THE NEOLITHIC of the AVEBURY AREA: SEQUENCE, ENVIRONMENT, SETTLEMENT and MONUMENTS

Abstract

The implications are discussed of the first five seasons of a regional project to investigate the Neolithic sequence and environment, and the context in which monuments great and small were built, in the area around Avebury, north Wiltshire, England. A jve-phase local sequence is proposed. There was a varying mosaic of clearances, and settlement density may have been low. The episodic character of monument building stands out. With the exception of Silbury Hill, none of the monuments need indicate signijicant social ranking, and more attention can be given to their sacred character and to the tradition which produced them.

The Topography of some Barrow Cemeteries in Bronze Age Wessex

“…As well as blocking access, the lines and arcs of cemeteries may also have served to channel access along prescribed routes, namely pathways designated for ceremonial processions. The results of ongoing research programmes around Avebury (Whittle 1993), and Stonehenge, are providing data against which such an hypothesis may be tested. The detailed patterns of inter-visibility, and non-visibility, between the various barrow groups and monuments will have provided intentional elements of surprise, sudden glimpses of previously hidden elevations and vistas.…”

“…The Avebury region has been subject to extensive recent research and the preliminary results of new excavations and fieldwork are beginning to bear much fruit (Whittle 1993). Whilst in the Stonehenge area, most recent research has concentrated on the elucidation of domestic and industrial infrastructure and environmental reconstruction (Richards 1990), the research around Avebury has focused primarily on the discovery and excavation of monuments linked, again, with detailed consideration of the environmental contexts.…”

“…These include Falkner's Circle, a setting of 12 stones laid out in a ring of 36.6 m diameter, which existed to the east of Avebury (Burl 1988), and the Late Neolithic enclosures currently under investigation at West Kennet (Whittle 1993). These include Falkner's Circle, a setting of 12 stones laid out in a ring of 36.6 m diameter, which existed to the east of Avebury (Burl 1988), and the Late Neolithic enclosures currently under investigation at West Kennet (Whittle 1993).…”

New evidence on the spatial organisation of the Valencina de la Concepción Copper Age settlement: geophysical survey between La Pastora and Montelirio

“…It is therefore currently unclear whether Valencina represents a single phase of occupation in which all c. 400 hectares were occupied simultaneously, or a series of occupations or activities repeated (perhaps seasonally) over more than 1500 years, or some- thing between these extremes. Elsewhere in Atlantic Europe, megalithic structures of significantly greater scale such as Stonehenge (Pollard & Ruggles 2001;Parker Pearson 2004;Parker Pearson et al 2006) and Avebury (Whittle 1993;Pollard & Reynolds 2002;Gillings et al 2008) have not been shown to be associated with large, permanent settlements and appear more likely to result from less rigid forms of social organisation that may include seasonal gathering, periodic or 'tethered' sedentism (Whittle 1997).…”

Grandes piedras en un mundo cambiante: la arqueología de los megalitos en su paisaje

“…En algún momento de mediados del III milenio a.n.e. (WHITTLE, 1993;POLLARD Y CLEAL, 2004), varios cientos de estas piedras fueron trasladadas a un área de pastos tradicional e incorporadas a una de las mayores estructuras megalíticas de Europa. En Avebury, dentro de una estructura de tipo henge (área delimitada por un terraplén y una zanja) con cuatro accesos, se levantó un círculo de 98 piedras que rodeaba al menos otros dos círculos más pequeños, mientras que desde al menos dos de las entradas salían "avenidas" de megalitos que formalizaban senderos utilizados quizás para procesiones rituales entre el henge y otros sitios significativos (imágenes 2 y 3).…”