Avebury....... .........A Lady In Waiting
4,500 years ago in an area now known as Avebury in Wiltshire, Neolithic man erected a vast sarsen stone circle (the Great Circle) many times larger than the more publicised Stonehenge twenty miles to the south. Surrounding the outside of those 100 or so sarsen stones was a huge ditch some thirty feet deep and a bank, thus classifying it as a henge site. So big was the circle that much of the modern-day village of Avebury has been built within its circumference of four-fifths of a mile. To say it is only impressive is to underestimate its grandeur.
4,500 years ago in an area now known as Avebury in Wiltshire, Neolithic man erected a vast sarsen stone circle (the Great Circle) many times larger than the more publicised Stonehenge twenty miles to the south. Surrounding the outside of those 100 or so sarsen stones was a huge ditch some thirty feet deep and a bank, thus classifying it as a henge site. So big was the circle that much of the modern-day village of Avebury has been built within its circumference of four-fifths of a mile. To say it is only impressive is to underestimate its grandeur.
At the farthest end of the West Kennet Avenue and connected to it, is the now destroyed site of a smaller set of stone and timber circles known as the Sanctuary and this lies on Overton Hill alongside the oldest and longest combined track-way in the British Isles known as the Ridgeway Path.
At the farthest end of the West Kennet Avenue and connected to it, is the now destroyed site of a smaller set of stone and timber circles known as the Sanctuary and this lies on Overton Hill alongside the oldest and longest combined track-way in the British Isles known as the Ridgeway Path.
Joined to the Great Circle were two double rows of standing stones known today as the West Kennet and Beckhampton Avenues. The West Kennet Avenue was nearly one and half miles in length but the now missing Beckhampton Avenue’s termination point is presently unknown although believed to have been similar in length.
Joined to the Great Circle were two double rows of standing stones known today as the West Kennet and Beckhampton Avenues. The West Kennet Avenue was nearly one and half miles in length but the now missing Beckhampton Avenue’s termination point is presently unknown although believed to have been similar in length.
Half a mile to the south of the Great Circle was built the enigmatic Silbury Hill, the largest man-made hill in Europe with a huge surrounding ditch now mainly silted up. Covering a ground area of five and a half acres it is 130ft high with some estimates claiming it took 18 million man hours to build using nothing more than antler picks and the shoulder blades of oxen and wooden tools.
Half a mile to the south of the Great Circle was built the enigmatic Silbury Hill, the largest man-made hill in Europe with a huge surrounding ditch now mainly silted up. Covering a ground area of five and a half acres it is 130ft high with some estimates claiming it took 18 million man hours to build using nothing more than antler picks and the shoulder blades of oxen and wooden tools.
Running north to south from Avebury to just below Silbury Hill is the Winterbourne stream which merges with the River Kennet just below Silbury Hill.
Running north to south from Avebury to just below Silbury Hill is the Winterbourne stream which merges with the River Kennet just below Silbury Hill.
Also below Silbury Hill lie the Swallowhead Springs where the main River Kennet rises. A quarter of a mile further south on the top of rising ground is the West Kennet Long Barrow, an Early Neolithic chambered burial tomb believed to have been in use some 1,000 years prior to the construction of the other megaliths.
Also below Silbury Hill lie the Swallowhead Springs where the main River Kennet rises. A quarter of a mile further south on the top of rising ground is the West Kennet Long Barrow, an Early Neolithic chambered burial tomb believed to have been in use some 1,000 years prior to the construction of the other megaliths.
The combined man-made structures are known today as the Avebury Complex and have been granted World Heritage status such is their importance. However, even though many excavations have taken place at the Great Circle, the Avenues, the Sanctuary and Silbury Hill, no practical or tangible theories or understanding of why they were built and what they were used for on completion has been put forward until recently. They had remained as much a mystery as when the first known official excavation began back in the 17th century.
After some 30 years investigating the Complex, stone circle researcher Roy Goutté has reached some amazing conclusions that will change our understanding of Neolithic man and their beliefs for ever. His work is truly groundbreaking, innovative and totally plausible. No longer will the Great Circle at Avebury, or Stonehenge for that matter, be seen as ‘stand alone’ structures, but part of huge complexes. It is by reaching this understanding that we can now begin to decipher their true meaning.
Working systematically through each individual man-made or natural part of the Avebury Complex as he sees it, he has now intrinsically linked them to show that they were all interconnected to form a huge hitherto unrecognised Female Earth Figure laid out over hundreds of acres of the Wiltshire countryside and has written a book on his discoveries.
His work is titled ‘A Lady In Waiting’ and he clearly shows that this figure was designed and built in the Late Neolithic period with one aim in mind…to lead the Souls of the Dead into their Afterlife.
The book guides the reader through the various stages of the Late Neolithic transition from their world into the next in a very straightforward and down-to-earth manner that is very easy to follow and appreciate.
Contemporary with the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza and the Egyptian belief in the Afterlife, Roy Goutté has been able to show that it wasn’t just the hierarchy of its time that benefitted from the promise of an Afterlife at Avebury, but everybody, for he believes the Earth Figure was built by the people, for the people.
How it functioned and how it all worked in the mindset of Late Neolithic man is clearly shown in A Lady In Waiting by the intricate layout of the figure and how it used the natural waterways which ran through the figure’s body and which represented its Lifeblood to bring it alive to them.
The combined man-made structures are known today as the Avebury Complex and have been granted World Heritage status such is their importance. However, even though many excavations have taken place at the Great Circle, the Avenues, the Sanctuary and Silbury Hill, no practical or tangible theories or understanding of why they were built and what they were used for on completion has been put forward until recently. They had remained as much a mystery as when the first known official excavation began back in the 17th century.
After some 30 years investigating the Complex, stone circle researcher Roy Goutté has reached some amazing conclusions that will change our understanding of Neolithic man and their beliefs for ever. His work is truly groundbreaking, innovative and totally plausible. No longer will the Great Circle at Avebury, or Stonehenge for that matter, be seen as ‘stand alone’ structures, but part of huge complexes. It is by reaching this understanding that we can now begin to decipher their true meaning.
Working systematically through each individual man-made or natural part of the Avebury Complex as he sees it, he has now intrinsically linked them to show that they were all interconnected to form a huge hitherto unrecognised Female Earth Figure laid out over hundreds of acres of the Wiltshire countryside and has written a book on his discoveries.
His work is titled ‘A Lady In Waiting’ and he clearly shows that this figure was designed and built in the Late Neolithic period with one aim in mind…to lead the Souls of the Dead into their Afterlife.
The book guides the reader through the various stages of the Late Neolithic transition from their world into the next in a very straightforward and down-to-earth manner that is very easy to follow and appreciate.
Contemporary with the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza and the Egyptian belief in the Afterlife, Roy Goutté has been able to show that it wasn’t just the hierarchy of its time that benefitted from the promise of an Afterlife at Avebury, but everybody, for he believes the Earth Figure was built by the people, for the people.
How it functioned and how it all worked in the mindset of Late Neolithic man is clearly shown in A Lady In Waiting by the intricate layout of the figure and how it used the natural waterways which ran through the figure’s body and which represented its Lifeblood to bring it alive to them.
The actual layout of the Figure showing all the relevant parts is quite clearly seen on the overdrawn map shown below, with each of those parts fully explained in detail within the book itself. It is truly remarkable.
The actual layout of the Figure showing all the relevant parts is quite clearly seen on the overdrawn map shown below, with each of those parts fully explained in detail within the book itself. It is truly remarkable.
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