Avebury forum 222 room
Image by thesweetcheat
Avebury

Avebury 'Selected' Stones

close
more_vert
Sanctuary S
Sanctuary Apr 22, 2012 18:21:37
Replying to tjj

tjj wrote:
Sanctuary wrote:
I've been looking through some photos of Avebury I took in 2007 which got me thinking. I wonder if certain perimeter stones forming the actual Great Circle itself meant more than others? This is a photo of part of the North West Quadrant and whilst the majority seem to have been your 'bog standard' type of sarsen albeit of various sizes and shape, one does stand out amongst the section shown and I wondered if that was just by chance or a purposely chosen stone? I've called it the 'Bart Simpson' type as there are others within the site that do take on this somewhat angled flat-topped head 'look'. There must have been easier and lighter stones to use instead of the more bulkier ones so why use them?

https://picasaweb.google.com/100525707086862773355/NorthWestQuadrant?authkey=Gv1sRgCL7x6vuurYyNvgE#5734157955949986722

I odd shaped stone in the NW Quadrant had been broken as many of the Avebury stones were in bygone centuries - there is one that looks like that in the SW Quadrant too (as I'm sure you know).
Yes that's correct June. I'm wondering if those stones were 'worked-on' prior to being set into the ground and that is why they have broken up later as they were possibly weakened during this activity? Of course some would have been purposely broken up anyway no doubt in an attempt to remove them in later centuries. I have some more pix to put up later of 'similar' looking stones. We talk of the 'two' types of stone at Avebury, the lozenge type and the more diamond shape supposedly depicting the male and female, but there is also another type I'm sure.

R Resonox
Resonox Apr 22, 2012 19:20:37
Replying to Sanctuary

Try a little experiment...Randomly select a stone (any stone, sounds very David Nixon)....Stand so you are facing other stones...does it look as though certain bits were removed so that every stone can be seen without any particular one fully blocking the view of the others?...I tried this several times in Carnac...and found that you can see EVERY stone from any other stone...even though they are in line, this was also aided by what appeared to be oddly angled settings which I would've initially put down to soil erosion.