Silbury Hill Late Neolithic artificial mound, Avebury, Wiltshire, UK, looking W over the course of the Winterbourne stream. A World Heritage Site.
Silbury Hill Late Neolithic artificial mound, Avebury, UK, looking W over the course of the Winterbourne stream. The largest prehistoric artificial mound in Europe: c 37m (120ft) high & 500m (1,640ft) in diameter, roughly comparible in age & size with the pyramids of Egypt. Estimated to contain 350,000 cubic metres of chalk requiring over 18 million man-hours to complete. Built in stages over some 100 years starting around with a small gravel mound placed on regularly grazed mature chalk grassland. Three separate tunnels have been dug to the centre of the mound but no burial has been located. Situated near the source of the River Kennet the mound is strongly associated with springs, water & seasonal flooding, & clearly played an important part in the prehistoric sacred landscape created around Avebury. Suggested uses include seasonal rituals, a fertility mound, a 'harvest hill', a 'goddess mound' & a depiction of a pregnant fertility goddess surrounded at times by 'sacred waters' in the ditch & ditch extension. It is in the care of English Heritage, part of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site & a Site of Special Scientific Interest: there is no visitor access to the mound.
Size: 5617px × 4367px
Location: Silbury Hill, West Kennet, Avebury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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