Reviews

From The Meagalithic Portal

Review: A Lady in Waiting, An Explanation of the Avebury Complex by Roy Goutté

Submitted by runemage on Tuesday, 02 November 2010
 
Runemage writes:
 In 1976, Roy Goutté bought a booklet about Avebury and saw that the monuments in the area made a female earth-figure when viewed from above. The book describes his search for the reasons it was built and why Neolithic Man used several already-existing features in the natural landscape to create this unique earth-figure.

He takes us on a journey around the Avebury Complex, looking at the different monuments that are in existence today or that have been destroyed and gives his interpretation of the figure he thinks the Neolithic people created. This is no woolly theory though, it’s well thought-out. Where this book differs from so many others that try to interpret ancient sites is that it doesn’t mention any of the oft-repeated New Age theories or rely on bafflingly complex astronomical alignments. It is, simply, one man’s own observations and thoughts.

All of his arguments make sense and they are based on archaeological findings as well as his own attempts to ‘think Neolithic’. He has made great efforts to try and determine not only what the monuments and the complex as a whole would have meant to the builders, but what incentives they would have needed to make such gargantuan physical and mental efforts to build them in the first place.

He also neatly explains the first phases of the complex where it was generally mapped out with wooden posts and shallower, smaller ditches as a way in which the first builders - who could never expect to live long enough to see the finished project - could take advantage of its use. Then the next generation or two could add the finishing touches before it was their turn. He argues, persuasively, that the end results were the same for everyone involved in the project and successive generations.

The book and the ideas it contains are well-presented with a good balance of text and illustrations, from the earliest antiquarians via some excavations and reconstructions to the present day.

If you’re looking for an interesting book on Avebury that gives a unique perspective on the complex in a very easily-readable way, then “A Lady in Waiting” is definitely worth considering.

A Lady in Waiting, An Explanation of the Avebury Complex by Roy Goutté
120 pages including modern colour and old b/w photographs.

Self-Published, available from the author's web site where there is also an introduction to his ideas and a photo gallery of various Avebury stones.

Price £13.99+p&p Full ordering details and Paypal ordering are via the web site.