Avebury

2850 BCE - 2200 BCE

c. 2850-2200 BCE

Acoustic and Structural Features of Inner Rings

Avebury contains two smaller, separate stone circles within the center of the main monument. The northern inner ring, 98 metres in diameter, originally featured a central cove of three stones facing northeast. The southern inner ring was 108 metres in diameter and featured a 5.5-metre high central monolith. Archaeologists Joshua Pollard, Mark Gillings, and Aaron Watson have suggested that sound waves produced inside these inner circles would have reflected off the standing stones, creating distinct echoes that may have played a role in the site's ritual or ceremonial use.

Ceremonial henge and stone circles

Religious Iconoclasm and the Barber Surgeon

In the early 14th century, local villagers began demolishing Avebury's stones, likely viewing them as pagan symbols associated with the Devil. During a 1938 excavation, the skeleton of a man was discovered beneath a toppled stone, now known as the 'Barber Surgeon of Avebury.' He was found with silver coins dating to the 1320s, a pair of iron scissors, and a lancet. Evidence suggests he was fatally crushed while digging a burial pit for the stone. This accident, followed by the Black Death in 1349, may have halted further destruction by the villagers.

The Ritual Landscape and Lack of Domestic Debris

Archaeologists believe Avebury was a central component of a larger 'ritual complex' that included West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill. Excavations within the henge have revealed a notable lack of pottery and animal bone compared to other sites, suggesting the interior was a sanctified space where domestic activity was prohibited. In contrast, the nearby enclosure at Windmill Hill contained a wealth of animal bone, leading to theories that it served as a focus for regional gatherings and feasting, while Avebury remained reserved for specific ceremonies or ancestor worship.

Chronology of Monumental Construction

The construction of Avebury was not a single event but a series of projects undertaken at different times during late prehistory. Radiocarbon dating suggests the henge was created by the middle of the third millennium BC, while stone settings indicate a construction date between 2870 and 2200 BC. Antiquarian Aubrey Burl proposed a sequence starting with the central cove around 3000 BC, followed by the inner stone circle at 2900 BC, the outer circle and henge at 2600 BC, and finally the stone avenues around 2400 BC.

Neolithic Engineering and Tool Usage

Excavations led by Harold St George Gray between 1908 and 1922 revealed the intensive labor required to build the monument. Builders used red deer antlers as their primary digging tools to excavate 11 metres into the natural chalk, creating a massive ditch and a corresponding 9-metre high bank. Over 40 antler picks were discovered at the bottom of the ditch, many showing significant wear with tines almost entirely gone. This evidence demonstrates that a stable agrarian economy existed, allowing people to dedicate significant resources to non-essential monumental activities.

17th and 18th Century Antiquarian Studies

John Aubrey and William Stukeley provided the first systematic records of Avebury before much of it was destroyed. Aubrey encountered the site in 1649 and produced a plan in 1663 that recorded many stones later lost to 'stone breaking.' Stukeley visited six times between 1719 and 1724, witnessing local farmers heating sarsens with fire and pouring cold water on them to smash them for building material. Although Stukeley meticulously recorded the site, he also published erroneous theories, claiming the monument was a Druidic temple designed as a landscaped portrayal of the Trinity.

Alexander Keiller's 20th Century Reconstruction

Much of Avebury's modern appearance is the result of work by Alexander Keiller, who used his family's marmalade fortune to purchase the site between 1924 and 1939. Keiller directed excavations to locate buried or fallen stones, re-erecting them and placing concrete 'pylons' to mark the positions of missing megaliths. Before his intervention, only nine stones remained standing by 1939. Keiller also founded the museum that bears his name, housed in 17th-century stables, to display Neolithic and Bronze Age artefacts recovered from the Avebury landscape and nearby Windmill Hill.

Acoustic and Structural Features of Inner Rings

Avebury contains two smaller, separate stone circles within the center of the main monument. The northern inner ring, 98 metres in diameter, originally featured a central cove of three stones facing northeast. The southern inner ring was 108 metres in diameter and featured a 5.5-metre high central monolith. Archaeologists Joshua Pollard, Mark Gillings, and Aaron Watson have suggested that sound waves produced inside these inner circles would have reflected off the standing stones, creating distinct echoes that may have played a role in the site's ritual or ceremonial use.