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| Silbury
Archive 2001 |
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 Silbury Hill news, views and archive brought to you by Weird Wiltshire Introduction Latest News News Archive Excavations The Hole Beaker People What is it for? What Next? Postcards Forum Wallpaper Links 
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First published on February 15, 2001 THE ENIGMA of Silbury Hill, locked away for more than 5,000 years, could finally be revealed by a survey using the latest technology. The world famous monument is in grave danger of serious destabilisation following the caving in of the entrance to a deep mine shaft last May, and now a state of the art seismic survey is to be commissioned. The shaft, dug by the Duke of Northumberland 225 years ago, has deteriorated following months of wet weather, causing serious concern. There are now fears there could be further serious movement within the hill and any attempts to backfill could only make the problem worse. English Heritage has commissioned the high tech survey as a matter of urgency and work could begin in the next few weeks. The high powered computer process was only developed a year ago and has never been used on such a large archaelogical site. An English Heritage spokeswoman said the sonic waves would produce a detailed computerised image of the inside of the hill. "It will really be a remarkable image which will tell us not only about other shafts, some of which we may not have records of, but perhaps it might give us more clues of the archeological purpose of the site. For centuries Silbury has been something of an enigma and we hope this information may help us to unravel some of its mystery." She added: "We have commissioned the survey because we need to find the most appropriate solution to both filling in this deep shaft and stabilising the hill. We do not know what the effects of pumping material into the hill with tubes would be. It could be that even the simplest of backfilling could cause further problems," she said. The results of the computer imaging will be made public. Once the survey has been completed a decision will be taken on how backfilling will be achieved. There could be logistical difficulties in bringing materials up the steep sides and English Heritage has not ruled out using a helicopter. The hill was originally leased by the National Trust which runs the rest of the Avebury site, but the cost of work meant the responsibility for Silbury has now been taken back by English Heritage. The spokeswoman said the cost of the operation was not being made public. "It will obviously be a very expensive project but we cannot take the risk of simply backfilling without knowing what the consequences would be." Back to 2001 index |
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