Avebury - Wiltshire

I cannot possibly cover the whole of the Avebury site with my limited experience and space!
There are three pages devoted to this trip - THIS PAGE, AVEBURY2 and AVEBURY3.
However, I can show some photographs of the Stones Mailing List trip to Avebury (very well organised by Andy Burnham) on 7th August 1999. If you have RealPlayer, you can hear the first part of Terry Meaden's commentary (prepared by Andy) here.

The BBC has a recent news story on the faces of the stones.

Terry Meaden's Head Stones

For me, this really was the most interesting revelation about the Avebury stones. I cannot say for sure that these human features have not been enhanced since Neolithic times but the number and variety of features do convince me that these were a deliberate action on the part of the builders and/or users. As Terry pointed out, it takes a great deal of effort to make any impression on these sarsen stones, so this isn't a matter of some Iron-Age kids' vandalism of stone age monuments (these stones are BIG).
So what about erosion, then? Well, water erosion tends to make vertical marks in soft stone. This is very tough stone, and no clear pattern of erosion from 4000 years of vertical standing was visible. Some would disagree with me on that point, but I would respond by saying that erosion of exposed portions of the rock since the time of the ice age could be a better explanation for some of the erosion features.
As Terry pointed out, the human features all show signs of mechanical working, either with hammer dents or with horizontal marks that cannot be anything else. Altogether, Terry has found 50 heads facing left and 9 facing right inside Avebury henge. Several other stones display certain signs of true carving. Furthermore, there are good heads inside West Kennet Long Barrow, for which there is no question of any weathering having affected the stones. They must have been carved.

You can buy Terry Meaden's new book on The Secrets Of The Stones for less than the RRP by following these links to amazon.co.uk or amazon.com.
SW face of Great Cove Stone

The Great Cove Stone

This is the first of the stones that the group visited, the Great Cove Stone. A head is caught in relief (facing left, below Terry's hand) by the Sun at about 11am, and faces the midwinter sunset. Terry says there are other heads on this stone which face midsummer sunrise, midsummer sunset and midwinter sunrise, and all four heads can only be seen facing left, which fits Terry's theory that this stone is feminine.

This photo has been enhanced by digitally smudging out the railings in the sky portion - the rest of the photo is not retouched.
Stone 206 profile

Stone 206

This is the second Head, on Stone 206, which is part of the stone circle that surrounds the Cove. It faces right, and righthandedness implies masculinity on the basis of Terry's theory. The "mouth" in particular has to have been mechanically worked, as it is in a different direction to faults in the rock. In this photgraph, the head does appear to be wearing a "monacle", but this is a modern interpretation of a feature which is actually a prominent eyeball, and looks much more like an eyball later in the morning. These stones were likely to have been decorated during use, making the desired features more apparent.

This photo ©Terry Meaden 7Aug1999. (Sorry about the bad colour balance - I had to make a compromise between a grey Gail Higginbottom and a pink sky.)
Stone 206

Terry adds (22/08/99):"Today I was at Avebury with another group. Amazingly when we got to Stone 206 the sun was lighting up the stone so well that one observer noticed that this right-facing head has a horn above the head's forehead! This strengthens further the link between right-facing heads and masculinity".

This second picture of Stone 206 does show this feature, which reinforces the notion that all you have to do is look. The (phallic) "horn" is clearly visible, starting from the highest point at the front of the head. It is at this point that the sculpting of the rock for this feature is also most obvious. The horn continues down the face as a streak, which may be a result of weathering of the hammer-sculpting.

On further inspection of the photograph, I have come to the conclusion that this face also has a goatee-like beard. When so much of the head has been sculpted, I can only assume that the protrusion under the chin is deliberate. The horn may also form part of a more elaborate head-piece, but I think that closer inspection should be the judge of that.

This photo, taken at about 10:30hrs, and has not been retouched.

Stone 98

Terry writes that there is "a superb head, top-left, visible at 6.30 pm". The similarity between this head and the one on the Cove Stone is remarkable, despite the huge difference in scale.
This rock is classed as female because the head can only be seen facing left, and the stone itself is lozenge shaped and relatively short and squat.

This photo ©Terry Meaden 7Aug1999.

 Stone 98

Stone V

This smaller stone is one of the z-stones of the South Stone circle. It is another female stone, again short and squat, with a head seen facing left. In the background, it is possible to see the Red Lion pub and the church (which is outside the henge).

This photo ©Terry Meaden 7Aug1999.

 Stone V

Navigation: THIS PAGE, AVEBURY2 and AVEBURY3.