Thanks for your videos. I know you sometimes stress about making these, but please know that it is really appreciated. As a history nerd and an English Heritage Volunteer (at Stonehenge and 2 other places!) I have got a fair bit of my knowledge/context from your videos. Please keep making them! And Rebecca, I know you don't appear in these anymore, but I expect that you are involved in the filming/editing of them. Again thanks!
How common are these rectilinear structures within henges of that time? Is Stonehenge contemporary with Avebury? The current mainstream interpretation is that Stonehenge didn't have people living there, right?
@@FieryWACO I read somewhere the stones had rope net things draped on them & were used by travellers as a tie up for donkeys & horses while travellers got a large mammoth burger & large fries & ground roast acorn coffee or a beer etc at the rectilinear building which was a warehouse with some retail outlets & fast food purveyors. The post ice age rivers were much bigger & people were also picking stuff up from the boats or delivering to the boats for transport & trade purposes.
@@FieryWACO No evidence apparently of people living at Stonehenge, but connected Durrington included occupation by numbers like thousnds of people, not looked at for how long.
Fascinating and thought-provoking video, reinforcing the argument that neolithic - and other monuments - probably had no single use, or purpose, and that these and the forms they took, evolved over many hundreds of years, and many generations. Thank you.
Even medieval churches originally had more than one purpose. They weren’t just places of worship. As the only significant buildings in villages etc they were the centre of everything - meetings, royal proclamations, trials, markets etc. Priests even brewed beer in them! There’s no reason at all why Neolithic circles and tombs didn’t serve more than one function.
Avebury really is the site that keeps on giving. I had absolutely no idea about this, but it's a very appealing and credible idea. Isn't it fascinating when a place develops over such a huge span of time, such that its original purpose is forgotten. There's something of the indomitable nature of mankind in that notion. Fabulous video. Thank you.
Avebury is the centre of the world (where the world is defined as Mesolithic/early Neolithic southern England) because in the same way that all roads lead to Rome, all rivers lead to Avebury. River routes were incredibly important back then and from the Marlborough Downs just near Avebury (and in sight of Windmill Hill) you can flow down the Marden into the Bristol Avon, down the Kennet into the Thames, or down the Hampshire Avon. It would be more surprising if Avebury hadn't become a massively significant place.
I am not sure of your theory, as the chalk lands around Avebury are very dry for much of the year. The River Kennett which runs through the village is only a stream, and not navigable until many miles downstream. The Marden rises six miles from Avebury, and again is only navigable many miles down stream. However the Ridgeway, an ancient route along the ridge of the north Wiltshire downs, was an incredibly important route as it was dry and fairly open compared to the dense,impenetrable and often boggy forests enveloping the surrounding lowlands.
@@nicolabenson1155 Mesolithic people weren't navigating the rivers and I didn't suggest they were, but it's well established that they travelled the river valleys. Ranscombe Bottom where the Marden rises is only four miles from the Avebury Henge.
@@Joe-sg9ll Atlantis was situated at the northern top of Morocco - as proven by the ancient river structure to its south and east that ancient people cited.
I've been fascinated by Avebury since I was a kid, when they were featured in the TV series "Children of the Stones", shamefully I've still not been to see them. Great video, as always makes me want to visit even more !!
I recently watched a Phil "the hat" Harding video about a double mini henge at Bullsford between Avebury and Stonehenge. It immediately reminded me of the double circles at Avebury. I've been reading a historic account of how the family in classical Greece and Rome was rooted to the ground on which it was founded. The patriarch of the family being priest and law giver. Each house had it's own ancestor worship personified in household gods. It's called Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism by the late great, recently departed Prof. Larry Siedentop (2014). Foundation myths were so strongly attached with the family, it's gens, it's clan, it's city and eventually it's nation state that when establishing new colonies, the patriarch would bring soil from the original house and bury it beneath the new house so 'rooted' were they in the soil. I recommend everyone read this book. Paul's revealing a long house as perhaps the 'gens-erator' of the whole monument really struck a chord with me concerning Sidentop's book.
I thoroughly enjoy your walks in Britain, Paul! My husband and I visited Britain in 1981, (we lived on Canada’s East Coast at the time), and I planned the trip to include a visit to Stonehenge and also, Avebury. Not sure how I learned of it, but I was interested in these ancient things. We drove through the farm area and saw the stones in fields with sheep, and near buildings. I even got a book on the Avebury Circle, which is doubtless out of date now! But thanks so much for enlightening us on this history of the British landscape.
I get so excited by these videos on ancient places. I 1981 I toured UK, friends told us not to miss Avebury. I did not know the significance back then, but the current account of Stonehehenge and Avebury are fascinating. I wish I could go back to visit these sites! From Avril, South Africa, where we have the Cradle of Humankind.
Thank you for another wonderful Sunday! Sadly I will not be able to travel back to Wiltshire but it was my favorite place to visit on my tour of Great Britain. I now rely on you to be my guides😊
My son and I visited Avebury about 25 years ago. It was thrilling, coming from the US. So wonderful to visit it again in this video. Thank you! ❤ Shirley
Thanks for another great video 🙏 - love them. I did ancient history at university, my only contact with this subject matter was via a subject on Roman Britain. Villas and roads(and Bath)! I did some reading on pre-Roman Britain, but thanks for the better perspectives on this subject. ❤
Thanks for this. I often passed by Avebury and would stop for lunch and a pale ale at the pub after walking around the stones. Always gave me goosebumps!
You can visit stonehenge. You just cant climb all over it. Chip bits off as souvenirs or cover it in grafitti for your pet project. All being done by visitors before it was stopped before any more damage was done. Even archaeologists can only look and do geophys for the most part. You can also book to visit for a time slot early in the morning and actually go inside. I went in 2009 as part of a weekend tour round west kennett, durrington walls and avebury as well as an 7:30 am tour led by an archaeologist. It was well worth getting up early.
I was here in the summer and flew my drone as well, there are so many features you can see in the landscape, which defy interpretion. The landscape as we understand from examination of the soils at the time of the circles were built was very different. It was wetter, and more woodier, somehing that thousands of year of agriculture has changed So we are trying to understand an enigma, from about 1 or 2% of the actual evidence from the time this was built
Rings imply a form following mushroom growth - where the outer ring expands as new spores wont grow on land previously occupied so at one time there could have been a ring of land that was less productive and this was then filled with the stones ? Also what is the solar alignments of the main stones in the ring ?
@@howardchambers9679 Isn't Avebury also associated with the Sun's Ecliptic Line? if not the 'Michael Line' including a St Michael at Bury St Edmunds, and on Glastonbury Tor, Church Tower (The Church was knocked down by an earthquake in 1275), and then nearby Burrow Mump, with a Michael Church Tower, and then to Avebury and on to St Michael's Mount, at Marazion, Penzance Bay. The Church on St Michaels Mount is St Mary's, and the Church built on the first occupied location of Penzance, next to the natural harbour there, is St Mary's. And Madron, and Church, and Magical & Ancient Madron Well, multiple bubbling springs, nearby.
@@howardchambers9679 And some of the more "lunar oriented" among us believe that the whole shebang was created by little green men from a place far far away. 🤔🙄
I loved it here... See that white pub on the corner, The Red Lion I think! It is the most haunted pub in England or so they say.... They even done a most haunted there....
I went on the 80's. Stonehenge had been roped off, the car park and underpass were in full swing, and Avebury was the only place we could hug the stones😊 pre internet, i didn't know about the avenues. We had a crappy camera that double exposed everything, so all our photos look like we are taking off into space with the rocks😂
Hi Paul and Rebecca. Thank you for your outstanding work on these videos I find it amazing the amount of back ground work you put in to present British history to the viewer in plane English. once again Thank You and please keep up with your amazing work. Shaun
This is such a well done documentary - well narrated, well shot, really good, informative graphics, no gimmicks - solid. I had heard about the remains of feasts, that the animals came from different regions: and we’ve all just recently heard about the “altar” stone at Stonehenge coming possibly from northern Scotland. But I was not aware of this whole context for those snippets of information. Thanks!
I love your video's on a rainy Sunday afternoon. A place I have been very interested in lately is Cold Kitchen Hill which is near Kingston Deverill in Wiltshire. The name "Cold Kitchen" apparently comes from the Celtic Col Cruachan, meaning Hill of the Wizard. I think its somewhere you would be very interested in, as it is the site of a Roman Temple, and also has neolithic activity very close by. I think this may have been ancient route, as it straddles the borders of Wiltshire and Somerset, but may be worth some Whitewick investigation :)
@@philwildcroft1764 The SAS Hereford base at Credenhill is next to a Roman Roads Crossroad Junction; and with a River Bridge included; and next to a Roman Camp; and next to a Prehistoric 'hill-fort' on Credenhill Hill itself. This is like the multiple uses across history, in the vid conclusion, and the present, current use included.. Following the Roman Road across the River Wye, to the Southwards, there is an Abbey Dor, or Abbey d' Or, not a door, but situated in The Golden Valley, or 'Or' the Anglo Norman / French word for Gold. Nearby is a Riverdell, and a Bilbo Farm and Great Bilbo, so all another world completely, again. (Tolkien used the nearby, across the River Wye, Welsh language for his Royal Elves Language, and his Hobbits were Worcester and Warwickshire Folk, and English Rural Folk) [The West-East Road from the Bilbos includes Bagwylidiart, (Bilbo-Bagwilidiart-Baggins?), and with Orcop nearest to the north; and Trollways to the south). The Dark Lords are there, or JRR Tolkien's most hated, the De Lacy's at Ewis Lacy; same Nordic Normans who conquered in 1066, and industrialised English Agriculture and terrorised it's people, destroying the 'rural idyll' Culture, and creating the real Robin Hood / Hoods. JRR Tolkien had no religions in his world, but included likes Barrow Downs, meaning Ancient Barrow /Burial Mounds, and included The Rollright Stones, Stone Circle, in Middle Earth.
Subscribed American here lol. As a history lover whose ancestry is part Brit, I'd love to see these sites in person some day, but in lieu of that I can binge this channel and daydream. 🙂
Not to mention the large prehistoric site at Durrington Walls where there was a massive henge that may have been connected to the wider prehistoric landscape. Thanks for another interesting little video Paul.
One of your more fascinating videos Paul, it bought together some facts I knew and some I didn't; as usual well presented and easy to understand, thanks
Great vid; You should check out the story of the lost Shap stone circle and ceremonial avenues in Westmorland; reputed to be even bigger than the Avebury complex...
I keep getting drawn back to Avebury every so often, great to hear this theory about it all, definitely makes sense. Went to stonehenge, avebury,silbury hill and west kennet longbarrow this summer with my son who loved it all. amazing landscape
So the stone ring spanning the potholed path also had a structure in the middle that pre-dated the ring - is that right? And the same originally at Avebury. Fascinating video. Thank you. I'm lucky enough to live on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment with many barrows on top of the crest seemingly pointing at the setting sun. Oh for a discreet time machine!
I just visited Avebury/Silbury Hill a few weeks ago -- a beautiful place, very peaceful, and the surrounding landscape is lovely. I need to return to see the rest of the ancient sites! Thanks again for your video, very good depiction of the historical features.
My first Basic Fitness Test after basic training was from RAF Brize Norton, it took us through Avebury and finished at Barbary Castle, and while it was nice to see these ancient monuments I was entirely focused on finishing the walk with full pack and carrying a weapon. A couple of years later and the BFT was confined to within the perimeter fence of RAF Brize Norton.
Thank you for this, Paul. I perceive now that Avebury is not so much a geographic place as part of a continuum in a time line, and this has influenced my thinking regarding every place, as a small snapshot of now, from which a time trail strings out behind. It's obvious really; you just made me think of it and I thank you.
Thanks for another great video. We visited here in 2011 (from Australia), and I felt it was a really amazing area, and your story has added more to my understanding of the place.
Hi Paul, as always very interesting and really well put together, well done!! I can imagine the circles and henges having a use or perhaps many uses over time. The one that gets me is Silbury Hill I really can't fathom that one out and its truly enormous. Following Darren's video I spent a bit of time looking for stone circles down here, none nearby but there are 359 in an area on the Basque Country, 359!! Great video. All the best!!
Once again thank you Paul, Avebury is to my mind a far more complex and interesting landscape than Stonehenge. Thank you also for shedding light on the homestead origin of the complex, not many people will have heard about this I think..........................
What we really need is a visual depiction of the time line of all of the monuments in the area of Avebury Stonehenge Slibury etc. I’ve watched a lot of your videos ( and enjoyed them immensely), and now would like for all these dispersed pieces of information to be brought together in one place. Do you think it’s possible ¿?
Thank you, Paul. Being from a far, it is sometimes tricky to follow along with your use of British local landmark, but it is fascinating to hear the tales of the past and the changes in our learning with new discoveries. Also, your insight to what the landscape might have looked like 4-5000 years ago. it might have been a very busy place.
Paul, I have something quite interesting to add to the history of Avebury. About six months ago, I saw a video about the area which puts a completely different light on the area when the site was new. At that time, it was much closer to the final end of the last ice age. Rivers like the Kennet and the Salisbury Avon near Stonehenge would have been much larger that today, the water table being much higher. And so the western side of the Avebury site would have most likely been accessible by boats coming up the River Kennet, similarly Stonehenge via the River Avon. Both rivers would doubtless have been two or three times their current size and therefore been obvious routes to such monuments, regardless of their actual functions at the time. Have you been made aware of this video? I regret I have lost the link to it, but it was published around 6 months ago.
The Stonehenge open horseshoe shape, and Hele Stone Alignment to Summer Solstice Sunrise, and so The Avenue aligned, includes the same 'Avenue' turning towards and reaching to the River.. A higher water level would make sense of the usefulness of Rivers for transporting stones.Barges and ready-made Stonehenge Blue Stones have been found on the Seabed near the Welsh Coast nearest the Preseli Hills Quarries, Wales; where the Blue Stones came from.. Higher water levels and 'flooded' / underwater places in Britain would have enabled easier transport of such as big stones overland; while using Rivers and flooded areas included.. Coastal Routes and River Routes were used right up to recent times, in the Industrial age included, and by the metals and jewelry etc found in Britain; Europe was regularly traded with back into pre-historic times included. A Somerset saying says 'as sure as Jesus came to Priddy' - when someone's certain of something.. At age 12, by other accounts, meeting a girl named Lydia, living with her family in Priddy Village, edge of the Mendip Hills, north from Glastonbury; and so where they stayed while the Travelling Merchant Uncle Joseph, trekked with his Sailors to the Mendips, special for the Lead, metal there; or Cornwall or Wales, etc, Tin Copper and Gold; to trade for these metals there that don't exist in the Joseph of Arimathea, area; while though with the Med Coast at hand, Greek and Egyptian sailing / sea ships take in more thousands of years back in time again,.. Quite a few miles inland and with the Sea a long way away - at Glastonbury, or Pilton - the Village name where the Glastonbury Festival Worthy Farm is located.. there is also a Pylle, near Pilton, nearby; that both these names mean a 'landing place' in an old or early English. The Somerset Levels is probably the best well known, if not classic 'reclaimed land' area of England; where the seawater once reached in - very visible on Ordnace Survey Maps - a flat area, areas; and all reaching out to the Sea, now with the present coastline; and inland including the furthest possible inland locations: at Pilton and Pylle.. And corresponding with a water level that at one time, or at high tide, made these as landing places, half way to Avebury and Stonehenge, so to speak. The unique, freak hill of Glastonbury Tor, surrounded all around by low lying flat and level 'Somerset Levels' would have been a 100% Beacon Hill for inward and coastal sea traffic to use as a guide, beacon - with the Tor and Abbey and Town area in their time one of the 'Levels' 'Five Islands' And so Pilton and Pylle, the furthest inland landing places, behind Glastonbury Island, heading towards Wiltshire, and some 3 or 4 miles further on inland. behind the Glastonbury Tor Hill and Island... With or without barges with blue glowing stones, as seen in a Limestone Quarry in an evening light, and no surprise, in the corner of a big field that was under the Sea, when the Limestone 'Mump' hilll was created - and round again, furnace-melted at the quarries for processing into Fertiliser for Crop Growing. A Prehistoric Farmer in Cornwall is returning from a trip to the Flint Quarry in Cumberland / Cumbria; with some new Flints, and asks a man at Avebury Rings, can you tell me the Phases of the Moon and Sun Times - i've heard you know all these here" The reply is "Oh that's not eer-to; that's down at the Wood Rings and Stone Rings down the River, and don't ask me the dates" said the Druid-looking old man, "i've forgotten how to count backwards, but Avebury took about 600 years from start to finnish, to build, and Stonehenge took about 1,500 years from start to finish, to build, though that's only what someone said and saying they were from Gobbledy Googleland.
Isn’t it interesting that we both filmed a video there within days of each other yet our interpretations are so different? It has been well known that some long barrows were previously houses for the living that then were rebuilt as houses for the dead but I had no idea about Avebury. Funnily enough I did say to myself, that’s a rectangle but didn’t think any further on it. That’ll teach me to dig a bit deeper. I like that Avebury is still revealing itself to us. Great video.
Thank you, thank you for all you are doing. I love all your videos. I have to admit that the way you tell stories, explain all details, your energy and your tone of voice make me wish you would have replace Sir Tony in Time Team productions. Keep bringing us happiness with your wonderful videos and discoveries.
I have posted this on our FB history group-One of the areas that will forever generate speculation and interest from older information-Just like Stonehenge plenty of information is available which is easily confused and becomes dated over a short time -So in summary ,one word interesting !
Thank you for this excellent production. I just learned there was a house at Avebury before the sarsens were brought in. Now I want to know who lived in it. The owner could not have been very clever, hardly worth commemorating, because these people from southern England built rubbish houses. They could have learned a thing or two from the Orcadians. Now their graves, their post circles, their palisades, their avenues - that was another thing entirely. Note the plough marks in the field at 15.16. They look very evenly spaced, like the position of former posts
I think that final point really makes sense. Ive always wondered when ive visited stone circles and henges across wessex "why right here?" Youd think they would feature prominently in the landscape and be very deliberate about their placement but that rarely seems the case. (For example Stonehenge isn't built on the flattest part of the hill its on nor is it on the highest point of it's surroundings) Linking the location to something significant that occurred there and the structures being a way of marking that would make sense with their unusual placement.
Impressive bringing together of research into the Southwest of Britain, including Avebury and its monuments. Now we have to ask, what was it especially that drew people to that place.
The conclusion has answered all of the questions, thank you Paul - for all the hillforts, fortified settlements, memorials, ceremonials, etc; and so as for "a changeing living entity" ....This full quote, as above, puts the overall issue of Ancient locations being in use across periods of thousands of years, into focus.. Maybe the house in the rectangle in the first of the circles at Avebury was the house of the Neolithic Astronomer, from Devizes, with his Dividers: two pointed sticks pegged at one end, used for measurement and making circles. Nobody mentions The Great Avebury Amesbury Arc, though it's blatantly visible on any map with roads and including Avebury and Stonehenge. With Avebury and Stonehenge centres as two ends of the Arc Line, the centre of the Circle of the Arc is next to Upavon, on the River Avon, that rises near Avebury and passes by Durrington, Avebury and Stonehenge. To follow the Avebury Amesbury Arc Line Route, and beginning at Avebury, take the Road Sign Post saying Roundway, and so follow this road the round way to Stonehenge, via Devizes and Rollestone.
Great video, really interesting - as I was following along on Google Maps I came across Fyfield and the valley of stones - didn't even know that existed!
Highly thought provoking video and much enjoyed. It is quite clear that we need to maintain immense respect for our ancestors ... these ancient peoples existed in an incredibly rich cultural landscape, one that stretched across Europe and up through to the the islands off the north coast of Scotland ... one that appears to have embraced everyone within its circuit of influence .... one that had the means and the confidence to lug hefty chunks of stone over hundreds of miles from one end of the UK to the other. Truly amazing ... haven't we done well for ourselves ?? ... they'd be sooooo proud 🙄
Thanks for your videos. I know you sometimes stress about making these, but please know that it is really appreciated. As a history nerd and an English Heritage Volunteer (at Stonehenge and 2 other places!) I have got a fair bit of my knowledge/context from your videos. Please keep making them! And Rebecca, I know you don't appear in these anymore, but I expect that you are involved in the filming/editing of them. Again thanks!
Thanks Rob. Thats appreciated.
How common are these rectilinear structures within henges of that time? Is Stonehenge contemporary with Avebury? The current mainstream interpretation is that Stonehenge didn't have people living there, right?
@@FieryWACO
I read somewhere the stones had rope net things draped on them & were used by travellers as a tie up for donkeys & horses while travellers got a large mammoth burger & large fries & ground roast acorn coffee or a beer etc at the rectilinear building which was a warehouse with some retail outlets & fast food purveyors. The post ice age rivers were much bigger & people were also picking stuff up from the boats or delivering to the boats for transport & trade purposes.
@@FieryWACO No evidence apparently of people living at Stonehenge, but connected Durrington included occupation by numbers like thousnds of people, not looked at for how long.
@@pwhitewick This is really great man! You are a good presenter, music was great felt it like a BBC documentary! Keep going my friend!
Fascinating and thought-provoking video, reinforcing the argument that neolithic - and other monuments - probably had no single use, or purpose, and that these and the forms they took, evolved over many hundreds of years, and many generations. Thank you.
Even medieval churches originally had more than one purpose. They weren’t just places of worship. As the only significant buildings in villages etc they were the centre of everything - meetings, royal proclamations, trials, markets etc. Priests even brewed beer in them! There’s no reason at all why Neolithic circles and tombs didn’t serve more than one function.
@@greva2904 • I would have thought that there was no reason why these ancient sites DIDN'T serve more than one function.
Avebury really is the site that keeps on giving. I had absolutely no idea about this, but it's a very appealing and credible idea. Isn't it fascinating when a place develops over such a huge span of time, such that its original purpose is forgotten. There's something of the indomitable nature of mankind in that notion. Fabulous video. Thank you.
Admiration for Paul’s energy levels and enthusiasm for the investigations ❤
I like Paul's magic gloves. One minute they're there, the next they're gone!
Avebury is the centre of the world (where the world is defined as Mesolithic/early Neolithic southern England) because in the same way that all roads lead to Rome, all rivers lead to Avebury. River routes were incredibly important back then and from the Marlborough Downs just near Avebury (and in sight of Windmill Hill) you can flow down the Marden into the Bristol Avon, down the Kennet into the Thames, or down the Hampshire Avon. It would be more surprising if Avebury hadn't become a massively significant place.
have you seen the "Atlantis in the Azores" series? Avebury is featured prominently
I am not sure of your theory, as the chalk lands around Avebury are very dry for much of the year. The River Kennett which runs through the village is only a stream, and not navigable until many miles downstream. The Marden rises six miles from Avebury, and again is only navigable many miles down stream. However the Ridgeway, an ancient route along the ridge of the north Wiltshire downs, was an incredibly important route as it was dry and fairly open compared to the dense,impenetrable and often boggy forests enveloping the surrounding lowlands.
@@nicolabenson1155 Mesolithic people weren't navigating the rivers and I didn't suggest they were, but it's well established that they travelled the river valleys. Ranscombe Bottom where the Marden rises is only four miles from the Avebury Henge.
@@Joe-sg9ll Atlantis was situated at the northern top of Morocco - as proven by the ancient river structure to its south and east that ancient people cited.
That's just one of many theories. @@awotnot
*_A comment offering for the algorithm gods_*
No doubt a 'ritual' practice?
Paul these videos get better all the time! This was truly interesting and lots of new information. Great photography too.
Thank you SO MUCH.
😊😊😊😊
Thanks Pauline
Fighting sheep aswell :)
I've been fascinated by Avebury since I was a kid, when they were featured in the TV series "Children of the Stones", shamefully I've still not been to see them. Great video, as always makes me want to visit even more !!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Stones
I recently watched a Phil "the hat" Harding video about a double mini henge at Bullsford between Avebury and Stonehenge. It immediately reminded me of the double circles at Avebury.
I've been reading a historic account of how the family in classical Greece and Rome was rooted to the ground on which it was founded.
The patriarch of the family being priest and law giver. Each house had it's own ancestor worship personified in household gods.
It's called Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism by the late great, recently departed Prof. Larry Siedentop (2014).
Foundation myths were so strongly attached with the family, it's gens, it's clan, it's city and eventually it's nation state that when establishing new colonies, the patriarch would bring soil from the original house and bury it beneath the new house so 'rooted' were they in the soil.
I recommend everyone read this book. Paul's revealing a long house as perhaps the 'gens-erator' of the whole monument really struck a chord with me concerning Sidentop's book.
I thoroughly enjoy your walks in Britain, Paul! My husband and I visited Britain in 1981, (we lived on Canada’s East Coast at the time), and I planned the trip to include a visit to Stonehenge and also, Avebury. Not sure how I learned of it, but I was interested in these ancient things. We drove through the farm area and saw the stones in fields with sheep, and near buildings. I even got a book on the Avebury Circle, which is doubtless out of date now! But thanks so much for enlightening us on this history of the British landscape.
Gotta love a fellow Phil fan!
I get so excited by these videos on ancient places. I 1981 I toured UK, friends told us not to miss Avebury. I did not know the significance back then, but the current account of Stonehehenge and Avebury are fascinating. I wish I could go back to visit these sites! From Avril, South Africa, where we have the Cradle of Humankind.
Yes .Michael Tellinger has some interesting thoughts on South Africa!
Thank you for another wonderful Sunday! Sadly I will not be able to travel back to Wiltshire but it was my favorite place to visit on my tour of Great Britain. I now rely on you to be my guides😊
The BBC should put your program on. You are a natural.
Thanks, that's very kind.
Or maybe even a quality broadcaster could.
History Hit?
Bbc only do lies and propaganda
@@allenatkins2263 bbc only do propaganda
Very interesting indeed, Paul. Thank you.
Very welcome
I love all the videos but prehistory is one of my favourite subjects, thank you.
Glad you like them!
My son and I visited Avebury about 25 years ago. It was thrilling, coming from the US. So wonderful to visit it again in this video. Thank you!
❤ Shirley
Thanks for another great video 🙏 - love them. I did ancient history at university, my only contact with this subject matter was via a subject on Roman Britain. Villas and roads(and Bath)! I did some reading on pre-Roman Britain, but thanks for the better perspectives on this subject. ❤
Thanks for this. I often passed by Avebury and would stop for lunch and a pale ale at the pub after walking around the stones. Always gave me goosebumps!
Avebury is incredibly interesting and one good thing, 'they' have not taken it away from us. We can still go there. I miss Stonehenge!!
What did I miss? When did Stonehenge get removed?
@@nancyphillips2049 I simply mean we are no longer allowed into the stones
@@helenswan705 Oh, I had not heard that! That's sad.
You can visit stonehenge. You just cant climb all over it. Chip bits off as souvenirs or cover it in grafitti for your pet project. All being done by visitors before it was stopped before any more damage was done. Even archaeologists can only look and do geophys for the most part.
You can also book to visit for a time slot early in the morning and actually go inside. I went in 2009 as part of a weekend tour round west kennett, durrington walls and avebury as well as an 7:30 am tour led by an archaeologist. It was well worth getting up early.
@@helenswan705thats been the case for decades.
Have sent this video to my grandson whose girlfriend is studying archeology at Winchester university.
Thank you. Remind them I'm noooo archaeologist. 😬
@@pwhitewickyou may not be qualified but your information and presentation is captivating, it is an inspiration to learn more, thank you.
I was here in the summer and flew my drone as well, there are so many features you can see in the landscape, which defy interpretion. The landscape as we understand from examination of the soils at the time of the circles were built was very different. It was wetter, and more woodier, somehing that thousands of year of agriculture has changed
So we are trying to understand an enigma, from about 1 or 2% of the actual evidence from the time this was built
Rings imply a form following mushroom growth - where the outer ring expands as new spores wont grow on land previously occupied so at one time there could have been a ring of land that was less productive and this was then filled with the stones ? Also what is the solar alignments of the main stones in the ring ?
We'll never really know
@@highpath4776some believe that Avebury was more lunar oriented
@@howardchambers9679 Isn't Avebury also associated with the Sun's Ecliptic Line? if not the 'Michael Line' including a St Michael at Bury St Edmunds, and on Glastonbury Tor, Church Tower (The Church was knocked down by an earthquake in 1275), and then nearby Burrow Mump, with a Michael Church Tower, and then to Avebury and on to St Michael's Mount, at Marazion, Penzance Bay.
The Church on St Michaels Mount is St Mary's, and the Church built on the first occupied location of Penzance, next to the natural harbour there, is St Mary's. And Madron, and Church, and Magical & Ancient Madron Well, multiple bubbling springs, nearby.
@@howardchambers9679 And some of the more "lunar oriented" among us believe that the whole shebang was created by little green men from a place far far away. 🤔🙄
Another broadcast-worthy production. Awesome.
Thanks, I was unaware of the circle between the 2 barrows. So that will now keep me busy for a few weeks.
I loved it here... See that white pub on the corner, The Red Lion I think! It is the most haunted pub in England or so they say.... They even done a most haunted there....
I visited Avebury several years ago and was captivated. The stones I hugged each had an energy of their own. Fascinating. Would love to revisit again.
I went on the 80's. Stonehenge had been roped off, the car park and underpass were in full swing, and Avebury was the only place we could hug the stones😊 pre internet, i didn't know about the avenues. We had a crappy camera that double exposed everything, so all our photos look like we are taking off into space with the rocks😂
Sunday evening viewing sorted!
We really enjoyed our visit to Avebury and in June of ‘23. Thank you for the deeper dive.
I loved this one Paul. I love it when you are doing investigations in the area I live. Avebury has always been part of my life.
Interesting show, keep up the good work. Thanks
Thank you, this has change my understanding of a place I know so well.
Another top presentation.
Thank you
Hi Paul and Rebecca. Thank you for your outstanding work on these videos I find it amazing the amount of back ground work you put in to present British history to the viewer in plane English. once again Thank You and please keep up with your amazing work. Shaun
Our pleasure!
I too am a lover of Avebury and similar sites. Thanks for the new information! Fascinating!
This is such a well done documentary - well narrated, well shot, really good, informative graphics, no gimmicks - solid. I had heard about the remains of feasts, that the animals came from different regions: and we’ve all just recently heard about the “altar” stone at Stonehenge coming possibly from northern Scotland. But I was not aware of this whole context for those snippets of information. Thanks!
Thank you. Very kind.
Great content again Paul look forward to Sunday evenings. Magical place Avebury.
Thanks Paul, that's one of your finest videos, I would've watched that for hours ! 🍻
Thank you. I really enjoyed making this.
Great stuff as ever, in all seriousness you should be doing this for a major commercial channel.
I've wandered and cycled around there a few times and you give a glimpse of even more history i would never have imagined. Thanks again.
I love your video's on a rainy Sunday afternoon. A place I have been very interested in lately is Cold Kitchen Hill which is near Kingston Deverill in Wiltshire. The name "Cold Kitchen" apparently comes from the Celtic Col Cruachan, meaning Hill of the Wizard. I think its somewhere you would be very interested in, as it is the site of a Roman Temple, and also has neolithic activity very close by. I think this may have been ancient route, as it straddles the borders of Wiltshire and Somerset, but may be worth some Whitewick investigation :)
Love it up there. The crossing of two Roman Roads as well.
The Deverills are lovely so well worth a visit even if the investigation comes to nothing. :)
@@philwildcroft1764
The SAS Hereford base at Credenhill is next to a Roman Roads Crossroad Junction; and with a River Bridge included; and next to a Roman Camp; and next to a Prehistoric 'hill-fort' on Credenhill Hill itself.
This is like the multiple uses across history, in the vid conclusion, and the present, current use included..
Following the Roman Road across the River Wye, to the Southwards, there is an Abbey Dor, or Abbey d' Or, not a door, but situated in The Golden Valley, or 'Or' the Anglo Norman / French word for Gold.
Nearby is a Riverdell, and a Bilbo Farm and Great Bilbo, so all another world completely, again.
(Tolkien used the nearby, across the River Wye, Welsh language for his Royal Elves Language, and his Hobbits were Worcester and Warwickshire Folk, and English Rural Folk) [The West-East Road from the Bilbos includes Bagwylidiart, (Bilbo-Bagwilidiart-Baggins?), and with Orcop nearest to the north; and Trollways to the south).
The Dark Lords are there, or JRR Tolkien's most hated, the De Lacy's at Ewis Lacy; same Nordic Normans who conquered in 1066, and industrialised English Agriculture and terrorised it's people, destroying the 'rural idyll' Culture, and creating the real Robin Hood / Hoods. JRR Tolkien had no religions in his world, but included likes Barrow Downs, meaning Ancient Barrow /Burial Mounds, and included The Rollright Stones, Stone Circle, in Middle Earth.
Another gem. Thank you for creating and sharing
Dear Paul and Rebecca, if you wonder why a Dutchman would subscribe to your channel: don't. You make those ancient sites come alive.
I'm an Australian and subscribe.lol
Holland was maybe not separated from Britain by sea then.All one landmass.
Fryslan present.
Subscribed American here lol. As a history lover whose ancestry is part Brit, I'd love to see these sites in person some day, but in lieu of that I can binge this channel and daydream. 🙂
Een medelander met dezelfde passie voor oudheid en landschap.
Not to mention the large prehistoric site at Durrington Walls where there was a massive henge that may have been connected to the wider prehistoric landscape. Thanks for another interesting little video Paul.
Yup, very good point
One of your more fascinating videos Paul, it bought together some facts I knew and some I didn't; as usual well presented and easy to understand, thanks
Great vid; You should check out the story of the lost Shap stone circle and ceremonial avenues in Westmorland; reputed to be even bigger than the Avebury complex...
Your best podcast yet Paul keep up the good work excellent .
Much appreciated
Thanks for posting. I was looking forward to this and enjoyed it. I have subscribed.
Thanks Nigel. Welcome
Fascinating subject and quality production. Excellent work.
This is pretty good. I really enjoyed seeing Avebury and walking around in there after seeing Stonehenge.
Once again thank you for an excellent video.
I keep getting drawn back to Avebury every so often, great to hear this theory about it all, definitely makes sense. Went to stonehenge, avebury,silbury hill and west kennet longbarrow this summer with my son who loved it all. amazing landscape
So the stone ring spanning the potholed path also had a structure in the middle that pre-dated the ring - is that right? And the same originally at Avebury.
Fascinating video. Thank you.
I'm lucky enough to live on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment with many barrows on top of the crest seemingly pointing at the setting sun. Oh for a discreet time machine!
Excellent presentation, and some insightful information into Avebury.
I just visited Avebury/Silbury Hill a few weeks ago -- a beautiful place, very peaceful, and the surrounding landscape is lovely. I need to return to see the rest of the ancient sites! Thanks again for your video, very good depiction of the historical features.
My first Basic Fitness Test after basic training was from RAF Brize Norton, it took us through Avebury and finished at Barbary Castle, and while it was nice to see these ancient monuments I was entirely focused on finishing the walk with full pack and carrying a weapon.
A couple of years later and the BFT was confined to within the perimeter fence of RAF Brize Norton.
Thank you for this, Paul. I perceive now that Avebury is not so much a geographic place as part of a continuum in a time line, and this has influenced my thinking regarding every place, as a small snapshot of now, from which a time trail strings out behind. It's obvious really; you just made me think of it and I thank you.
Thanks for another great video. We visited here in 2011 (from Australia), and I felt it was a really amazing area, and your story has added more to my understanding of the place.
Thanks for this, we live not far from Avebury but had never heard about the stone house, excellent work well explained
Hi Paul, as always very interesting and really well put together, well done!!
I can imagine the circles and henges having a use or perhaps many uses over time. The one that gets me is Silbury Hill I really can't fathom that one out and its truly enormous.
Following Darren's video I spent a bit of time looking for stone circles down here, none nearby but there are 359 in an area on the Basque Country, 359!!
Great video. All the best!!
Thank you. Interesting and informative as usual 👍
Superb video, much appreciate the work that has gone into this film, excellent stuff
Many thanks!
Once again thank you Paul,
Avebury is to my mind a far more complex and interesting landscape than Stonehenge.
Thank you also for shedding light on the homestead origin of the complex, not many people
will have heard about this I think..........................
Great video !
Structure near farm lays exact on the line from West Kennet to St Paul`s Cathedral .
Beautifully created. Well done. Thanks for shedding some more light on the whole mystery of that area. :)
Many thanks!
Very interesting as always. Thanks for your unending research and enthusiasm.
What we really need is a visual depiction of the time line of all of the monuments in the area of Avebury Stonehenge Slibury etc. I’ve watched a lot of your videos ( and enjoyed them immensely), and now would like for all these dispersed pieces of information to be brought together in one place. Do you think it’s possible ¿?
Yup, that would be very useful.
So fascinating, thank you so much for producing this!!!
Thank you, Paul. Being from a far, it is sometimes tricky to follow along with your use of British local landmark, but it is fascinating to hear the tales of the past and the changes in our learning with new discoveries. Also, your insight to what the landscape might have looked like 4-5000 years ago. it might have been a very busy place.
Great Video Paul. Thank you for your dedication on this subject. A long way from the days of 'every disused station'
Thanks Peter.
Great context! Thank you for the new prospective.
Paul, I have something quite interesting to add to the history of Avebury.
About six months ago, I saw a video about the area which puts a completely different light on the area when the site was new. At that time, it was much closer to the final end of the last ice age. Rivers like the Kennet and the Salisbury Avon near Stonehenge would have been much larger that today, the water table being much higher.
And so the western side of the Avebury site would have most likely been accessible by boats coming up the River Kennet, similarly Stonehenge via the River Avon. Both rivers would doubtless have been two or three times their current size and therefore been obvious routes to such monuments, regardless of their actual functions at the time.
Have you been made aware of this video? I regret I have lost the link to it, but it was published around 6 months ago.
The Stonehenge open horseshoe shape, and Hele Stone Alignment to Summer Solstice Sunrise, and so The Avenue aligned, includes the same 'Avenue' turning towards and reaching to the River..
A higher water level would make sense of the usefulness of Rivers for transporting stones.Barges and ready-made Stonehenge Blue Stones have been found on the Seabed near the Welsh Coast nearest the Preseli Hills Quarries, Wales; where the Blue Stones came from.. Higher water levels and 'flooded' / underwater places in Britain would have enabled easier transport of such as big stones overland; while using Rivers and flooded areas included.. Coastal Routes and River Routes were used right up to recent times, in the Industrial age included, and by the metals and jewelry etc found in Britain; Europe was regularly traded with back into pre-historic times included.
A Somerset saying says 'as sure as Jesus came to Priddy' - when someone's certain of something.. At age 12, by other accounts, meeting a girl named Lydia, living with her family in Priddy Village, edge of the Mendip Hills, north from Glastonbury; and so where they stayed while the Travelling Merchant Uncle Joseph, trekked with his Sailors to the Mendips, special for the Lead, metal there; or Cornwall or Wales, etc, Tin Copper and Gold; to trade for these metals there that don't exist in the Joseph of Arimathea, area; while though with the Med Coast at hand, Greek and Egyptian sailing / sea ships take in more thousands of years back in time again,..
Quite a few miles inland and with the Sea a long way away - at Glastonbury, or Pilton - the Village name where the Glastonbury Festival Worthy Farm is located.. there is also a Pylle, near Pilton, nearby; that both these names mean a 'landing place' in an old or early English.
The Somerset Levels is probably the best well known, if not classic 'reclaimed land' area of England; where the seawater once reached in - very visible on Ordnace Survey Maps - a flat area, areas; and all reaching out to the Sea, now with the present coastline; and inland including the furthest possible inland locations: at Pilton and Pylle.. And corresponding with a water level that at one time, or at high tide, made these as landing places, half way to Avebury and Stonehenge, so to speak.
The unique, freak hill of Glastonbury Tor, surrounded all around by low lying flat and level 'Somerset Levels' would have been a 100% Beacon Hill for inward and coastal sea traffic to use as a guide, beacon - with the Tor and Abbey and Town area in their time one of the 'Levels' 'Five Islands'
And so Pilton and Pylle, the furthest inland landing places, behind Glastonbury Island, heading towards Wiltshire, and some 3 or 4 miles further on inland. behind the Glastonbury Tor Hill and Island...
With or without barges with blue glowing stones, as seen in a Limestone Quarry in an evening light, and no surprise, in the corner of a big field that was under the Sea, when the Limestone 'Mump' hilll was created - and round again, furnace-melted at the quarries for processing into Fertiliser for Crop Growing.
A Prehistoric Farmer in Cornwall is returning from a trip to the Flint Quarry in Cumberland / Cumbria; with some new Flints, and asks a man at Avebury Rings, can you tell me the Phases of the Moon and Sun Times - i've heard you know all these here"
The reply is "Oh that's not eer-to; that's down at the Wood Rings and Stone Rings down the River, and don't ask me the dates" said the Druid-looking old man, "i've forgotten how to count backwards, but Avebury took about 600 years from start to finnish, to build, and Stonehenge took about 1,500 years from start to finish, to build, though that's only what someone said and saying they were from Gobbledy Googleland.
Wonderfully educational and interesting
Man and boy I have spent many hours at Avebury, uffington, waylands smithy. Often cycling after school on the summer. Love your videos.
Wonderful subject and production, Thanks Paul
Many thanks!
As usual, a wonderful presentation Paul, keep up the great work.
Many thanks!
Excellent, a very local area to me, I might need to retrace your steps
I'm Australaian. My wife and I recently spent a day at Avebury. It's a pity I didn't see a video like this for the backstory.
Fantastic. For 50 years I've wondered where they interred the ordinary people because only a select few were interred in long barrows.
Very interesting. We've found a rectilinear feature doing some geophysics. It's about 500 metres from a stone circle and a wood henge.
Ooooh. Like this
Isn’t it interesting that we both filmed a video there within days of each other yet our interpretations are so different? It has been well known that some long barrows were previously houses for the living that then were rebuilt as houses for the dead but I had no idea about Avebury. Funnily enough I did say to myself, that’s a rectangle but didn’t think any further on it. That’ll teach me to dig a bit deeper. I like that Avebury is still revealing itself to us. Great video.
Thanks Tom. I really enjoyed this one. Yup, i think we missed each other by less than 48 hours.
Excellent. Well done! Thank you.
Thank you too!
Thank you, thank you for all you are doing. I love all your videos. I have to admit that the way you tell stories, explain all details, your energy and your tone of voice make me wish you would have replace Sir Tony in Time Team productions. Keep bringing us happiness with your wonderful videos and discoveries.
Thank you, very kind.
nice one yet again Paul , very well done and thank you 😊
I have posted this on our FB history group-One of the areas that will forever generate speculation and interest from older information-Just like Stonehenge plenty of information is available which is easily confused and becomes dated over a short time -So in summary ,one word interesting !
Thanks James.
Wow, that was interesting; to hear and learn about those new insights!
I have not been to Avebury for about 20 years, but I used to love visiting it when I lived in Basingstoke.
Great video really enjoyed it very interesting history.
Many thanks!
Loved that. Really enjoying the history. Thank you. Please take care
Thank you for this excellent production. I just learned there was a house at Avebury before the sarsens were brought in. Now I want to know who lived in it. The owner could not have been very clever, hardly worth commemorating, because these people from southern England built rubbish houses. They could have learned a thing or two from the Orcadians. Now their graves, their post circles, their palisades, their avenues - that was another thing entirely. Note the plough marks in the field at 15.16. They look very evenly spaced, like the position of former posts
I always look forward to watching your interesting Videos Paul - Thanks for sharing 😉🙂🚂🚂🚂
I think that final point really makes sense.
Ive always wondered when ive visited stone circles and henges across wessex "why right here?" Youd think they would feature prominently in the landscape and be very deliberate about their placement but that rarely seems the case. (For example Stonehenge isn't built on the flattest part of the hill its on nor is it on the highest point of it's surroundings)
Linking the location to something significant that occurred there and the structures being a way of marking that would make sense with their unusual placement.
Impressive bringing together of research into the Southwest of Britain, including Avebury and its monuments. Now we have to ask, what was it especially that drew people to that place.
I love these history lessons i do
The conclusion has answered all of the questions, thank you Paul - for all the hillforts, fortified settlements, memorials, ceremonials, etc; and so as for "a changeing living entity" ....This full quote, as above, puts the overall issue of Ancient locations being in use across periods of thousands of years, into focus..
Maybe the house in the rectangle in the first of the circles at Avebury was the house of the Neolithic Astronomer, from Devizes, with his Dividers: two pointed sticks pegged at one end, used for measurement and making circles. Nobody mentions The Great Avebury Amesbury Arc, though it's blatantly visible on any map with roads and including Avebury and Stonehenge.
With Avebury and Stonehenge centres as two ends of the Arc Line, the centre of the Circle of the Arc is next to Upavon, on the River Avon, that rises near Avebury and passes by Durrington, Avebury and Stonehenge.
To follow the Avebury Amesbury Arc Line Route, and beginning at Avebury, take the Road Sign Post saying Roundway, and so follow this road the round way to Stonehenge, via Devizes and Rollestone.
Great video, really interesting - as I was following along on Google Maps I came across Fyfield and the valley of stones - didn't even know that existed!
Quite something isn't it.
Such a fascinating place. Nice work.
Highly thought provoking video and much enjoyed. It is quite clear that we need to maintain immense respect for our ancestors ... these ancient peoples existed in an incredibly rich cultural landscape, one that stretched across Europe and up through to the the islands off the north coast of Scotland ... one that appears to have embraced everyone within its circuit of influence .... one that had the means and the confidence to lug hefty chunks of stone over hundreds of miles from one end of the UK to the other. Truly amazing ... haven't we done well for ourselves ?? ... they'd be sooooo proud 🙄
Thank you for the context.
Again very interesting and a pause for thought too.
Fascinating, Paul!
Thank you very much... ☝️😎
Great video as always - cheers