Landscape of the Megaliths: Excavation and Fieldwork on the Avebury Monuments, 1997-2003

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction:The Longstones Project and its context
	The legacy of research and how it shaped the project
	The research questions
	Organisation of fieldwork
	Landscape of the Megaliths
2. Monumentality in the third millennium BC– the Beckhampton Complex
	2.1 The Longstones Enclosure and associated features
	Geophysical survey Andrew David
	Excavation results
		The form of the ditch
		Ditch fills
		Finds from the ditch
		The gully-defined enclosure
		Dating the Longstones Enclosure
			Artefactual and environmental evidence
			Earlier prehistoric pottery
			Lithics
			Faunal remains
			Molluscan analysis
			Charcoal
			Archaeobotanical material
			Soil micromorphology
			Discussion: location, sequence, activities and analogies
			2.2 The Beckhampton Avenue and Longstones Cove
			Sarsen
			The ‘snake dream of the fanciful doctor’: antiquaries, archaeologists and the Beckhampton Avenue
			Survey and excavation on the Beckhampton Avenue and Longstones Cove, 1989–2003
				Geophysical survey and the Beckhampton Avenue and Longstones Cove
				Excavation
					Investigation Methodology
					Stone numbers
					Longstones Field south-west
				Detailed stone and stone-hole descriptions
			The eastern section of the Beckhampton Avenue: earlier observations and reconstruction
			Artefactual material
				Worked flint from the Longstones Cove and Beckhampton Avenue
				Worked flint from Avenue contexts
				Worked chalk
				Molluscan analysis
			Avebury Trusloe
				Geophysical survey
				Excavation results
				Discussion
			Observations and fieldwork on the area south-west of Longstones Field
			Survey and excavation in Long Barrow Field, 2002
				Geophysical survey in Long Barrow Field
				Excavation
			Surface collection and geophysical survey in Beckhampton Field, 2001
			Geophysical survey at Manor Farm, Avebury Trusloe, 2005
		Discussion
			The course of the Beckhampton Avenue
			Dating the Beckhampton Avenue
			The format and construction of the avenue and associated activities
			The relationship between the Longstones Enclosure and Beckhampton Avenue
			The Cove and avenue terminal
			The Cove and the Sanctuary: architectural references
3 Monumentality in the third millennium BC– the West Kennet Avenue andFalkner’s Circle
	3.1. The West Kennet Avenue
	Post-processional perspectives
	Excavations on the West Kennet Avenue, 2002 and 2003
		Excavation Results
			Test pit sampling
			Geology and buried soils
			Features
		Prehistoric pottery
			Worked flint
	Discussion
		Pre-avenue activity
		The logic of avenue construction
	3.2. The Falkner’s Circle
	The 2002 Excavations
		Geophysical survey
		Excavation methodology
		Results
		Prehistoric pottery
		Worked flint
	Discussion
		The circle as a hybrid construction
		The circle as a ‘conventional’ monument
4. Monumentality in the third millennium BC– the Avebury Cove
	Excavation results
		Trench 1 (Stone II)
			Prehistoric features
			Later features and deposits
		Trench 2 (Stone I)
			Prehistoric features
			Worked flint
		Radiocarbon dating
		Optically stimulated luminescence dating
	Discussion
	Constructing the Cove
	The structure and symbolism of the Cove
5. Landscape, environment and monumentality
	Wider context and chronology
	Schematic representations
	The Avebury landscape
		Geology, topography, hydrology and soil
		Palaeoenvironmental data sources
		Plant communities and their habitats
		Before the Neolithic (before c.4200BC)
		Mesolithic/Neolithic transition (c.4200–3700BC)
		Earlier Neolithic (c.3700–3400BC)
		Middle Neolithic (c.3400–3000BC)
		Later Neolithic (c.3000–2600BC)
		Final Neolithic (c.2600–2200BC)
		Early Bronze Age (c.2200–1600BC)
		Middle and later Bronze Age (c.1600–600BC)
	Monuments in their landscape
6. Monumentality in the 3rd millennium BC– Avebury and beyond
	The sequence and chronology of monuments in the later Neolithic of the Avebury region
	Avebury in context
		Wessex and its hinterland
			The Stonehenge Region
			Dorchester, Dorset
			Stanton Drew
			Discussion
		Beyond Wessex
			Etton/Maxey
			Dorchester-on-Thames
			Walton Basin
			Thornborough
			Ferrybridge
	Theme and diversity in later Neolithic ceremonial centres
	Monuments, cosmology, materiality and non-human agency
	Coda: a return to the Avebury landscape
7. Later Prehistoric, Roman and early Post-Roman activity in Longstones Field
	The later prehistoric ditch system
	Roman and early post-Roman activity at the Longstones Cove
		Metalwork
		Romano-British pottery
		Faunal remains
	Discussion
	Roman activity elsewhere in the region
8. Bounding the Avebury landscape
	The interior of Avebury
		The North-West Quadrant
		The South-West Quadrant
		The South-East Quadrant
		Avebury Summary
	The Beckhampton Avenue
	The West Kennet Avenue
	Ownership
	Stones and boundaries
9. Stone burial
	Early encounters with buried sarsens
	The excavations of Keiller
		West Kennet Avenue (Figure 9.3)
		North-West Quadrant (Figure 9.4)
		South-West Quadrant (Figure 9.4)
		South-East Quadrant (Figure 9.5)
	Excavations on the Beckhampton Avenue
	Excavations on the West Kennet Avenue
	Finds from the burial pits
		Medieval pottery
		Metalwork from the T1 burial pit
		Animal Bone
	The practices of stone-burial
		Digging the burial pit
		Toppling the stone
		Preparing the stone
		Manoeuvring stones into the pits and back-filling
		Summary: the practice of burying stones
	Dating the burials
		Stratigraphy: burials
		Stratigraphy: boundaries
		Stratigraphy: destruction pits
		Stratigraphy: structures
		Material culture
		Radiocarbon dating
		Summary of dating evidence
	The impact of stone burial
	Motivations
		Simple economics: burial for clearance
		Challenging the clearance hypothesis
		Burial: a religious dimension?
		Problems with superstition and religion
	Stone burial in the Avebury landscape
	Conclusions
10. Stone-breaking
	Destruction and depredation
		Ad hoc usage and the pragmatic breaking of stones
	Documentary evidence for deliberate stone breaking
		The Stukeley drawings
		A poetical assault
	Archaeological evidence for stone destruction
	The unpublished Keiller records
		North-West Quadrant
		South-West Quadrant
		South-East Quadrant
		The West Kennet Avenue
		Clay pipes from the Keiller excavations
	After Keiller
	Stone destruction at Millbarrow
	Excavations on the Beckhampton Avenue 1999–2003
	Excavations at the Falkner’s Circle, 2002
	Medieval and post-medieval artefacts from the Beckhampton Avenue and Falkner’s Circle
		Post-medieval pottery
			Glass
			Clay pipes
		Ironwork from settings L7–L16
		Animal Bone
Analysis of the destruction debris associated with Beckhampton Avenue setting L10
	Approaching stone destruction debris
	Quantifying the assemblage
	Fuelling Destruction
	Charcoal from the Beckhampton Avenue
	Charcoal from the Falkner’s Circle
After the destruction
The process of destruction
Variations in practice
	Approaches to burning upright stones
	Approaches to burning recumbent stones
	Direct fracture
	Dragging away
	Further complications
	What does this variation represent?
Dating the destructions
	Summary of dating evidence
Techniques revisited
Which stones were destroyed?
The pace of destruction
Who was breaking the stones and why?
	A religious dimension?
	Non-conformity in the latter half of the 17th century
	Acts of resistance?
	The everyday life of the village
	Dispute and persecution
	The danger of replacing one orthodoxy with another
	The five-mile boomtown
	Stone destruction and the parcelling up of the land
	Conclusion: one rationale and one motivation?
	The Stukeley factor
Conclusions: stone destruction in the Avebury landscape
Postscript: stone burning today
11. Burial and burning in context
	Introduction: seeking parallels
	Burial and burning: a capsule summary
	The Sarsen Stones Project
	‘Wrecking’ Stonehenge
	The Devil’s Quoits
	Burial, breaking and the Medway megaliths
	Stanton Drew
	Conclusions: a unique phenomenon?
12. Antiquarian encounters with the Beckhampton Avenue
	Thomas Twining’s account of the Beckhampton Avenue
	William Stukeley and the Beckhampton Avenue
	Summary of Stukeley’s observations on the Beckhampton Avenue
Appendix 1: Stukeley manuscripts relating to the Beckhampton Avenue held in the Bodleian Library. A summary list and transcription of notes
Appendix 2: The social and economic relationships between individuals named by Stukeley withi nearly 18th-century Avebury
Appendix 3: Concordance between the Avebury stone numbering schemes adopted by Keiller (unpublished excavation records) and Smith (1965)
Bibliography