Caroline Malone

I bought this book over thirty years ago and have only now got around to reading it, and although it may not now be up-to-date, it is still very interesting and informative. Although written in a slightly academic style, it is very readable and extremely well illustrated (120 photos and illustrations), with no doubt plenty of artistic license to create imagined scenes of Neolithic life, but as long as you accept it as such, it provides an appropriate “atmosphere”.
The first three chapters show more provide a brief overview of the look at the ancient Avebury landscape, including surrounding sites and a good description of the development of the physical environment. Individual chapters then describe the monuments in a chronological fashion, including brief accounts of their archaeological recovery, which is fascinating. These include archaeological chapters on Windmill Hill, the Long Barrows, the Sanctuary, Silbury Hill and the Henge itself. The final chapter recounts the later history and excavation of the main henge and includes really interesting photos of the early twentieth century excavations, which show the incredible depth of the ditch that can now only be experienced on a short section of the monument. I also hadn’t appreciated that many of the stones had been deliberately buried in medieval times and only excavated in the early twentieth century.
I am in awe of the foresight and generosity of Alexander Keiller in buying the site in 1934 and giving it to the National Trust in the early 1940’s. show less