43533
Walking down West Kennet Avenue a line of originally of around 100 pairs of prehistoric standing stones, raised to form a winding 1 1/2 mile ritual link between the pre-existing monuments of Avebury and The Sanctuary. As well as marking the route to Avebury, the stones seem to have acted as grave markers for some members of the Avebury community. South of Avebury, in Wiltshire.
In the 1930s Alexander Keiller, heir to the Keiller marmalade fortune, excavated four graves, all belonging to the Beaker period (about 2500–1800 BC); three contained a single person, but the fourth had the remains of three. These were particularly important people or, possibly, they were buried as sacrificial offerings in some form of ancestor worship. Elsewhere along the Avenue, excavations revealed scatters of human bone, presumably also from burials.
Many of the stones had already disappeared by the time the first record of the Avenue was made, by John Aubrey, in the 17th century. William Stukeley, in the following century, left an account of the massive destruction of the standing stone monuments of Avebury. They were being torn down and broken into fragments for building material.
Alexander Keiller was able to demonstrate that the practice of burying the stones had happened since the Middle Ages when they were possibly associated with pagan worship and considered the work of the devil. Stukeley recorded a similar avenue on the Beckhampton side of the Avebury henge but little of this remains today.
West Kennet Avenue is in the freehold ownership of The National Trust and in English Heritage guardianship. It is managed by The National Trust on behalf of English Heritage, and the two organisations share the cost of managing and maintaining the property.
Information Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennet_Avenue
43533
Walking down West Kennet Avenue a line of originally of around 100 pairs of prehistoric standing stones, raised to form a winding 1 1/2 mile ritual link between the pre-existing monuments of Avebury and The Sanctuary. As well as marking the route to Avebury, the stones seem to have acted as grave markers for some members of the Avebury community. South of Avebury, in Wiltshire.
In the 1930s Alexander Keiller, heir to the Keiller marmalade fortune, excavated four graves, all belonging to the Beaker period (about 2500–1800 BC); three contained a single person, but the fourth had the remains of three. These were particularly important people or, possibly, they were buried as sacrificial offerings in some form of ancestor worship. Elsewhere along the Avenue, excavations revealed scatters of human bone, presumably also from burials.
Many of the stones had already disappeared by the time the first record of the Avenue was made, by John Aubrey, in the 17th century. William Stukeley, in the following century, left an account of the massive destruction of the standing stone monuments of Avebury. They were being torn down and broken into fragments for building material.
Alexander Keiller was able to demonstrate that the practice of burying the stones had happened since the Middle Ages when they were possibly associated with pagan worship and considered the work of the devil. Stukeley recorded a similar avenue on the Beckhampton side of the Avebury henge but little of this remains today.
West Kennet Avenue is in the freehold ownership of The National Trust and in English Heritage guardianship. It is managed by The National Trust on behalf of English Heritage, and the two organisations share the cost of managing and maintaining the property.
Information Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennet_Avenue