"Avebury" Avebury by leafmcgowan

A village and civil parish located in Wiltshire and is the home of the world famous Avebury stone circle. It's population is about 486 based on a 2002 census. It of course prospers from the tourism that is brought in from its monuments and history.

Located near Avebury is also the monumental "Silbury Hill". This is the largest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. A gigantic 40 metre high grass-covered chalk dome, with a base diameter of 160 metres. Scholars estimate that moving the half million tons of chalk to construct the hill took 4 million man hours over 50 years. It is believed that Silbury Hill was probably a sacred mound dedicated to the Mother Earth religion. Today, climbing the mound is not permitted though photography is permitted. The hill is believed to have been created about 4,600 years ago. Chalk is the main construction material. The original deduction that it was a burial mound has been disproven as there have been no bodies found at Silbury.

There is of course Avebury, the large henge and several stone circles as well as a village. Avebury was the location of the second-largest open-air temple in prehistoric Britain, and was probably built some time between 2500-2000 BCE (Before the Common Era). There is a humungous ditch that was built around the temple: consisting of over 100 standing stones that were placed just inside this, enclosing an area of about 10 hectares. There are also two smaller circles of stones that were built inside - parts of which can still be seen today. There would have been several hundred stones in total in the original structure, but most of these were broken up in the Middle Ages or later: the stones which can be seen today were discovered and re-erected in the 1930s. Avebury is one of the finest and largest Neolithic monuments in Europe and is considered by many scholars to be 5,000 years old. Avebury is older than the megalithic monument that is so popular and called Stonehenge which is about 32 km or 20 miles to the south.