The experts are working in partnership with English Heritage, which looks after Arthur's Stone in Herefordshire, to remove turf to expose and record particularly sensitive archaeological remains.
Arthur's Stone is a Neolithic chambered tomb which has never previously been excavated, but English Heritage say that similar examples in the same region have been found to contain incomplete skeletal remains of several people, together with flint flakes, arrowheads and pottery.
Today, only the large stones of the inner chamber remains, which is placed in a mound of earth and stones whose original size and shape remains a mystery. The chamber is formed of nine upright stones, with an enormous capstone estimated to weigh more than 25 tonnes on top.
Like many prehistoric monuments in western England and Wales, this tomb has been linked to King Arthur since before the 13th century. According to legend, it was here that Arthur slew a giant who left the impression of his elbows on one of the stones as he fell.
More recently, the author CS Lewis is thought to have been inspired by the area when creating his fictional world of Narnia - with Arthur's Stone the inspiration for the stone table upon which Aslan the Lion is sacrificed in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
"Arthur's Stone is one of the country's most significant Stone Age monuments, and this excavation gives a really rare and exciting chance for members of the public to come and see archaeology in action," said Ginny Slade, Volunteer Manager at English Heritage. "Our team of wonderful volunteers will be on hand to explain the latest findings as they happen - we're asking people to book in advance to make sure everyone has a chance to enjoy this great opportunity."
The dig follows research undertaken by the Universities of Manchester and Cardiff immediately to the south of the monument last year which has already changed the thinking about the orientation and origins of the site.
It was assumed that Arthur's Stone stood within a wedge-shaped stone cairn, similar to those found in the Cotswolds and South Wales, but Manchester's Professor Julian Thomas and Cardiff's Professor Keith Ray found that the monument originally extended into a field to the southwest, and may have taken the form of a low turf mound with rounded ends. Professors Thomas and Professor Ray will also lead the upcoming excavations, with the participation of students from Cardiff University and a series of American institutions.
Arthur's Stone is one of this country's outstanding prehistoric monuments, set in a breathtaking location - yet it remains poorly understood. Our work seeks to restore it to its rightful place in the story of Neolithic Britain.English Heritage has also recruited a team of volunteers to work alongside the archaeologists to bring the history and stories of the stones to life with tours of the excavation site. Pre-booked tours are available to book online now.
Professor Julian Thomas
The King Arthur myth is far more profound than any historic events accreted and mixed up over the centuries.
Written when there was no quantified, technical, scientific language available, everything is revealed in metaphor and symbolism.
"Whomsoever can pull this Sword out of this Stone and through this Anvil is rightwise born King of all England!"
Profound truths, and as relevant today as then. For Whomsoever knows how to extract Metal from a stone (ore) and Engineer it into a usable weapon (smithying) can rule over those that don't. And if you don't believe that then just come over with your pointy stick and I'll chop your leg off. But what about "Rightwise born" I hear you say? Well if you refuse Dieu et Mon Droit, then hop over here and I'll chop your other leg off
Today, or in some post apocalyptic future, instead of using the metaphors of stones anvils and swords we might say yellow cake, plutonium and ICBMs, and talk of how King America, King Russia etc laid waste the Earth with mighty mushroom clouds
"Arthur" is the English version of the Latin Ursa, Bear. King Arthur's father was Uther Pendragon. So King Arthur is actually king bear, son of the bear, son of the dragon. It sounds more like a title.
But I think it refers more to the near universal pre-Christian belief that the sun, moon, planets, stars and, essentially, the movement of the Heavens, was the primary reality of existence. The father bear is Ursa Major, it is from him that is revealed his son Ursa Minor, who is the highest in the heavens, the King around which everything revolves, and the dragon is the eternal round in its aspect of the animating spirit, identified as well as eternity and kundalini (amongst many other things) as the path of the ecliptic.
This tripartite relationship can also be identified with another symbol-myth that was appropriated by the Christian churches (along with churches on pagan sites, virgin birth, rising from the dead etc) โthe Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
In short, that part of the Arthur myth is a survival of pre-Christian oral religion/philosophy
Life is not thought, so much as feeling, "I feel therefore I am". And symbolic thought, metaphor, poetry, is far more evocative of what things feel like in our relationship with them than quantative left-brain logic and brings us much closer to reality than the science and technology driven industrial-scale materialism that is our current existence
Amun.