Full moon at Aveburyimage � Tom Bullock
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Full moon at Avebury
image � Tom Bullock
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The excavation, in August 1999 revealed the remains of six stone settings. These form an avenue that the excavators believe to be part of the 'Beckhampton Avenue' leading westwards from the henge, last recorded in the 1720s by the antiquarian William Stukeley. Continued on the University of Southampton press release This work is part of the four year Negotiating Avebury Project, which includes virtual reality modelling of the stones.
As well as the main ~500m diameter circle there are the remains of two
inner circular features, one of which may have been a horseshoe. Two Avenues
(one now destroyed) connected to the circle. Much has been written about Avebury that I
won't repeat here. 
I would especially
recommend Prehistoric Avebury by Aubrey Burl and Michael Dames' book The Avebury Cycle,
in which he discusses the relationship between the different features in the local
landscape, including the local springs. He suggests these springs, such as the one at
Swallowhead, between the West Kennet Barrow and Silbury
Hill had special significance to the ancient inhabitants of the area.
Barry Cunliffe's Wessex to A.D. 1000 is useful in that it covers the background to all the monuments in this area, based on the many excavations.
Another interesting book
is Places of Power by Paul Devereux, the second half of which covers Avebury.
In the first part he gives his and others' theories on the significance of landscape on
ancient man; from the Aborigines to those who left us so many similar myths, suggesting a
deep-rooted source in the human subconscious. The Avebury half expands on his
1991 Antiquity Paper, 'Three-dimensional aspects of apparent relationships
between natural and artificial features within the topography of the Avebury complex' (Antiquity
65: 894-8) In plain language that you can just see Silbury Hill from a small area inside
the henge, a phenomenon we saw on our recent visit with Terence Meaden.
Aerial Photography made possible by JJ Evendon
Access: Avebury village is well signposted. National Trust owned with full
tourist facilities. Use the large car park.
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Rating: General Impression 5, Ambience 3, Access 5
Personal:
In Avebury village there is an excellent gift and book shop, with a comprehensive range of
books from mainstream to esoteric. Don't miss the Alexander Keiller Museum, containing
such amazing things as the winged ants on the turf excavated from the centre of Silbury Hill, suggesting construction was started in late July / early
August. Stones Vegetarian Restaurant is not liked by everyone. The food was good but they have recently stopped doing
the hot vegetarian main courses. Get in the queue early.
Tom Bullock's moonlit image above is quite the most extraordinary shot of Avebury I have ever seen. Look out for more pictures from Tom elsewhere on these pages.
Author Terence Meaden, author of
controversial books on Stonehenge and Avebury gave
members of the Stones Mailing List a
guided tour of Avebury in August 1999, just before the solar eclipse. Whatever you think
of his theories, the following makes a fascinating audio tour of the Avebury complex.Avebury Tour Part 1 (7'46")Avebury Tour Part 2 (3'58") |
 These
clips use RealAudio, using the free player available for most systems. It should
also play if you have a recent version of the Microsoft Media Player so give it a go. Why
not start it playing and go off and explore...
|
Pictures from the Summer '97 Moot held at Avebury
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