Aubrey Holes beneath it. In 1839, one Captain Beamish dug around the Altar Stone and a little later Charles Darwin was granted permission by the Antrobus family who owned Stonehenge to hold a small excavation to test his theories about earthworm activity burying ancient structures. On New Year's Eve 1900, another trilithon fell over and Sir Edmund Antrobus undertook to right it and set it in concrete. Following public pressure and a letter to The Times by William Flinders Petrie, he agreed to re-erect the stones under archaeological supervision so that records could be made of the below ground archaeology. Antrobus appointed a mining engineer William Gowland to manage the job who despite having no previous archaeological experience produced some of the finest, most detailed excavation records ever made at the monument. Gowland established that antler picks had been used to dig the stone holes and that the stones themselves had been worked to shape on site. William Cunnington (1754–31 December 1810) was a pioneering English antiquarian and archaeologist of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. ... Richard Colt Hoare (9 December 1758 - 7 May 1838) was an English antiquarian and archaeologist of the early nineteenth century. ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... In his lifetime Charles Darwin gained international fame as an influential scientist examining controversial topics. ... Earthworm is the common reference for the larger members of the Oligochaeta (which is either a class or subclass depending on the author) in the phylum Annelida. ... 1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ... Egyptologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (3 June 1853 - 28 July 1942) was a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology. ...

The largest excavation at Stonehenge was undertaken by Colonel William Hawley and his assistant Robert Newall after the site had come into state hands. Stonehenge and 30 acres of land had been purchased by Mr. Cecil Chubb for £6,600 on September 21, 1915 — he then donated the purchase to the British state three years later. Their work began in 1919 following the transfer of land, funded by the Office of Works, and continued until 1926. The two men excavated portions of most of the features at Stonehenge and were the first to establish that it was a multi-phase site. Stonehenge Stonehenge is a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Salisbury. ... Colonel William Hawley (1861-1941) was a British archaeologist who most famously undertook pioneering excavations at Stonehenge. ... The Ministry of Works was a department of the UK Government formed in 1943 to organise the requisitioning of property for wartime use. ...

In 1950 the Society of Antiquaries commissioned Richard Atkinson, Stuart Piggott and John FS Stone to carry out further excavations. They recovered many cremations and developed the phasing that still dominates much of what is written about Stonehenge. 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... See: Society of Antiquaries of London Society of Antiquaries of Scotland This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Richard John Copland Atkinson (1920–1994) was a British prehistorian and archaeologist. ... Stuart Piggott (1910-1996) CBE, was a British archaeologist most well known for his work on prehistoric Wessex. ...

In 1979 and 1980 Mike Pitts led two smaller investigations as part of service trenching, close by the Heelstone, finding the evidence for its neighbour. More recent excavations have been held to mitigate the effects of electrical cables, sewage pipes, and a footpath through the site. This page refers to the year 1979. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...