Nightfolio wrote:
I have been studying many of the monoliths at Avebury for six years now. It is very apparent to me that the carved faces found by Meaden and Pattison (and shown in their respective books) are real. Not only have I been able to photograph many of the faces they describe, I have also managed to discover faces of my own, some of them spectacularly good, with a particularly brilliantly carved horned sharp nosed face hidden in plain view on Cove Stone I.
Why then is it that the archaeological community appear so sceptical about the existence of the Avebury carvings??? You can see them once you know where and when to look, is the plain evidence of our senses not enough??
My gallery:
http://www.nightfolio.co.uk/avebury_sacred_landscape.htmlHi, this is a very interesting post, I believe has been discussed on this forum many times in the past. Sadly, as you can see, the lively often heated debates are not what they were. Water under the bridge and all that.
Terence Meaden's
The Secrets of the Avebury Stones was the first book I ever bought about Avebury. As it happens today I traveled from Swindon to Devizes via Avebury on the 49 bus - have been doing this journey at least once a week for the past decade and never tire of seeing Avebury and Silbury in the changing seasons and light. From the top of a bus you can actually get a really good view of the Avebury landscape, its visitors, its wildlife (red kites) its sheep in the Circle, its cows on the Avenue. Always changing yet always the same. The Stones never change - today in the evening sunshine I looked carefully (albeit fleetingly) because the quality of light changes what you see and yes, you can see faces if that is what you are looking for. Tonight I especially noticed the stone at the start of WK Avenue and in profile, yes I thought I saw a face.
You asked why archaeologists don't take this seriously - why would they, its not what they do. What people see in the stones is personal to them isn't it - I believe its called simulacra.
Here is another interesting little website which you've probably seen before...
http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/avebury/prehistory05.htm
