Silbury Hill
August 8, 2010 by feathersandgracie
First stop Avebury, Wiltshire. But we missed the turning off the A4 and before we could find a roundabout or a place to do a U-turn, we realised that we were approaching Silbury Hill, one of the attractions in this part of Wiltshire.
Silbury Hill is the largest prehistoric manmade mound in Europe. Standing at 40m high, and having read about it before leaving home on our trip, we recognised it easily as we approached on the main road. But it was only after having parked the car to get down to have a closer look that we could really believe that this huge mound covers an area of five and a half acres.
Turf from within the mound was excavated and dated to around 2780 B.C., the Neolithic period. It is all the more impressive knowing that the people who made it used nothing more than primitive tools. Nobody knows why it was contructed. The common thought is that it was to be used as a burial mound; however no remains have been found within. So perhaps it was built for ritualistic purposes?
A perfect conical shape with a slightly flattened top, the grazing goats on the side added the picturesque touch.
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