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Sanctuary S
Sanctuary Dec 13, 2010 14:01:22
Replying to nigelswift

nigelswift wrote:
Littlestone wrote:
If you lived locally you wouldn't need to know where either the hill or Great Circle were in relation to each other so there would have to be another reason presumably other than for strangers to the area to know where one was from the other?
Well, as I said, speculation is fun, and a lot of the speculation on these pages has subsequently been taken up by the archaeological establishment so it’s not without its merit, but where do you begin on this one?

We don’t know for sure that Silbury and the Obelisk were visible from each other when both were ‘in use’ but, assuming that they were, then anything goes really. Ceremonial use would be one possibility. Practical use as two points in a chain of beacons might also be a possibility. If you could see Silbury from other points in the Henge it’d probably be safe to say that the 'alignment' is coincidental, but the fact that it’s an alignment between Silbury and the Obelisk might suggest that it was intentional.

Speculating again, maybe it was/is possible to see Silbury from on top of the Cove; next time I see someone up there I’ll ask (then tell them to get the effing down ;-) On a serious note, you can see Silbury from Winterbourne Bassett and, at this time of year, from the road between Winterbourne Monkton and Avebury. Be nice (if it hasn’t been done already) to have a map showing all the points from which you can see Silbury.

Silbury is best viewed by an average sized person about 6 ft away from the Obelisk. Make of that what we can!

It's hard to tell from this, Panorama 1, http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/panoramas/silbury_hill_top_1_360.shtml how much of Avebury is intervisible but some is. What you can see is how (apparently) deliberate the view of the Ridgeway is, over Waden.

I'm pretty certain you could see it from the vicinity of the Cove if the buildings weren't there but it's extraordinary difficult to work it out. Could the most significant sightline in the whole place have been hidden from us for hundreds of years?

Whatever, Silbury is all about seeing and/or being seen judging by the evidence IMO.

I'm of the opinion that as long as ancient man new about the Ridgeway Path then he could find Avebury because it was THE main aim such was its importance. It was the super-highway that got you there from pretty much anywhere when linked up with such as the Icknield Way, Peddars Way and the Wessex Ridgeway, plus all the other smaller tracks adjoining them from all parts.

"In the South of England the common meeting place was Avebury, where the greatest prehistoric monuments in Europe are still to be seen. It is not unreasonable to suppose that this central gethering ground was the seat of government and its authority extended as far as the roads that radiate from it...". (The Green Roads of England; R.Hippisley Cox, Methuen & Co 1914)

L Littlestone
Littlestone Dec 13, 2010 16:18:19
Replying to Sanctuary

I'm of the opinion that as long as ancient man new about the Ridgeway Path then he could find Avebury because it was THE main aim such was its importance.
We don’t actually know that Avebury (Henge) was the main aim, in fact the lack of human activity in the archaeological record there (compared to the area around Silbury) would suggest that Avebury always remained somewhat aloof from the hustle and bustle of the Ridgeway. That’s not to say that Avebury was not an important arena for large gatherings at certain times of the year. In fact the Bank on the outside of the Ditch (where spectators might gather) and the Avenues leading to the Henge itself, suggest that large ceremonial gatherings did take place there... the rest of the time it might have been completely out of bounds to Joe Public.

Hippisley Cox may have been quite right to suggest that it, “...was the seat of government and its authority extended as far as the roads that radiate from it...” though perhaps not that it was a continual central gathering ground... which in fact is not really so very different to the exclusion zones and isolated status we still see around our seats of learning and government today.