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 Head To Head The Modern Antiquarian Silbury Hill Forum | Start a topic | Search |
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tiompan wrote: Sanctuary wrote: [quote="fachtna"]Hi Sanctuary Thanks for the message - I will reply in a bit more detail later but for now I've started a new page here http://sites.google.com/site/anotherstoryfromsilburyhill/ which has - for the moment - an image showing the clear understanding that we have all had since 1968-70 that Silbury was built in major phases and not as a 'single construct'. (I created the original of this image for the Conservation Risk Assessment which I wrote in 2005). It was also obvious then that each major phase consisted of lots of small individual events and that the history of the building of the mound was going to be far more complex than the scheme proposed by Professor Atkinson. best wishes fachtna Thanks Fachtna, I think we will all look forward to hearing more from you later. I think the world and his wife know that Prof Atkinson claimed it to be built in three stages according to his findings at the time so where the single contruct idea comes from heaven above knows. And yes of course each of the main stages would have shown signs of repetitive smaller stages as presumably there would have been breaks in between construction to allow for seasonal changes in the weather. And the 'First Phase' said to be a bank and ditch in the interview so not a hill at all seems a ridiculous thing to say considering it was just a start to the project. You can't build a block of flats without first putting in the foundations and drains etc then say it wasn't going to be a block of flats at all because the drains didn't look like a block of flats! I like to believe that it was this first phase that was singularly THE most important bit with the rest that followed the completion of a set plan. Other areas of the Complex also progressed from smaller beginnings before being finished and I believe that could hold the key to an understanding of a much wider picture with the hill just being one part of it. And the claim that 'The people who started work at Silbury Hill could never have known that it would have ended up the size it is today' is again a ridiculous thing to say because there is absolutely no proof to show that there wasn't a blueprint or grand plan in operation. My understanding was that turf and topsoil was removed (to what extent I don't know , but it would be good to get an estimate ) then a small gravel mound a metre high and 10m in diameter was built , two other smaller mounds , one of which was connected to the lmain mound by a gully a few metres away may have been contemporaneous ,the mounds were added to then building stopped for a while ,mound building continued with the earlier mounds being sealed under various layers then the bank and ditch was built . Has there beeen a change to the interpretation or any dates associated with this ? Well I was very fortunate because when I was young I had the great pleasure of meeting Richard Atkinson when I was in my early 20's. I thought he was a lovely man, very polite and a real gentleman. I initially wrote to him and he was generous enough to meet me at Avebury and give me a drawing of what he had felt he had discovered at Silbury Hill. He showed the first stage to be a primary mound containing what he said to me was 'magic ingredients' of clay, flints, turf, moss, gravel, topsoil, freshwater shells, mistletoe, oak, hazel, ox bones and antler tines with a revetted kerb of stakes and sarsen boulders. Alternate layers of chalk rubble, earth and clay were placed on top to form a mound 18ft high with a diameter of 120ft. The perimeter of the mound was about 2ft high. That was straight from the horses mouth! The second phase, which he said was really an immediate continuation of the first to provide protection, reached a height of 50ft and involved heaping chalk and clay on top of the original core using material from an encircling ditch some 20ft deep and 40ft wide. That ditch he assumed was then filled with the material taken from the final ditch before the final mound (phase 3) was completed using material from the huge extention to the west of the outer ditch and possible other areas. That's all I can tell you myself about it George. Professor Atkinson just told it as it was and never once told me of any personal ideas he may have had or asumptions and I never had the audacity to ask him. Reply | with quote | Posted by Sanctuary 29th October 2010ce 16:13 In reply to: Re: The Story of Silbury Hill - Paperback (tiompan) |
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