With the June workshop at the site not too far distant, I spent the evening pondering archaeo-acoustics and how the old ones might have used sound at Avebury… and whether, in its current state, you would be able to test any theories without a computer model. Erosion has taken its toll, some of the stones were broken up for building material in years past for the village that grew up within the site and roads now pass through the henge… a deep ditch surrounding the inner space with a raised bank behind it. The top of the bank is irregular in shape. There are a number of archaeological theories on that, but I think back to a visit to another of the great stone circles, when we sat on an adjacent barrow and saw the outline of the henge silhouetted like a sleeping goddess against the sky.
Avebury . Image : http://www.counter-currents.com
The henge was created around five thousand years ago to enclose the area where the great stones circle. It was a magnificent feat … a quarter of a mile in diameter. Nowadays a village sits within it. The ditch, sixty-nine feet wide, reached a depth of thirty-six feet, while the bank rises high behind. There was once a walkway on the inner face of the bank and you can imagine how brightly the bare chalk would have gleamed, a beacon in the landscape.
And inside, there are the stones. The outer circle, the largest in Britain, was formed of ninety-eight sarsen stones, many weighing more than forty tons each and towering to almost fourteen feet high… with some almost as wide as that too. How, as much as why, comes to mind, knowing that regardless of advances in technology, they were still working with tools of flint and antler picks. The sheer scale of the circle… let alone the whole complex… is incredible. There is a real sense of awe… and I keep failing miserably to convey it. Facts and figures are not enough.
I have visited this site many times and with many people, both those who are spiritually inclined and those who have no interest either in the spiritual possibilities, nor the mathematical precision, nor even the archaeology. To some it was just a curiosity… I hang out with some strange folks sometimes… One thing they have all shared, however, is that awed amazement. Avebury is incredible. It is also incredibly beautiful.
The stones were neither chosen nor placed randomly. Within the remaining stones, particularly in the Avenue, is an alternating pattern of lozenge and upright stones. The most obvious implication is that they refer to the eternal dance of polarity. Look at each one and you cannot but see that there are faces in the stones, and regardless of our human gift for seeing faces in pretty much anything, some are too plain to be mistaken. Were they crafted in this way… or simply chosen for the spirit of the stone that seemed to show itself on their surface?
Many have studied the geometries, numbers and alignments of the stones. Again, we may never know how much we are finding to fit our own theories and how much was deliberately encoded into the design. One thing is certain though, the pattern of the temple had meaning. From the solstice sunrise, to the lunar cycles, from the inner circles that seem, like the pyramids of Giza, to mirror Orion’s belt to Stukeley’s vision of the Serpent Temple… our ancestors had a knowledge far beyond just the engineering required to erect the stones. For me, it has always felt like stepping inside a chronometer, whose intricate cogs work together to tell more than time.
And then there are the stones themselves. Visitors often seem drawn to a particular stone that ‘calls’ them, as if there is a song in the stones that harmonises or resonates with something within their very bones. As every particle in creation vibrates, that is perhaps not as odd as it may at first sound. It is not odd at all to those who have felt the song of the stones.
Hidden Avebury: Seeking the Unseen
A workshop based around Avebury, Wiltshire
12th – 14th June, 2020
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Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
I’ve never been so I’d like to fix that… we will see.
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It is somewhere you need to see and feel for yourself 😉
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It is a very beautiful place
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It is indeed, Dave.
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I’ve only been once, many decades ago. It’s somwhere I must revisit. Thanks for the reminder, Sue.
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I’ve lost count how many times we have been there now… but it is always a place of discovery.
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It is awe inspiring. The stones and the people who erected them are a mystery in the mists of time. I visited Stone Henge years ago. It was incredible. I think one has to see it in order to understand the magnitude of how these bronze age people accomplished such a feat. Great article, Sue. So interesting and informative.
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I cannot reconcile the idea of the ‘primitive society’ about which we are taught, and a community coming together to organise, design, supply and build such incredible and precise structures across wide swathes of the landscape.
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I haven’t been to Avebury for a while now. Graeme and I have said we must go back soon. It’s such a special place and your piece here has reinforced that. Thanks, Sue xx
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It is… and always offers a glimpse of something new xx
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I watched a movie the other day which said that the legendary King Arthur is buried here,
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Avebury, Amesbury and Stonehenge are all candidates for his burial, as is Glastonbury. Though, as he was ferried away by three queens according to the legends, he should be buried Otherwhere…
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Avebury is indeed a wonderful place. A friend of ours lived there some years ago and it was quite something to watch the sun go down while standing on one of the chalk “ramparts”. He had a standing stone right next to his back garden and I recall that vegetables he grew there all had rude anthropomorphic shapes 😃
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I just regret that the pub stopped doing B&B. I’d have loved to stay there in the centre of the stones. Mind, I’d quite like to plant a garden too now 😉
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This looks alike another fascinating venue, Sue.
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It is the most amazing place, Robbie.
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Ah, yes, now I see what you mean by a coincidence. I certainly recognized Avebury in the old photograph, and let the stone lead from there…interestingly, you and Stuart were with me in a dream last night. We were at “Silbury Hill,” but it was over here in NH. Anyway, we were climbing the hill following the serpent path of stones out to the water. You must know how much I want to be there in June. I’m constantly torn between these two “homes.” ❤
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The serpent path at Silbury has all but disappeared now.. you have to know it is there.
Yes, I know… but you have your own Serpent Mound in Ohio to explore for me one day 😉
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The Ohio mound is on my list. It’s not so easy to get to, though. Rather remote and away from the larger towns/airport. Will get there, though, someday. And, I will certainly share when I do. 🙂
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I will look forward to that 🙂
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Reblogged this on The Light Behind the Story.
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I remember a children’s television programme set in Avebury stone circle, 1970’s I think.
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Children of the Stones… still worth watching 🙂
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Oh yes! I remember the name x
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🙂 x
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😊 👍
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I love the idea that the stones might resonate with songs and music.
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They do… there is a lot of ongoing research in thatarea.
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Yes, there are some great ideas surfacing these days.
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There are indeed.
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Yep, the ‘Call of the Stones’ is unmistakable. 🙂
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Oh yes…
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😀
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Avebury was the most … I don’t even have a word for it … place I’ve ever seen. Of course, I was also looking for a magical portal to Avalon, but that’s another problem. I’m convinced there IS magic, but I don’t have any. And the tor, with its winds and the strange sense of distance from the world. That should be one fantastic workshop in June. I will dream of it with you.
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Magic is something we all have access to… though we have to find our way. Avebury is a good place to start looking 😉
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I lived and worked for a year near Avebury, and often drove past the stones. I grew accustomed to them, but they never ceased to impart a sense of awe. I feel the same these days, whenever I visit ancient sites. Probably why I seek them out, I guess; there’s nothing quite like standing in a silent landscape, immersed in such history and magic.
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It doesn’t matter how many times I go there or pass through, there is always that thrill and sense of ‘recognition’ somehow.
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I knew I wouldn’t be alone in that.
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Far from it, I think 🙂
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