Silbury Hill
Amid the gently sloping
chalk escarpments of the Marlborough Downs, stands a strange sight. Incongruous
with the rest of the landscape, stands Silbury Hill.
 A short
walk from the village of Avebury where the ancient stones stand tall, the
man-made mound maintains its own counsel about why it is there.
Silbury Hill is thought to have been built around 2500BC, making it the tallest
prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. It is also one of the largest such mounds
in the world. On a base covering over two hectares (five acres), it rises
39.6m (130ft) high.
Archaeologists calculate that Silbury Hill was built about 4600 years ago
and that it took 18 million man-hours to dump and shape 248,000 cubic metres
(8.75 million cu ft) of earth on top of a natural hill.
Every man, woman and child in Britain today could together build such a mound
if they each contributed one bucketful of earth. It is a display of incredible
technical skill and perseverance over labour and resources.
Whoever it was that completed this mammoth task, must have persevered through
hardship to construct this incredible sight. Perhaps they believed that it
would bring prosperity, or good luck, or some kind of benefit to their community.
But who was it and what is it for?
www.weirdwiltshire.co.uk
|
|
Search
Thousands of Jobs,
Homes & Cars from the Gazette and Herald
| Powered by |
|
|
|
| | | | | Weather | Today's outlook and your five-day forecast
|
| | | Eating out | Read our reviews of restaurants across the region
|
| | | | |
