Sacred Sites - Avebury

Nowhere in England is as rich in sacred sites in the landscape as the west country. In this series, archaeologist and Time Team star, Carenza Lewis beats a path across the landscape in search of the meaning and significance which lies behind these sites. From the Neolithic monument at Avebury, the largest of its kind in Europe, to the post Christian shrine of Glastonbury, Carenza takes in the mediaeval city in Bristol, the mystic of Malmesbury, the Roman settlement in Lydney and the parishes of Cadbury, the Camelot of the West Country in a stunning and magnificent celebration of the spiritual heritage of the region.
Carenza Lewis begins her journey through some of the most evocative landscapes of the West Country in the magnificent setting of Avebury in Wiltshire. Carenza explores the meaning of sacredness in the largest and most spectacular prehistoric sacred site in Europe.
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[@christinaplaisted9563]

One of my favourite places try to go every Wednesday if weather permits ❤

[@elenalexey]

While our travelling around South England we visited Avebury 6 or 7 times. It is indeed very special area. It would be right to mention that after 4,5 thousand years the whole Wiltshire and particularly area around Avebury became popular between esoterics because of so called crop circles.

[@emmajayne31]

Anyone else loose sound 15:16 for several seconds

[@buskingkarma2503]

4:36👀 it's a face on the stone,,and it's smiling! 😃

[@robertuk444]

Good to see a young Carenza, always the star on Time Team.

[@tvstrategies]

Fantastic place, been there three times. For an archaeological weekend extraordinaire, stay at the Lodge. Ask proprietor Richard beforehand if he might be willing to drive you to the Uffington White Horse and Wayland's Smithy (he will add a fee to your hotel bill). Even better, stay there on the Spring Equinox and watch the people - who, on normal weekdays, wear suits and work in The City - milling around the site in robes, burning strange herbs, carrying crystals, etc...

[@couchslouch13]

great documentary - have you got any more?

[@SLDM1962]

What are the alinements between these constructions and in relation to other constructions, such as Carnac ? No one has found any tools ? What were the units of measurement used ? What scanning technology has been used ? Why is there a lack of clear concise measurable information ? What are the alinements with Solar, Lunar and stellar movements and precessions ? Churches always place themselves on or near old religious sites, even the architecture of churches is a plagiarism. It is a source of water as well ! What is the relationships with ley lines ? So unresearched !!

[@TheShootist]

why did Carenza leave time team?

[@chriswalford4161]

Originally 2000.

[@treedude1464]

Avevbury, like so many megalithic places are, in my assessment, broken and no longer harness the power of those who may have originally erected them. They have become mere remnants, and the original significance eraced from memory. Notwithstanding, I find them enigmatic places and energy resides with potential. I love these sites :)

[@ChrisShortyAllen]

Like Trafalgar Square?

[@Rundogz]

I think the problem in part lies in the way that modern people drain energy from places. Without the road, the houses, tourists and cosplayers, Avebury would speak loud. I go to Nine Ladies on occasion. Go when the cosplayers are there and it's very hard to see. Go in the dead of night on a deserted night and the spirits fill the place, that's the spirits of tree and stone, wind and water, who are very real.

[@chinupduck4849]

Omg....is that the real-life philomena cunk?

[@bouncer2005]

Bealtaine is pronounced bal-tan-ah

[@meglomania2001]

They probably had too much freetime.

[@serviustullus7204]

Stonehenge was built by Indo-Europeans, and Proto-Celts did likely use it as a clock, school, burial ground linked to Avebury and Glastonbury.

[@ChrisShortyAllen]

Clock? Numpty. Bury bodies in a school?

[@standingbear998]

why does 'sacred' only matter if it is a thousand years old? why does what someone back then that may have declared something sacred a big deal but nothing today is sacred? my beliefs matter to no one but me? double standard BS

[@desafrique53]

It's likely to have some kind of 'sacred' or ritualistic meaning for the neolithic builders of Avebury and Stonehenge so it's correct for archaeologists to call the site 'sacred'. If they are referring to, say, a Norman castle or a WWII gun emplacement, 'sacred' would not be an appropriate term. In our largely secular culture, the non-religious buildings we create are unlikely to have anything of the 'sacred' about them, so future archaeologists will not use the term, however precious they may be as historical artifacts.

[@anything6398]

What about religious buildingz 🙃 Saying that I can think of a few churches being used commercially and residentially 😔

[@shaungillingham4689]

Druids my arse! The druids were wiped out by the Romans, we have no clear cut evidence in what their beliefs & practises were as they had no written language. It's so long ago that there is no trace & except to say it was very likely to be no more than paganism, a worship of moon & stars, probably human sacrifice as well. We can never know anything for sure or the motivation for the stones, it's just wonderful we still have them. I enjoyed many a picnic there with my children years ago & we played football in the dips to the horror of some pretty straight laced uptight folk!

[@keithmacdonald6957]

I'd agree there's no evidence that "Druids" built Avebury. I'd also agree that it’s often said that the Druids had no written language. But this is a misunderstanding of a passing remark by Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War). Caesar said the Druids considered it sacrilegious to write down their teachings. He goes on to say : "But for all other purposes they use the Greek alphabet".

[@shaungillingham4689]

@@keithmacdonald6957 very interesting Keith, well I never knew that. There's quite a few neolithic sites in the west country , burial mounds, long barrows ect, I can't imagine that thousands of years ago life would have been very pleasant, food would always be a issue & having little understanding of the science of the world around them they might well have been very fatalistic. I don't suppose they carried any passengers or weak links, if life was hard I reckon they were as well. Perhaps the druids really were a source of enlightenment back then, we can never really know, I wonder how much people ( if there are any) will know about us in 4 or5 thousand years time. Possibly very little.

[@RobertJohnLangdon-author]

The epitome of stupidity - temple boundary to ward off evil spirits - seriously it's 12m deep - would a 2-metre ditch like Stonenege not achieve the same purpose?🤓

[@ChrisShortyAllen]

They are frightened of deep water. Every idiot knows this fact.