Alien Rocks at Avebury Henge? | The Prehistory Guys bring us down to earth.

Hope you'll find it in your hearts to excuse the clickbaity title - but then again it is a truly valid use of the word 'alien'. The rocks in question are certainly not where they belong and pose a genuine mystery as to why they are where they have been found - down near Avebury henge in Wiltshire, 280 miles from their origin.
We hope you enjoy our discussion, but rocks aside, we're very glad to have this additional leverage into discussing the importance and purpose of the West Kennett palisades and indeed the prehistory of the whole Avebury landscape. We feel we're just lifting the edge of the carpet ... 😊
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[@RalphEllis]

When the clans gathered at Scoone in Scotland, they used to bring a sample of their region - earth and stones - to add to the ‘parliamentary’ hill at Scoone. So rocks came from all over Scotland, to the gathering of the clans. R

[@sillybeeful]

Now that is interesting 🤔

[@badgerpa9]

Could it be religion? lol sorry I jest. If I and my brothers left the home farm to go south and set up a new community, we might bring rock from our parents farm and put it in the foundation of our new home. Just to have a piece of home with always. My house I built 30 years ago has a rock from my family farm in the foundation under the front door, I no longer live there but the stone is still there. Nice video Gentlemen, be safe.

[@helenamcginty4920]

I have all sorts of odd pebbles, stones, bits of bones and stuff that took my eye as I passed by. No idea where most of them are from now. I just like them.

[@dcchiasson5991]

Cherishing stones as well as leaving them as a “piece of home or of memory” seems to be nearly instinctual. Children carry them, we pick them up on hikes and beaches as souvenirs, etc. An extreme example is the Cruz de ferro in Spain, where pilgrims leave a stone from home as representative of leaving their burdens. Thousands per year, so much that when it gets to be too much they are bulldozed away to make space for more.

[@sillybeeful]

I still pick up stones, pebbles, shells, feathers and twigs

[@JohnPaul-ii]

Is this another one of those “Archaeologists stunned by aliens” stories. Not quite, but it’s by far more interesting. Thanks for sharing again guys.

[@MrNas42]

I love Rupert's souvenir analogy. We go to Paris, we buy a model of the Eiffel Tower (which was likely made in China) and bring it home to Bognor Regis. What would a future archaeologist make of that...? I'm really beginning to think that that region of modern day Wiltshire was some sort of prehistoric Mecca, where it was common for many people to have to travel from all over the British Isles and some parts of Europe, to pay a visit it there for some reason now lost in time.

[@douginorlando6260]

It’s the same human nature expressed in every culture. Like the old Lucy Ball movie “The Long Trailer”. She filled it with souvenir stones

[@ansfridaeyowulfsdottir8095]

*_"What would a future archaeologist make of that...?"_* RITUAL. {:o:O:}

[@twighiker]

I've a couple of stones i brought back from by the Dwarfie stone on Hoy to Sheffield that'll go into mty grave. That'll be fun for future archeaologists. :D

[@lindasue8719]

I love that! It's like the common practice in Canada If somebody walks across the country or drives, to take a vial of water from the Atlantic or Pacific, and deposit it in the opposite when they arrive. I'm one who picks up rocks. A few years ago when in Hawaii, I had picked up a piece of lava rock to bring back to Vancouver from one of the volcanoes. The tour guide happened to mention later that the goddess Pele will curse anyone who takes such a stone. I decided to err on the side of caution. 😁 I wonder if they're buried with the stone as a beloved memento of a previous home, or if it has a more spiritual significance - they won't be back to their lands and this is a way of being spiritually close when they've passed away.

[@ashleysmith3106]

Broken quernstone ? I have found similar sandstone pebbles in Central Australia, which were anomalous to the local geology, which created a dilemma until upon later further searching I found a broken grinding stone to which the bits fitted perfectly! Perhaps the pebbles are weathered pieces of someone's favourite kitchen implement?

[@nonsibi1087]

I recall a Time Team episode of an excavation of an early Chritian abbey in western Scotland. In that program, the Time Team archaeologist discussed the discovery of similar cobbles brought from afar as a well-known tradition. These cobbles, brought by pilgrims, were used as paving. Today, us modern 'pilgrims' are asked to leave a Bob as a donation.

[@nodarkthings]

there's a new episode of Time Team just released!

[@kmpm]

"Grus" is the Swedish word for gravel if anyone is interested.

[@nickkieper7574]

Does the archeological community have any idea whether this Swedish word could have been imported to the bridge of ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down"?

[@juliegarrett8389]

Just discovered your channel and I'm instantly hooked! Fascinating stuff. I've just watched 'Standing with the Stones'. What a magnificent production! It was a true joy to watch, making this ol' Aussie aware of so many more sites around the UK than we think. Many thanks to you!

[@Eusantdac]

I slept by West Kennett Long Barrow on two Full Moons, on two consecutive years. I had incredible experiences there in those nights. A truly magical place!

[@UtahGmaw99]

I think also maybe it could be a bit from home that they took with them when they moved to another place as a reminder.

[@ruthcherry3177]

I'm an immigrant from the British Isles to mainland Europe. When I moved here I brought with me soooo many things I thought I would not only need, but either I wouldn't be able to find, or that would be too expensive to replace. Honestly, the books and technology were the most important things that would have been either impossible to replace, or too expensive to buy new, the rest was just trying to deal with the unknown. However, I also brought items with me that I suppose are purely sentimental, these things remind me of people who had already passed on long before I relocated. On the other side, I see so many expats who bring everything possible to make their new home just like their last one (we moved for very different reasons). They want their little corner of property to hold aspects of that which they left behind:- "Home". They pay extortionate fees to have their bodies repatriated, or name objects they want to have cremated with them, or a special place where they want their ashes scattered. A friend, who shall remain nameless, carried back the ashes of someone, who didn't want to pay the taxes to have their remains legally repatriated, on a Ryanair flight! To my mind, those little stones, the grus, were placed in graves either to help people find their way "back home", or as tokens that tell where they came from. I'd love to know if there is enough left to do isotopic / DNA testing to discover if there is a link back to the land / region where the grus came from. "Home" is a human concept and so something we can only guess at, but it does seem odd that pebbles were carefully placed in someone's grave.

[@mikeminden1090]

Makes those people so normal. When I moved from California back to Washington, I took a handful of earth from the spot where I had buried my cat. My cat. I also have a non-descript coin-sized stone in my pocket from a recent visit to the Pacific, a leaf on my car's dash from a tree that's growing near my childhood home, a driftwood twig on my bookshelf that my toddler got from the lake where my mother grew up . . . .

[@lamontcranston3177]

I have a collection of rocks from my travels. I picked up stones at locations that were significant to me and I brought them home. Stones are placed on grave markers to signify a visit. This theory is completely believable.

[@douginorlando6260]

His childhood Pet rock collection? (Just kidding) hehe. My guess is leaving these stones was a special part of the burial eulogy tradition. The stones from the homeland were a powerful symbol of connection and memorializing the life experiences of the buried person … at the same time memorializing the common experiences of the grieving community with the community member now gone but forever remembered. I imagine individuals attending the memorial service would each leave a stone and perhaps tell a story that reinforces how the buried person was a beloved part of the community; shared experiences from the past that bind people together. Leaving the stones was a powerful symbolic reminder and affirmation of the mutual commitment of the community to each other.

[@cliveburgess4128]

This may be a stretch, but it's what popped into my head, ancient marbles, or conkers, games!

[@jimmyviaductophilelawley5587]

Maybe such pebbles were a set used in the planning out of a stone circle? draw a map in the sand and use these small ones as placemarkers to show where larger stones might be placed in a model landscape? "We'll put stone 7 here" (place pebble) and stone 8 here ........and so on....or a children's pocket stonehenge? GREAT video guys! That thumbnail must have got you more views than usual...ride that algorithm !

[@sillybeeful]

I was just having a wee think about all the things humans use stones for… quite extraordinary. We really are a highly inventive species 🗿

[@nickbrough8335]

Probably a neolithic geologist, who dropped them on the way home from a field trip.

[@TheWheezerPump]

OK, here's my five penn'th. Research at the Orkney Circles have suggested that the individual stones were brought to the site from different parts of Orkney. There is evidence that soil on Silbury Hill came from different parts of the country over a considerable period of time. The Bluestones from Wales at Stonehenge as well. Could it be that visitors to the sacred landscape in the Neolithic brought not only the ashes of their deceased, but also tokens from their tribal lands - stones big and small, earth, tools, animals - as an offering to their deity(ies) to say, we were here? We made the pilgrimage? We are part of this? I think of medieval pilgrimages to religious shrines, and the Muslim obligation to make the pilgrimage to Mecca; not every year but at least once in a lifetime, as a modern example of this impulse.

[@openmindedwonderer]

Really interesting find 👍🏻

[@OllamhDrab]

(Hee, about the clickbaiteyness but I was actually expecting meteorite material. :) )

[@helenhershtjader5759]

Thought the same :)

[@dcchiasson5991]

Me too

[@jbyrd2516]

Thank you just subscribed. Unfortunately did not know abt the palisades when I visited West Kennett Barrow in 2018 - from Australia. Came to this vid via your post on long barrows for obvious reasons.

[@richardsleep2045]

Good stuff, thanks.

[@kariannecrysler640]

Theory: trade was going on all around and everyone knew of each other. #5 is part of a huge landscape. I propose peoples from all corners came to build. The group from where the stones came from were in charge of the 5 site and everyone brought a piece of their home with them to tie this landscape to them. I wouldn’t be surprised if more things like this start being found. And I guess it will all be from the ground in some fashion. Too bad all the wood has rotted. I bet they came from different places too lol😊

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

Granny came from the lakes. These were love offerings.

[@emmagoff]

Hands up who hasn't brought rocks home from holidays 🤣

[@maisondusuave]

Oh!! Shades of Orkney!

[@debrarobinson57]

Many years ago, I read an article that stated it had been found that Silbury Hill was partially constructed with turfs [ turves?] from around the country. I can't recall the name of the paper, not it's authors now.

[@nickwest7365]

stones=memories, portability.....

[@lifesahobby]

Certain types of soil were known to be transported to different places to prevent certain diseases of plants . And rivers and lakes lacking lime will produce smaller fish .

[@allenwalters8812]

Maybe it was a way of bringing a sacred place with you just in case you die far away from that sacred place. Perhaps they should do some searching around that outcrop.

[@romullen3971]

Thanks!

[@lifesahobby]

Also stones are used as balast in empty boats .

[@willhemmings]

Silbury, Avebury and the West Kennet palisades have always seemed dangerous to me, as if there was something once present in the ground of the upper Kennet valley that had to be treated with particular respect

[@gregarcher468]

I believe the stones used in Stone circles were selected for there metallic ore content. by placing the stones in the ground they were making something like a giant crystal radio set so they could tune into the earths electromagnetic fields with greater clarity. It enabled them greater clarity of thought when communicating with what they believed to be there ancestors. The wel Blue stones at Stone henge for example were selected for there high metal content .. These people knew they were a part of the earth and not something just living on it and knew where and when to best tune into the earths energy where the collective memory of the planet is stored.

[@nickkieper7574]

At 23:55 you pan over a gorgeous chart showing the concentrations of Neolithic settlements over time. Where is this from?

[@ThePrehistoryGuys]

Hi there. It's from the July/August 2022 edition of British Archaeology in an article about the West Kennet enclosures. Hope that helps. Michael.

[@bg1616]

I wonder whether over the course of history, big stones get repurposed a lot and thus gradually, with small movements, make their way across the country over the span of many lifetimes. Perhaps once the rocks get a ritualistic purpose they stay where they are, maybe their eventual henge-like location/identity finally fixes their location at a distance and then it's new found celebrity status gives it more chance of its distant home town being found out.

[@marieascot]

Are the researchers sure about Northumberland.There is lots of sandstone like that in Shropshire/Staffordshire.

[@vernontaylor7950]

300 miles would be less than a weeks walk for very fit guys

[@michaeldarby3503]

It maybe that they were the favourite stone for use in a sling by some Geordie who travelled to Stonehenge, were there any Brownale bottles in the holes?

[@StuArch1]

Do you think they were chosen because they're from / were close to sites of rockart?

[@maxb4074]

The aliens came down and left the stones there!

[@TheDanEdwards]

If it is a rock then certainly it must signify a ritual ceremony, mustn't it?

[@WildVke]

LoL ...or part of a "tomb" 😂

[@lazenbytim]

Eeeeh lad, can thee burri me with ma stones? No problem me lurver will do!

[@nickbrough8335]

The Posts in the Palisade doesn't need to be tall, if you conjecture that its the depth of burial, like roots, that is more important symbolically.

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Er... "Chee-viot", as in "The Cheviot , the Stag and the Black, Black Oil".

[@benwilson6145]

Thank you, a voice of sense

[@kevinreillydenmylne]

the ice created mountainous piles of erratics, called carns/cairns eg, Cairngorms. (blue cairn) but humans often leave piles of stones on the summats of hills, why do folk pick up pebbles at the bottom of the hill, climb the hill, then stick it on the top of a cairn at the summat? if we knew why, it might explain these finds

[@micheleheddane3804]

I have unusual stones and flint that I have picked up on my trips around Ireland nothing special, just because

[@jontydenton1201]

Cheeeviot

[@kevinreillydenmylne]

chee viot :)

[@vernontaylor7950]

York stone cobblestone the best

[@carolegarland8050]

I have a little piece of Northumberland on my mantelpiece here in Australia so very understandable. Were these rocks more than pocket size or transported on an Auroc for instance?

[@dcchiasson5991]

I like this idea to incorporate a piece of home in your new home.

[@orsonzedd]

So I have to go back and tell Elon Musk that we don't have any Kryptonite? Why me

[@UtahGmaw99]

Because we love you.

[@orsonzedd]

@@UtahGmaw99 alright I'll take that as my epithet

[@johnnyjet3.1412]

I’m sooooo disappointed

[@Transblucency]

Horses for courses; conversely this made my day.

[@MarceloVolcato]

You mean Alien but not from the Star Wars galaxy?🤣

[@Kelticfury]

Not even meteoric? You guys made me sad.

[@ansfridaeyowulfsdottir8095]

Why don't you have time for the other items? Make a longer video! Maybe if you talked at a reasonable pace, instead of like a tortoise with no legs, you'd have had time. {:o:O:}

[@FOWST]

It doesn't look like alien rocks, it looks like testies.

[@snowjoe43]

??? You two guys are weird!