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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 Wallpaper Links  |
The hill has been excavated several times but no traces of burial have been found. The first excavation was during 1776 when the Duke of Northumberland hired a number of Cornish miners to bore a hole from the top down through the centre of the mound. In 1849, a side tunnel was dug from near the bottom to the centre of the mound. But again, nothing was found that would suggest what the hill was intended for - although some information was gathered about the structure of the mound. The last excavation was during 1968-70 was led by Professor Richard Atckinson who also bored into the side of the hill, for a BBC TV programme. It is thought that Silbury Hill was intended as a burial mound, but nothing has ever been found on or in Silbury Hill that would confirm this. In the centre of this enormous man-made creation there is only clay, flints, turf, moss, topsoil, gravel, freshwater shells, mistletoe, oak, hazel, sarsen stones, ox bones, and antler tines. The base of the monument is 167m (550ft) in diameter and it is perfectly round. Its summit is flat-topped and 30m (100ft) wide. We know that the construction took two phases: soon after work was started, a re-design was ordered, and the mound enlarged. It is constructed in steps, each step being filled in with packed chalk, and then smoothed off. |
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