Oh dear, tackier and tackier. While drawing our attention to some 'early Dr Who episodes' English Heritage seem to have mislaid that other great early BBC feature on Silbury... mmm... something entitled 'Chronicles' wasn't it

I expect you'll get criticised for that, but oh dear, they don't help themselves do they? Things are pretty bad in there - more voids and damage than they anticipated, more collateral damage having to be caused, at least two collapses recently, an evacuation, a lengthening of the project, a dubious safety situation - I'm sure everyone is very worried about the situation and has huge sympathy for those working inside, but when the PR department uses the phrase "showcasing" which inescapably implies "showing off to best advantage" rather than simply "showing" its hard not to think the truth, as ever, is being "managed".

"Silbury Hill, the truth" would be a refreshing title wouldn't it? And yes, including Atkinson's footage and some plain speaking about what is now going on. After all, its us that are now shelling out the additional dosh. It would be nice to know WHY rather than see a showcase version of the truth. Grrrrr.

Is it just me or is anyone else concerned by the fact the information flow about Silbury has been further curtailed?

"Progress on the project will become less variable, updates will be posted on a bi-weekly basis, or as new information becomes available."

Come on EH, we know you read TMA, how about some information? Its not just what you're doing its what is the state of the structure. Everyone knows this is a critical time. Are the voids getting bigger? How are you intending to stabilise the centre? Is there any degree of danger to personnel?

Never mind bi-weekly, these are matters that warrant daily reports to the taxpaying public.

Didn't the Duke of Northumberland report that his men found large cavities or voids inside the hill when he first dug into it?

Maybe Silbury has been settling all the time. Probably not to the extent it is now.

Well you can hardly credit it but the next EH update (down below) says that forget the fortnightly one its a monthly update from now on..... and there I was worrying about all that chalk falling down in the news, still at least what you don't know you don't worry about.....

http://amaxus.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Silbury_Hill_web_update_25.pdf

Other updates might have it in but I know update 6 does? As far as I can see, it shows old tunnels as well as the voids EH found out about after the shaft collapse a few years ago. The red line is void caused by the shifting of the 1849(?) tunnel and material in between that and the other tunnels is obviously collapsed stuff that should be at the top of the red line but has fallen down with the shifting and rested on top of the '68 tunnel. So that's voids in the first half of the tunnel, then the ones further along are the central void?

That's what it looked like. Maybe the voids got worse after the rain but they look so far outside of the original metal supports it would probably take aaaaages to go in and shore up the voids above, causing more delays and movement in the hill before they fill it anyway.

I haven't seen anything about cables or trenches for them - is it in one of the updates? I'd be interested to read about it.

Littlestone: Thanks for the link to the update - god knows how I missed it! I must have just skimmed over the picture when reading. It looks like the cable goes underneath the original ground surface (from the earlier diagram), which would mean it's not actually in the hill and Neolithic material but underneath it in hitherto undisturbed natural layers, but then I seem to recall the diagram shows the tunnels going up and down all over the place so maybe I'm wrong? It does look like a wide trench but I have no idea what geo-cabley things require for size!

I have to admit I'm a fence-sitter at the moment, but it's good to see people so passionate about sites like this.

THE FOLLOWING INFO WAS PASSED TO ME FROM THE LADS WORKING AT / INSIDE SILBURY HILL:

"The Cable will be removed with a winch when the hill is considered stable by EH moniters.

"The time capsule was scrapped after Eric Lubbock (Lord Avebury) requested it and for no other reason. Certainly not because of a few squabbling nuts on Action forums.

"The concrete portal and lintel will also be removed because there is another time capsule behind the lintel left by the 1968 miners. The right upright support is also damaged and deemed unsafe so the whole lot will go into the AK Museum at Avebury.

"The film discovered at the back of the tunnel with 3 rolls of film inside is very badly damaged and probably unrecoverable as a film although a few frames have already been saved."

Nigelswift - I think it's perfectly reasonable to offer an explanation for it without having to agree that monthly updates are entirely satisfactory. I think you're being a little bit harsh. I also don't quite understand your last comment? You seem to have a lot invested in this project.

I'm sorry that my comments seem to have sparked some kind of in-fighting between you, although it appears from Littlestone's comments this isn't unusual.

I didn't come to this forum to fight, although it appears to be ubiquitous across forums. I signed up because I used to have more than a passing interest in archaeology and thought it would be nice to have a discussion with people about Silbury.

Here's a real puzzle from the last Update:

"Archaeological work at Silbury Hill was successfully completed on Tueday 13th November."

How can that be, when work is still going on and the removal of the steelwork is bound to cause disruption and reveal fresh surfaces?

Are there not any archaeologists still constantly in there documenting everything?

A human tooth found?

http://www.people.co.uk/news/news/tm_method=full&objectid=19135302&siteid=93463-name_page.html

Good grief!
Jim.

Oh my God.

Turn your back for five minutes (months) and what's new?

Nothing!

Same old chuckle chums irrational rant (and abuse).
Same old Goffy smart ass remarks.
Same old same old zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........

Pete G, tuesday and Paulus (and other normal people). You really are wasting your time bothering to engage with these prats.

See you in five months folks.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........