Avebury - Neolithic Site - England

Avebury is the site of an ancient monument consisting of a large henge, several stone circles, stone avenues and barrows, surrounding the village of Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is one of the finest and largest Neolithic monuments in Europe, about 5,000 years old. Although older than the megalithic stages of Stonehenge 32 kilometres (20 mi) to the south, the two monuments are broadly contemporary overall. Avebury is roughly midway between the towns of Marlborough and Calne, just off the main A4 road on the northbound A4361 towards Wroughton. Avebury is a Scheduled Ancient Monument,a World Heritage Site,[2] and a National Trust property. ( source Wikipedia )

[@sonofherne]

The bank has been dated to the time of the monument by the deposits in it, which include antler picks and the bones of a very short neolithic woman. It is a henge, like those of Durrington, Marden,Stonehenge, etc.Avebury is not for viewing solstices etc; it is for ancestor worship/rituals--no horizon needed.

[@littlebritton1]

I think you will find that the ditch and bank pre-date the stones, so to say that the Romans added it after is completely wrong.

[@sonofherne]

It is thousands of years older that Barbury and is not in any way like it other than it has big banks. No, it's not a burial mound (though it had a burial) but it enclosed a 'special space' for the stones.

[@sonofherne]

And what they were doing in part involved parts of human skeletons, probably from West Kennet and East Kennett, where the skeletons are in neat piles of seperated bone but the skulls are often missing. Bits of bone are found around Avebury's ditches, AND burials (possibly even sacrificial) were often at the feet of the stones themselves, in one case under one (I'm not talking about the Barber surgeon but a prehistoric burial.)

[@sonofherne]

My dear, I work in this field. You can date a bank reasonably closely if you have a primary deposit in situ. Certainly the neolithic people WERE interested in the sky. But there are no obvious alignments at Avebury as at Stonehenge, Newgrange etc.

[@SouthernBelleReviews]

I would really like to see Avebury. I also am pissed that there is a pub right in the middle of it. How disrespectful.

[@swindonlad87]

Supposedly the pub is haunted I imagine it’s been there a very long time as well, it’s English culture