
There are many burial mounds dotted around the ancient landscape of Avebury, echoing perhaps, in miniature, the great mound of Silbury Hill. Some are round barrows, others sheem to shadow the shape of the ceremonial stone axes that have been found across Europe. Or perhaps too, they echo the shape of the gravid womb.
Many of these mounds sleep within the embrace of trees, the roots slowly bringing death to the mounds as they draw life from the earth. You cannot help but wonder at this deliberate juxtaposition of living and departed, life and death. Today we seek to distance ourselves from death. Our ancestors did not so so and for me, their inclusion of death in life is a celebration of an endless natural cycle.



























Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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This is good, Sue–I think there’s something unhealthy about distancing oneself from death. My family was like that, and I think I’d be more balanced emotionally if that had not been the case.
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I think it is one of the problems we face as a society these days, sadly.
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Yes.
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Interesting & Thought provoking
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Thanks, Sam.
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Thank you x
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I think I have passed this site many times, but never realised it was a burial mound…
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There are a numbe of them around Avebury… some still unexcavated. I rather hope they will leave them in peace.
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Unlike the underground insanity for Stonehenge!
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Let’s no go there…:(
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Someone has to see sense and make them stop…
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A wonderful sense of place and history in the image and the haiku connects the senses to the photo. Beautifully crafted Sue
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Thank you, Denis.
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“Gravid womb.” Evocative. I like it. Thanks for starting my day with a lovely, unfamiliar word (I had to look up gravid).
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It’s a good word.. and works well in both its senses here.
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Fascinating, Sue.
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🙂
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To paraphrase Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore; ‘death is only the next step on our Great Adventure’.
I love that JK threw ‘Brian’ into the stew. 😀 … there are so many quirks like that in the books, that it took me several re-reads to find, and I’m sure I haven’t ‘seen’ them all yet. 🙂
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Say what you will about JK… she tells a good story 🙂
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We have ancient mounds nearby. Serpent Mound is shaped like a huge snake and is located in SW Ohio. It was built by ancient Indians and is a fascinating site for students and adults alike.
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That is one I would very much like to see….
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