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96-525: The Sanctuary was a stone and timber circle near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire . Excavation has revealed the location of the 58 stone sockets and 62 post-holes. The ring was part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age , over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE . The purpose of such monuments

192-430: A Scheduled Ancient Monument , as well as a World Heritage Site , in the latter capacity being seen as a part of the wider prehistoric landscape of Wiltshire known as Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites . About 480 people live in 235 homes in the village of Avebury and its associated settlement of Avebury Trusloe, and in the nearby hamlets of Beckhampton and West Kennett. At grid reference SU10266996 , Avebury

288-492: A grassland environment from damp, heavy soils and expanses of dense forest was mostly brought about by farmers, probably through the use of slash and burn techniques. Environmental factors may also have made a contribution. The long grassland area formed a dense vegetational mat which eventually led to the decalcification of the soil profile. In the Mesolithic period, woodland was dominated by alder, lime, elm and oak. There

384-399: A scheduled monument under the guardianship of English Heritage , it is classified as part of the " Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites " UNESCO World Heritage Site and is open without charge to visitors all year round. The Sanctuary is 1 ½ miles southeast of Avebury and 4 ½ miles west of Marlborough . It stands on the southern spur of Overton Hill , a site offering views across

480-466: A "religious revival" at the time, which led to huge amounts of resources being expended on the construction of ceremonial monuments. Archaeologist Aaron Watson highlighted the possibility that by digging up earth and using it to construct the large banks, those Neolithic labourers constructing the Avebury monument symbolically saw themselves as turning the land "inside out", thereby creating a space that

576-430: A common theory to explain the positioning of the stones at Avebury. The relationships between the causewayed enclosure, Avebury stone circles, and West Kennet Long Barrow to the south, has caused some to describe the area as a "ritual complex"—a site with many monuments of interlocking religious function. Based on the scale of the site and wealth of archaeological material found in its ditches, particularly animal bone, it

672-457: A fifth example could be seen at Langdean Bottom, although further investigation has reinterpreted this as evidence for a late prehistoric hut circle or a medieval feature. Burl suggested that these smaller stone related to Avebury in a manner akin to "village churches within the diocese of a cathedral". The location on which the Sanctuary was built saw prior human activity. This is reflected by

768-425: A huge scale could have been one of the purposes of the monument and would not necessarily have been mutually exclusive with any male/female ritual role. The henge, although clearly forming an imposing boundary to the circle, could have had a purpose that was not defensive as the ditch is on the inside (this is the defining characteristic of a henge ). Being a henge and stone circle site, astronomical alignments are

864-455: A large hut or an enclosure. Phase three, some time in the later Neolithic, a third ring of 33 posts were added, in a circle 21 metres (69 ft) across, and at the same time an inner stone circle of 15 or 16 sarsen stones was introduced alongside what was by that point the middle ring, making an almost solid wall of stones and posts. The final phase was of 42 sarsen stones forming a boundary ring 40 metres (130 ft) across, which replaced all

960-564: A scatter of Peterborough Ware discovered by archaeologists that possibly extends for several hundred metres to the north of the monument. From its location on Overton Hill, the Sanctuary offers views of various Early Neolithic monuments in the landscape, including the West Kennet Long Barrow , East Kennet Long Barrow , and Windmill Hill . Excavation revealed that the Sanctuary consisted of two concentric rings with an overall diameter of circa 40 metres. The inner stone circle

1056-407: A stone circle is found in association with a burial pit or burial chamber, but most of these monuments have no such known association because of a lack of archaeological investigation. Recumbent stone circles are a variation containing a single large stone placed on its side. The stones are often ordered by height, with the tallest being the portals, with gradually reducing heights around each side of

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1152-497: A week directing excavations in fourteen places, including around the Cove; they found no human bones. In 1894 Sir Henry Meux sponsored excavations which put a trench through the bank of the south-east sector, which gave the first indication that the earthwork was built in two phases. The site was surveyed and excavated intermittently between 1908 and 1922 by a team of workmen under the direction of Harold St George Gray , on behalf of

1248-405: Is a major decline in pollen around 4500 BC, but an increase in grasses from 4500 BC to 3200 BC and the first occurrence of cereal pollen. Pollen is poorly preserved in the chalky soils found around Avebury, so the best evidence for the state of local environment at any time in the past comes from the study of the deposition of snail shells. Different species of snail live in specific habitats, so

1344-560: Is evidenced by flint, animal bones, and pottery such as Peterborough ware dating from the early 4th and 3rd millennia BC. Five distinct areas of Neolithic activity have been identified within 500 m (1,600 ft) of Avebury; they include a scatter of flints along the line of the West Kennet Avenue —an avenue that connects Avebury with the Neolithic site of The Sanctuary . Pollard suggests that areas of activity in

1440-790: Is in the Italian Alps. As early as 1579, scholars in Germany described large erect stone circles near Ballenstedt . In 2001, a stone circle ( Beglik Tash ) was discovered in Bulgaria near the Black Sea. There are several examples in the Alentejo region of Portugal, the oldest and most complete being the Almendres Cromlech near the regional capital of Évora and within its municipality. Remains of many others consist only of

1536-400: Is often assumed there are thousands of stone circles across both Great Britain, Ireland and Europe, such enclosures are actually very rare, and constitute a regional form of henge . Examples of true stone circles include Cumbrian circles , henges with inner stones (such as Avebury ), and Cornish stone circles . Stone circles are usually grouped in terms of the shape and size of the stones,

1632-641: Is respectively about 6 and 7 miles (10 and 11 km) from the modern towns of Marlborough and Calne . The monuments at the Avebury World Heritage Site cover about 8 + 3 ⁄ 4 square miles (23 square kilometres). Avebury lies in an area of chalkland in the Upper Kennet Valley that forms the catchment for the River Kennet and supports local springs and seasonal watercourses. The monument stands slightly above

1728-503: Is theorised that the enclosure on Windmill Hill was a major, extra-regional focus for gatherings and feasting events. In 1829, the foot of the Cove stone was dug to a 'yard' in depth, and in 1833 Henry Browne claimed to find evidence for 'burnt human sacrifices' also at the Cove in the north-east sector. in 1865, the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society supported A. C. Smith and W. Cunnington to spend

1824-462: Is thought to be likely, especially by Aubrey Burl . He thought that such sites in Cumbria are analogous to the kerbs that surround some chamber tombs . Burials have been found at all excavated concentric stone circles: both inhumations and cremations. The burnt remains have been found either within an urn or placed directly in the earth. Megalithic monuments are found in especially great number on

1920-472: Is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders. The Sanctuary was erected on Overton Hill , overlooking older Early Neolithic sites like West Kennet Long Barrow and East Kennet Long Barrow. It was connected to the Late Neolithic henge and stone circle at Avebury via the West Kennet Avenue of stones. It also lies close to

2016-454: The Barber surgeon of Avebury . Coins dating from the 1320s were found with the skeleton, and the evidence suggests that the man was fatally injured when the stone fell on him whilst he was digging the hole in which it was to be buried in a mediaeval "rite of destruction". As well as the coins, Keiller's team found a pair of scissors and a lancet , the tools of a barber-surgeon at that time, hence

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2112-591: The Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands , two kinds of megalithic circles are found. The first type consists of single stone circles, whereas the second type comprises an inner circle enclosed within a larger circle (i.e. double stone circles). On the western side of the continent, the Senegambian stone circles can be found. The individual groups are dated from 700 A.D. to 1350 A.D. In the Near East, possibly

2208-666: The Middle Neolithic ( c.  3200 –2500 BC). Around that time, stone circles began to be built in the coastal and lowland areas towards the north of the United Kingdom . The Langdale axe industry in the Lake District may have been an important early centre for circle building , perhaps because of its economic power. Many had closely set stones, perhaps similar to the earth banks of henges . Others were constructed from boulders placed stably on

2304-479: The Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site . The monuments are preserved as part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape for the information they provide regarding prehistoric people's relationship with the landscape. Radiocarbon dating and analysis of pollen and occasionally insects in buried soils have shown that the environment of lowland Britain changed around 4250–4000 BC. During

2400-522: The long barrows , causewayed enclosures , and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges , timber circles , and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner. They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on

2496-470: The 17th and 18th centuries, respectively, and recorded much of the site between various phases of destruction. Archaeological investigation followed in the 20th century, with Harold St George Gray leading an excavation of the bank and ditch, and Alexander Keiller overseeing a project to reconstruct much of the monument. Avebury is owned and managed by the National Trust . It has been designated

2592-480: The 18th century. The remaining sections of its arc now lie beneath the village buildings. A single large monolith, 5.5 metres (18 ft) high, stood in the centre along with an alignment of smaller stones. In 2017, a geophysical survey by archaeologists from the Universities of Leicester and Southampton indicated 'an apparently unique square megalithic monument within the Avebury circles' which may be one of

2688-585: The British Association. The discovery of over 40 antler picks on or near the bottom of the ditch enabled Gray to demonstrate that the Avebury builders had dug down 11 metres (36 ft) into the natural chalk using red deer antlers as their primary digging tool, producing a henge ditch with a 9-metre (30 ft) high bank around its perimeter. Gray recorded the base of the ditch as being 4 metres (13 ft) wide and flat, but later archaeologists have questioned his use of untrained labour to excavate

2784-478: The Cunningtons, indicating that the site saw some degree of occupation activity. Recent excavation by Mike Pitts has given greater credence to the Cunningtons' original interpretation of freestanding posts. The site was largely destroyed in around 1723, although not before William Stukeley was able to visit and draw it. The 1930 excavation revealed the body of a young girl buried alongside the eastern stone of

2880-776: The European Atlantic fringe and in Great Britain and Ireland. There are approximately 1300 stone circles in Great Britain and Ireland. Experts disagree on whether the construction of megaliths in Britain developed independently or was imported from mainland Europe. A 2019 comprehensive radiocarbon dating study of megalithic structures across Europe and the British Isles concluded that construction techniques were spread to other communities via sea routes, starting from north-western France. In contrast,

2976-659: The French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Mohen in his book Le Monde des Megalithes wrote that the British Isles are "outstanding in the abundance of standing stones, and the variety of circular architectural complexes of which they formed a part ... strikingly original, they have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe – strongly supporting the argument that the builders were independent." Some theories suggest that invaders from Brittany may have been responsible for constructing Stonehenge. Although stone circles are widely distributed across

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3072-597: The Neolithic became important markers in the landscape. "After over a thousand years of early farming, a way of life based on ancestral tombs, forest clearance and settlement expansion came to an end. This was a time of important social changes." Archaeologist and prehistorian Mike Parker Pearson on the Late Neolithic in Britain (2005) During the Late Neolithic, British society underwent another series of major changes. Between 3500 and 3300 BC, these prehistoric Britons ceased their continual expansion and cultivation of wilderness and instead focused on settling and farming

3168-419: The Neolithic period, argillic (clayey) brownearths reigned in the landscape formed by the acidifying conditions of a closed woodland, becoming more chalky as a result of clearance and anthropogenic (human-made) interference. The area was originally a mix of deep argillic brownearths on clay-rich areas along with calcareous (chalky) brownearths that were "predisposed" to transforming into grassland. The change to

3264-534: The Neolithic. Its monuments comprise the henge and associated long barrows , stone circles, avenues and a causewayed enclosure . These monument types are not exclusive to the Avebury area. For example, Stonehenge features the same kinds of monuments, and in Dorset there is a henge on the edge of Dorchester and a causewayed enclosure at nearby Maiden Castle . According to archaeologist Caroline Malone , who worked for English Heritage as an inspector of monuments and

3360-645: The North West sector of Avebury in 1937; the South West sector in 1938, and the South East sector in 1939. It can reasonably be said that "Avebury today is largely Keiller's creation", as Keiller directed his team to find and re-erect fallen or buried stones, and to build concrete ' pylons ' in the place of missing stones. Stuart Piggott co-directed excavations; local archaeologist William E. V. Young served as Foreman; Doris Emerson Chapman illustrated

3456-529: The Sanctuary may have been seen as the start of the Avenue or as its finish. When the site was first excavated by Maud and Ben Cunnington in 1930, it was interpreted as a timber equivalent to Stonehenge . 162 postholes were excavated, some with double posts and the remains of postpipes still visible. Later interpretations have made much of The Sanctuary's link with Avebury via the Avenue , and suggested that

3552-472: The Sanctuary on 18 May 1724, he referred to it instead as the "Temple on Overton Hill". Stukeley noted that local people called it "The Sanctuary". The archaeologist Stuart Piggott later noted that this was "a rather improbable name for rural folklore, and suggesting some seventeenth-century antiquarianism at work". Stukeley's drawings of the Sanctuary depicted them as ovals, whereas later excavations revealed them to be almost perfect circles. He later presented

3648-508: The Sanctuary, Silbury Hill and West Kennet Long Barrow had been intentional, commenting that "the Avenue carefully orchestrated passage through the landscape which influenced how people could move and what they could see, emphasising connections between places and maximising the spectacle of moving between these monuments." The purpose which Neolithic people had for the Avebury monument has remained elusive, although many archaeologists have postulated about its meaning and usage. Many suggest that

3744-427: The archaeologist Aubrey Burl , these examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire examples were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape. There are four smaller stone circles known from the area surrounding Avebury: The Sanctuary, Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle , Clatford Stone Circle , and Falkner's Circle . Archaeologists initially suggested that

3840-409: The area. The most important of these discoveries is a densely scattered collection of worked flints found 300 m (980 ft) to the west of Avebury, which has led archaeologists to believe that that spot was a flint working site occupied over a period of several weeks by a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers who had set up camp there. The archaeologists Mark Gillings and Joshua Pollard suggested

3936-849: The axial stone. Examples can be found throughout Continental Europe, from the Black Sea to Brittany . Locations in France include several in Brittany (two on the island of Er Lannic and two more suggested at Carnac ), several in the south of France on the Causse de Blandas in the Cevennes , in the Pyrenees , and in the Alps (e.g. the Petit Saint Bernard ). One notable stone circle

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4032-514: The best-known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans . Constructed over several hundred years in the third millennium BC, during the Neolithic , or New Stone Age, the monument comprises a large henge (a bank and a ditch) with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside

4128-573: The central anta (as they are known in the Alentejo). This sometimes appears to have been used as an altar but more often as a central burial structure, originally surrounded by megaliths that show only sparsely survived erosion and human activities. These circles are also known as harrespil in the Basque country , where villagers call them mairu -baratz or jentil -baratz, meaning "pagan garden (cemetery)". They refer to mythological giants of

4224-496: The centre of the monument. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony. The Avebury monument is a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow , Windmill Hill and Silbury Hill . By the Iron Age , the site had been effectively abandoned, with some evidence of human activity on

4320-462: The circle, down to the recumbent stone, which is the lowest. This type is found throughout Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany, with 71 examples in Scotland and at least 20 in south-west Ireland. In the latter nation they are generally called axial stone circles , including Drombeg stone circle near Rosscarbery , County Cork. Scottish recumbent circles are usually flanked by the two largest of

4416-651: The circle. During the British Iron Age , it appears that the Avebury monument had ceased to be used for its original purpose, and was instead largely ignored, with little archaeological evidence that many people visited the site at this time. Archaeologist Aubrey Burl believed that the Iron Age Britons living in the region would not have known when, why or by whom the monument had been constructed, perhaps having some vague understanding that it had been built by an earlier society or considering it to be

4512-418: The construction of large wooden or stone circles, with many hundreds being built across Britain and Ireland over a period of a thousand years. The chronology of Avebury's construction is unclear. It was not designed as a single monument, but is the result of various projects that were undertaken at different times during late prehistory. Aubrey Burl suggests dates of 3000 BC for the central cove, 2900 BC for

4608-413: The ditch and suggested that its form may have been different. Gray found few artefacts in the ditch-fill but he did recover scattered human bones, amongst which jawbones were particularly well represented. At a depth of about 2 metres (7 ft), Gray found the complete skeleton of a 1.5-metre (5 ft) tall woman. Alexander Keiller financed and led excavations on West Kennet Avenue in 1934 and 1935;

4704-646: The dwelling of a supernatural entity. In 43 AD, the Roman Empire invaded southern Britain, making alliances with certain local monarchs and subsuming the Britons under their own political control. Southern and central Britain would remain a part of the Empire until the early 5th century, in a period now known as Roman Britain or the Roman Iron Age. It was during this Roman period that tourists came from

4800-484: The earliest structures on this site. The West Kennet Avenue , an avenue of paired stones, leads from the southeastern entrance of the henge; and traces of a second, the Beckhampton Avenue , lead out from the western entrance. The archaeologist Aaron Watson, taking a phenomenological viewpoint to the monument, believed that the way in which the Avenue had been constructed in juxtaposition to Avebury,

4896-468: The first monuments to be seen in the local landscape, an activity interpreted as evidence of a change in the way people viewed their place in the world. Based on anthropological studies of recent and contemporary societies, Gillings and Pollard suggest that forests, clearings, and stones were important in Neolithic culture, not only as resources but as symbols; the site of Avebury occupied a convergence of these three elements. Neolithic activity at Avebury

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4992-562: The foundation trenches, and final construction. Growing evidence suggests that megalithic constructions began as early as 5000 BC in northwestern France and that the custom and techniques spread via sea routes throughout Europe and the Mediterranean region from there. The Carnac Stones in France are estimated to have been built around 4500 BC, and many of the formations include megalithic stone circles. The earliest stone circles in Great Britain were erected 3200–2500 BC, during

5088-441: The full report. Smith completed the publication in 1965, reorganised the stone numbering system for the landscape, and put Windmill Hill, Avebury and West Kennet Avenue into context. When a new village school was built in 1969 there was a further opportunity to examine the site, and in 1982 an excavation to produce carbon dating material and environmental data was undertaken. In April 2003, during preparations to straighten some of

5184-450: The ground rather than standing stones held erect by a foundation trench. Recent research shows that the two oldest stone circles in Great Britain ( Stenness on Orkney and Callanish on the Isle of Lewis ) were constructed to align with solar and lunar positions. Most sites do not contain evidence of human dwelling, suggesting that stone circles were constructed for ceremonies. Sometimes,

5280-478: The henge could have been a meeting place for the citizens of the area for seasonal fairs or festivals. During that time the people would have been watching ceremonies or standing on the earthen banks. A lack of pottery and animal bone from excavations at Avebury suggest that the entrance to the henge was prohibited. The lack of "mess" and archaeological finds indicates "sanctity". Many of the stones had former uses before being transported to Avebury. For instance, many of

5376-461: The henge is a great outer circle. With a diameter of 331.6 metres (1,088 ft), this is one of Europe's largest stone circles, and Britain's largest. It was either contemporary with, or built around four or five centuries after, the earthworks. It is thought that there were originally 98 sarsen standing stones , some weighing in excess of 40 tons. The stones varied in height from 3.6 metres (12 ft) to 4.2 metres (14 ft), as exemplified at

5472-458: The henge is uncertain, because little datable evidence has emerged from modern archaeological excavations . Evidence of activity in the region before the 4th millennium BC is limited, suggesting that there was little human occupation. What is now termed the Mesolithic period in Britain lasted from circa 11,600 to 7,800 BP , at a time when the island was heavily forested and when there

5568-558: The idea that the circles represented the head of a large serpent marked out in megaliths across the landscape. Stukeley also recorded the destruction of the Sanctuary by local farmers. Stone circle The archetypical stone circle is an uncluttered enclosure, large enough to congregate inside, and composed of megalithic stones. Often similar structures are named 'stone circle', but these names are either historic, or incorrect. Examples of commonly misinterpreted stone circles are ring cairns , burial mounds , and kerb cairns . Although it

5664-484: The importance of gender in Neolithic Britain with the taller stones considered "male" and the shorter ones "female". The stones were not dressed in any way and may have been chosen for their pleasing natural forms. The human bones found by Gray point to some form of funerary purpose and have parallels in the disarticulated human bones often found at earlier causewayed enclosure sites. Ancestor worship on

5760-447: The inner stone circle, 2600 BC for the outer circle and henge, and around 2400 BC for the avenues. The construction of large monuments such as those at Avebury indicates that a stable agrarian economy had developed in Britain by around 4000–3500 BC. The people who built them had to be secure enough to spend time on such non-essential activities. Avebury was one of a group of monumental sites that were established in this region during

5856-406: The inner stone circle. She had been interred with a beaker and animal bones. Her body would have been aligned with the equinoctial sunrises, and Burl suggested that she may have been a sacrifice. It remains uncertain what purpose(s) the structures were put to. As a site that was in use for many hundreds of years it is likely that the purpose, like the form of the structures, changed considerably over

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5952-463: The island, Ireland has two main concentrations: in the Cork / Kerry area and in mid- Ulster . The latter typically consist of a greater number of small stones, usually 1' (0.3 metres) high, and are often found in upland areas and on sites that also contain a stone alignment . The Cork–Kerry stone circles tend to be more irregular in shape with larger but fewer and more widely-spaced orthostats around

6048-548: The late Neolithic to the end of the early Bronze Age and are found in England and Scotland. Cobble pavements have been found in the centre of many examples. Connected features at some sites include central mounds, outlying standing stones, and avenues or circular banks on which the stones are set. Alternatively, they may be replicas of earlier timber circles rebuilt in stone, especially the examples in Wessex . A funerary purpose

6144-484: The local landscape, sitting on a low chalk ridge 160 m (520 ft) above sea level; to the east are the Marlborough Downs , an area of lowland hills. The site lies at the centre of a collection of Neolithic and early Bronze Age monuments and was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in a co-listing with the monuments at Stonehenge, 17 miles (27 km) to the south, in 1986. It is now listed as part of

6240-490: The middle, its entrance facing northeast. Taking experiments undertaken at the megalithic Ring of Brodgar in Orkney as a basis, the archaeologists Joshua Pollard , Mark Gillings and Aaron Watson believed that any sounds produced inside Avebury's Inner Circles would have created an echo as sound waves reflected off the standing stones. The southern inner ring was 108 metres (354 ft) in diameter before its destruction in

6336-461: The most agriculturally productive areas of the island: Orkney, eastern Scotland, Anglesey, the upper Thames, Wessex, Essex, Yorkshire and the river valleys of the Wash. Late Neolithic Britons also appeared to have changed their religious beliefs, ceasing to construct the large chambered tombs that are widely thought by archaeologists to have been connected with ancestor veneration . Instead, they began

6432-449: The name given to the stone. Alexander Keiller and Stuart Piggott published short reports from the excavations, however the outbreak of World War II, Keiller's failing health and dwindling finances, and Piggott's career which took him abroad during the war and into new archaeological projects post war, meant that they did not publish a full report. The archeologist Isobel Smith was commissioned by Gabrielle Keiller to synthesise and complete

6528-606: The nearby towns of Cunetio , Durocornovium and the villas and farms around Devizes and visited Avebury and its surrounding prehistoric monuments via a newly constructed road. Evidence of visitors at the monument during this period has been found in the form of Roman-era pottery sherds uncovered from the ditch. In the Early Middle Ages , which began in the 5th century following the collapse of Roman rule, Anglo-Saxon tribes from continental Europe migrated to southern Britain , where they may have come into conflict with

6624-561: The north and south entrances. Radiocarbon dating of some stone settings indicate a construction date of around 2870–2200 BC. The two large stones at the Southern Entrance had an unusually smooth surface, likely due to having stone axes polished on them. Nearer the middle of the monument are two additional, separate stone circles. The northern inner ring is 98 metres (322 ft) in diameter, but only two of its four standing stones remain upright. A cove of three stones stood in

6720-671: The north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen . The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments". The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests that in Neolithic Britain, stone

6816-580: The oldest stone circles in the world were found at Atlit Yam (about 8000 BC). The locality is now submerged near the Levantine Mediterranean coast. Other locations include India or Japan. See more in the relevant Misplaced Pages category . Avebury Avebury ( / ˈ eɪ v b ər i / ) is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles , around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire , in south-west England. One of

6912-539: The possibility that Avebury first gained some sort of ceremonial significance during the Late Mesolithic period. As evidence, they highlighted the existence of a posthole near the monument's southern entrance that would have once supported a large wooden post. Although this posthole was never dated when it was excavated in the early 20th century, and so cannot definitely be ascribed to the Mesolithic, Gillings and Pollard noted that its positioning had no relation to

7008-680: The pre-Christian era. No example has survived in a good state of preservation, but, like the Alentejo, the Basque Country is dotted with eroded and vandalized examples of many such structures. Ancient stone circles are found throughout the Horn of Africa . Booco in northeastern Somalia contains a number of such old structures. Small stone circles here surround two enclosed platform monuments, which are set together. The circles of stone are believed to mark associated graves. At Emba Derho in

7104-403: The presence of a certain species indicates what the area was like at a particular time. The available evidence suggests that in the early Neolithic, Avebury and the surrounding hills were covered in dense oak woodland, and as the Neolithic progressed, the woodland around Avebury and the nearby monuments receded and was replaced by grassland. The history of the site before the construction of

7200-421: The rest of the henge, and that it may therefore have been erected centuries or even millennia before the henge was actually built. They compared this with similar wooden posts that had been erected in southern Britain during the Mesolithic at Stonehenge and Hambledon Hill , both of which were sites that like Avebury saw the construction of large monuments in the Neolithic. In the 4th millennium BC, around

7296-415: The route of the prehistoric Ridgeway and near several Bronze Age barrows . In the early 18th century, the site was recorded by the antiquarian William Stukeley although the stones were destroyed by local farmers in the 1720s. The Sanctuary underwent archaeological excavation by Maud and Ben Cunnington in 1930, after which the location of the prehistoric posts was marked out by concrete posts. Now

7392-468: The sarsens had been used to polish stone axes, while others had been "heavily worked". Archaeologist Aubrey Burl believed that rituals would have been performed at Avebury by Neolithic peoples in order "to appease the malevolent powers of nature" that threatened their existence, such as the winter cold, death and disease. In his study of those examples found at Orkney , Colin Richards suggested that

7488-422: The side of the circle opposite the recumbent stone. These are known as 'portals', as they form an entrance into the circle. Often the portals are turned so that their flat sides face each other, rather than facing the centre of the circle. A concentric stone circle is a type of prehistoric monument consisting of a circular or oval arrangement of two or more stone circles set within one another. They were in use from

7584-518: The site during the Roman period . During the Early Middle Ages, a village first began to be built around the monument, eventually extending into it. In the late medieval and early modern periods, local people destroyed many of the standing stones around the henge, both for religious and practical reasons. The antiquarians John Aubrey and William Stukeley took an interest in Avebury during

7680-415: The span of their radius, and their population within the local area. Although many theories have been advanced to explain their use, usually related to providing a setting for ceremony or ritual, no consensus exists among archaeologists regarding their intended function. Their construction often involved considerable communal effort, including specialist tasks such as planning, quarrying, transportation, laying

7776-494: The standing stones immediately on either side. These are known as 'flankers'. The stones are commonly graded in height with the lowest stones being diametrically opposite to the tall flankers. The circle commonly contains a ring cairn and cremation remains. Irish axial stone circles are found in Cork and Kerry counties. These do not have tall flanking stones on either side of the recumbent stone. Instead, there are two tall stones at

7872-404: The start of the Neolithic period in Britain, British society underwent radical changes. These coincided with the introduction of domesticated species of animals and plants, as well as a changing material culture that included pottery. These developments allowed hunter-gatherers to settle down and produce their own food. As agriculture spread, people cleared land. At the same time, they also erected

7968-448: The stone and wooden circles built in Neolithic Britain might have represented the centre of the world, or axis mundi , for those who constructed them, something Aaron Watson adopted as a possibility in his discussion of Avebury. A great deal of interest surrounds the morphology of the stones, which are usually described as being in one of two categories; tall and slender, or short and squat. This has led to numerous theories relating to

8064-474: The stones and facial reconstructions for the human remains found across the landscape; and Denis Grant King created illustrations, plans and section drawings. Upwards of 50 men from across Wiltshire served as 'hands' during the excavations over the 6 year period, doing the hard work of digging and re-erecting stones. During excavations in 1938, Keiller's team excavated the skeleton of a man from beneath Stone 38 (Stone 9 using Isobel Smith's system), now known as

8160-559: The stones, one was found to extend at least 2.1 metres (7 ft) below ground. It was estimated to weigh more than 100 tons, making it one of the largest found in the UK. Later that year, a geophysical survey of the southeast and northeast quadrants of the circle by the National Trust revealed at least 15 of the megaliths lying buried. The survey identified their sizes, the direction in which they are lying, and where they fitted in

8256-402: The third millennium BC. The top of the bank is irregular, something Caroline Malone suggested was because of the irregular nature of the work undertaken by excavators working on the adjacent sectors of the ditch. Later archaeologists such as Aaron Watson, Mark Gillings and Joshua Pollard have, however, suggested that this was an original Neolithic feature of the henge's architecture. Within

8352-559: The timber structures. This may have been built at a similar time to the Avebury stone circle, and had an entrance way that led into the Kennet Avenue , two parallel lines of stones running the 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) from The Sanctuary to Avebury. The Sanctuary connects to the West Kennet Avenue , a line of stones stretching for 2.4 kilometres to the Avebury henge. The point where the West Kennet Avenue connects with

8448-421: The two sites may have served different but complementary purposes. The timbers may have supported a roof of turf or thatch, to form a high-status dwelling serving the ritual site at Avebury, although this can only be conjectural. Another interpretation is that it served as a mortuary house where corpses were kept either before or after ritual treatment at Avebury. Neolithic pottery and animal bone were recovered by

8544-602: The valley of the River Kennet . Visitors can park on a lay-by on the southern side of the A4 atop Overton Hill, which is adjacent to the circle. In its present state, the posts of the Sanctuary are marked by concrete markers. The archaeologist Aubrey Burl noted that the site is "visually unexciting", offering only a "dull and stunted concrete reproduction" that does "little for the uninstructed imagination". The archaeologists Joshua Pollard and Andrew Reynolds noted that although it

8640-521: The years. The Sanctuary was observed by the antiquarian William Stukeley . He drew it on 8 July 1723, calling it the "Temple of Ertha". This was Stukeley's own variant of "Hertha", a name that was current among 17th and 18th-century antiquarians, and which was based on a reading of Tacitus 's Germania , a first-century book which claimed that the Suebi of northern Europe worshipped a goddess named Nerthus . When Stukeley returned and did more fieldwork at

8736-487: Was "far from the most spectacular or evocative of the Avebury monuments", the site's significance "should not be understated". While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE,

8832-400: Was "on a frontier between worlds above and beneath the ground." The Avebury monument is a henge , a type of monument consisting of a large circular bank with an internal ditch. The henge is not perfectly circular and measures 347.4 metres (380 yd) in diameter and over 1,000 metres (1,090 yd) in circumference. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the henge was made by the middle of

8928-410: Was associated with the dead, and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. In the area of modern Wiltshire, various stone circles were erected, the best known of which are Avebury and Stonehenge . All of the other examples are ruined, and in some cases have been destroyed. As noted by

9024-450: Was encompassed by six concentric rings of post holes , marking where timber posts had once stood. The first stage of activity at the site, some time around 3000 BCE, consisted of a ring of eight wooden posts 4.5 metres (15 ft) across, with a central post, presumed to be a round hut. Within 200 years the first ring was enlarged to 6m and a second ring was added, also of eight posts, but this time 11.2 metres (37 ft), perhaps creating

9120-501: Was still a land mass, called Doggerland , which connected Britain to continental Europe. During this era, those humans living in Britain were hunter-gatherers , often moving around the landscape in small familial or tribal groups in search of food and other resources. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that there were some of these hunter-gatherers active around Avebury during the Late Mesolithic, with stray finds of flint tools , dated between 7000 and 4000 BC, having been found in

9216-472: Was the curator of Avebury's Alexander Keiller Museum, it is possible that the monuments associated with Neolithic sites such as Avebury and Stonehenge constituted ritual or ceremonial centres. Archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson noted that the addition of the stones to the henge occurred at a similar date to the construction of Silbury Hill and the major building projects at Stonehenge and Durrington Walls . For this reason, he speculated that there may have been

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