STONEHENGE and AVEBURY: What Were They For?

We’ve been exploring quite a number of Roman-era sites on this trip, but for this episode, we’re going to dip further back in time to talk about some of England’s greatest material remains from the Neolithic period. In particular I refer to the fabulous henges of Avebury and Stonehenge, which were used as far back as the third millennium BCE. Who built these places, and what were they for? We’ll be addressing these questions and rounding out our knowledge by visiting the interesting Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. If you’re going to watch any KZbin videos on the henges, this one is a must.
We hope you enjoy watching this #antiquitiestravelguide about #Stonehenge, Avebury, and the Wiltshire Museum as much as we enjoyed making it.
►DOWNLOAD Professor Miano's free e-booklet: "Why Ancient History Matters":
mailchi.mp/a40...
►SUBSCRIBE to the World of Antiquity KZbin Channel for great travel videos about ancient ruins and ancient history museums.
More travel information about the sites we visited can be found here:
Wiltshire Museum
www.wiltshirem...
Avebury
www.english-he...
www.nationaltr...
Stonehenge
www.english-he...
www.stonehenge....
www.nationalge...
www.stonesofsto...
Follow Professor Miano on social media:
►FACEBOOK: / drdavidmiano
►TWITTER: / drdavidmiano
►INSTAGRAM: / drmiano

[@twonumber22]

Using the illustrations and Google Earth really helped put it all into perspective.

[@OldieBugger]

Well, summer solstice is still a much liked holiday still. At least here in Finland and Scandinavia it is. No wonder those people set up the setting for an important ritual or a great drunken party. Or both at the same time.

[@chrisball3778]

The bird shown at 9:50 is a Great Bustard. At their maximum size, they're the heaviest creature on Earth capable of powered flight. They're very rare in Britain, and were actually extinct here until they were reintroduced to Salisbury Plain in the 2000's. It's crazy that one was just wandering around near the path like that.

[@admiralsquatbar127]

I'm really glad that you came and visited my country. Our land is steeped in history. Next time you visit, maybe go to the National Museum of Welsh Life in St Fagans, it's near Cardiff. Cornwall has its hill forts that date from pre Roman times, and it is also home to the Cornish Pasty.

[@melrichardson7709]

Just a titbit of useless info. I had a cousin from Plymouth who emigrated to the USA, I think to the Colorado area and opened a shop selling Cornish pasties. 😳🤫

[@eldridgebrown3907]

Utterly amazing. I've just bitten into Travel Guide videos and they a fantastic view of places and things to visit. I've loved British/English/the whole group of Isles' histories, legends and myths since I was 9. Back in 1979. All of it up to about WWII. When I was 9, I was given an option of going to a sitter or the Library. I went to the Library and one of the coolest people I ever met was the Librarian that introduced me to Mythology and History. More than 40 years ago. She left a bit of an impression me.

[@chrisball3778]

Salisbury Plain is absolutely full of ancient wonders. One really underrated one is Silbury Hill, which isn't actually a hill at all, but a huge artificial mound of earth created between 2400 and 2300 BCE. It's basically the closest thing Britain has to a pyramid. It's even more mysterious than the other ancient monuments in the area and archaeologists have almost no clue what it was for.

[@surfk9836]

2:05 its a movie prop left over from Spinal Tap.

[@WorldofAntiquity]

Haha you never know!

[@hannahbrown2728]

Ive seen a lot from The Prehistory Guys about this site and a bit about the general area. I always appreciate someone elses approach. Thanks so much the footage since theres a good chance Ill never see it myself

[@playazepam]

great channel! Such a relief to listen to someone who knows what he´s talking about... for a change! thanks for that.

[@WorldofAntiquity]

Thanks for watching!

[@steveb2662]

Ok, watching now. In one of your videos you asked us to watch videos to the end and to not skip the ads. What I sometimes do is fall asleep listening and then let all the videos run on autoplay. That way you get the traffic even if I miss a few.

[@steveb2662]

On a silly side note, if you Google directions from Avebury to Stonehenge it gives 3 routes. 1 direct and 2 outer, semi-circuitous (if I can coin a phrase) routes. Those 2 routes form a giant circle. Coincidence? (Or aliens 👽 🤣)

[@kevinhylands1575]

As an English man, I very much enjoyed your pronunciation of the place names. Good content though.

[@WorldofAntiquity]

I hope I didn't butcher the names too much.

[@GreggOld]

@@WorldofAntiquity You did a good job. My only correction is that 'Ave' in Avebury is pronounced like 'cave' instead of 'Eva'.

[@TheWelvarend]

I visited Stonehenge in the 80s and it was a very profound experience.

[@faithlesshound5621]

The eighties were Mrs Thatcher's era. She used to send the police to attack the Hippies, New Age Travellers and "Druids" who come to Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice. The raids stopped once John Major took over from her.

[@multiplayerlegendgamer3617]

Do the winterbourn stone barrows resemble the Pleiades?

[@WorldofAntiquity]

I didn't get a chance to visit, but from what I have seen, they were arranged in a circle, like most other henges.

[@douggoble9695]

Thank you for all the information. I have learned so much from watching your channel.

[@WorldofAntiquity]

I'm so glad! Thank you for watching.

[@thepsychedelicantiquarian1273]

Like JayZ at Glastonbury festival: " Good evening Aver-berry!"

[@impunitythebagpuss]

Henges had to have been very important ...especially those with huge rock circles. The energy expenditures had to be immense, so construction would have to have been "worth it" to the society who built them.

[@nfoy3350]

@World of Antiquity Hi, great video. You mentioned that the Henge at Avebury was in use approximately 2850BC. I was wondering about archaeological practice. When carrying out a dig, for example at Avebury, upon finding remains and artefacts at a stratigraphic level indicative of ~5000 years old, how far further down is a dig likely to go? What is general practice in that case? Thanks.

[@WorldofAntiquity]

Hi Niall. The usual practice is to go all the way down until there is nothing more. That way they can figure out when settlement began.

[@nfoy3350]

@@WorldofAntiquity Brilliant, thanks

[@kensvideos1]

Cool.

[@boggybond]

I luv the way Americans pronounce British place names, I don’t think you got one right 😄 Only kidding. I live not too far from Stonehenge and eventually got around to visiting it a couple of years ago, I’ve been to Avebury several times, school trips etc. As a travelogue your blog is fine, but I’d like to know what you made of the topography and circles at both locations.....What did you feel? By the way any thing with a shire on the end of it is pronounced ‘sher’ 😉

[@WorldofAntiquity]

It felt like I was stepping back in time (in other words, pretty cool!)

[@yvonnerogers6429]

👍🏻

[@LVSJT]

Before I die, I intend to turn the world of archeology on its head and conclusively prove that all of these henges, gobekli teppe etc were built as fortifications. This seems so obvious that the more interesting issue is.... how are all of these smart people missing this? People will build structures like this naturally, without being taught. There's a similar shaped dwelling on North Sentinel island, built by the isolated hunter gatherers who live there. Circles, offering max visibility. Protecting those within while allowing them to hurl projectiles outward. There's a ditch surrounding Stonehenge. The corpses of soldiers have been found there (maybe he just collapsed on his way to perform a ritual...... or not) A pathway leading to an entrance point. (Igloos are another example) High ground. Anyone who's ever partaken in a large snowball fight in the woods or a paintball game gets this. What percentage of structures designed for human habitation don't have roofs? It had a roof. Gobekli Teppe had a roof. There's marks all over the top stones. Play pretend, imagine it had a roof (that's what all of the post holes in the ground at Stonehenge were for) and consider it from there What we're looking at are the frames. The smaller rocks and wood are all gone. People used massive rocks as frames until cements became good enough to piece smaller rocks together. This explains why they all seem to have been reused, expanded and rebuilt over hundreds of years. A structure of this kind served the same purpose for people in 4,000 b.c. as it did for those in 1,500 b.c And this is why iron and classical age people thought they were built by giants, and why later people *did* use them for ritual purposes. They must have seemed magical.

[@WorldofAntiquity]

Interesting idea!

[@helenwood8482]

Problem is that the soldiers found at Stonehenge were of a completely different era and were executed there.

[@LVSJT]

@@helenwood8482 How is that a problem?

[@BazNard]

It's pronounced Wilt-shear and Ayv'bury

[@davidgould9431]

I'd pronounce shear shee-er and bury buh-ree, so I'd argue it should be will(t)-sher and ayv-bree. I used to live less than half an hour away, but what do I know? There are lots of different dialects and accents and it would be interesting to listen to people who've lived there all their lives. British English pronunciation is a nightmare, even for us Brits. :-)

[@stonehengemaca]

As an atheist, I don't like the instant assumption that this and every ancient site had to be ritualistic and connected to a belief in Gods. Back then, as now, there would have been more practical people that had zero interest in such fantastical nonsense. I personally think that this effort was undergone for much more practical reasons, to measure seasons, and make "scientific" observations. These people needed food and protection from the elements and those that would plunder food. I don't think they'd have much reason to invent a religion, that arguably came about as a desire to control larger groups of subordinates. As a people that knew the predictable movement of the sun and went to great lengths to map it, they'd have little need to worship a God to control it. The river that runs through Avebury would have been much wider and deeper, and the henge would have been flooded at the time of construction making it great for capturing food, and therefor a great place for trade or gathering.

[@carlnightingale8687]

It's pronounced wilt-sher, not wilt-shy-er, and ayv-bery, not ava-bery.

[@phrayzar]

Its pronounced "Wiltsher" without the "shire"

[@WorldofAntiquity]

Ah, okay. Thanks!

[@matthias2756]

@@WorldofAntiquity we name our towns specifically to confuse tourists about their pronunciation

[@melrichardson7709]

@@WorldofAntiquity Lol, for example. The town of Leominster is pronounced Lemster. 😲

[@WorldofAntiquity]

@@melrichardson7709 Is it really? I have to wonder about the British. :)

[@melrichardson7709]

@@WorldofAntiquity Lol if you think English is bad just wait until you try to get your tongue around Welsh or Gaelic 😲. There again if you do come to the UK again try visiting the Great Orme Copper Mines in Llandudno, North Wales or go up to the sanctuary and the Neolithic axe factory situated above Penmaenmawr. There's more hillforts than you can shake a stick at. There's one in the Conwy Valley you can drive up to that has an anti cavalry / chariot defence in front of it's entrance. 👍

[@eddyd8745]

Please call me to get advice on pronunciation. Love your videos though.