Avebury

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AVEBURY
Megaliths that Dictate Time

The village of Avebury in Wiltshire has given its name to one of the greatest stone circles in the British Isles. Located in the midst of a rich prehistoric landscape, the village lies a few miles away from the Ridgeway and in close proximity to Silbury Hill, the Sanctuary, the West Kennet Long Barrow, and the long barrows of East Kennet and Beckhampton.

The site is said to be dated to around 2,600-2,500 B.C. The complex, which covers about 28 acres and is partially overlapped by the village, comprises a huge circular earthwork ditch, originally about 30 feet deep, and bank about four hundred metres in diametre which encloses an outer circle of standing stones. Within this outer circle are two inner circles, both about one hundred metres in diametre. The northern inner circle, of which only a few stones remain, apparently consisted of two concentric circles; an inner one of 12 stones and an outer one of 27 stones. At the centre of the northern circle stood a trio of very

Figure 1: Aerial view of the Avebury site.

Figure 2: The drawing done by William Stukeley in the 18th century, depicting the stones as they were before being removed.

These stones are thought to be aligned in an attempt to accurately measure the movement of the stars, as are most of the meglithic stone circles, the most famous being Stonehenge. The difference between sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury is the quality of stonemasonry. Work at Stonehenge commenced at around 2,900B.C., and work at Avebury 2,600B.C. The quality of the stonework is marked, as can be seen in figures 3 and 4, when compared with the figures on the Stonehenge page. It seems that, rather than an evolution of masonry knowledge over time, it seems that the opposite is evident. Over a space of only 300 years, the capacity of the builders to shape these montrous

Figure 3: An example of the standing stones used at Avebury.

Figure 4: An example of the standing stones used at Avebury under the blanket of winter.

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As an aside, on the 19th of July, 2002, this crop circle appeared overnight in the fields adjacent to the stone circle at Avebury. Click on image for enlargement. Image from Colin Andrews report number 4, here.

large stones, two of which survive, called "the Cove." At the centre of the southern circle stood a tall stone over 6 metres in length called "the obelisk." It had already fallen when William Stukeley saw, and drew it, in the 18th century, and is now gone altogether (its site, as with the other missing stones at Avebury, is now marked by a concrete pillar). William Stukeley's drawing is shown in figure 2.

blocks of stone devolved, rather than evolved to the extent that all they could do with these blocks is to stand them up; they lack the shaped form, nor the imposing and stabilising lintelling as shown in its predecessor, Stonehenge. The question that then presents itself is...why the devolution, how did such a loss of knowledge occur? It is still an amazing feat of technical skill to erect this stone circle, but compared to the work done not even 300 years previously at Stonehenge, this site resembles a childs attempt to imitate their fathers' handywork. The fundamental ideas are the same, but the builders obviously lacked the skills required to imitate to the degrees dislplayed at Avebury's bigger brother, Stonehenge.