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| Stone Formation Archive 1984 |
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 Stone Formations news, views, gallery and archive brought to you by Weird Wiltshire Introduction Latest News News Archive Stonehenge Stonehenge Project Stonehenge 360 Avebury Saviours Stones Village Solstice Wayland Smithy Long Barrow Woodhenge Gallery Summer Solstice Gallery 2002 Summer Solstice Gallery 2004 Postcards Wallpaper Links  |
First
published on July 5, 1984 IT could hardly be more appropriate, the couple behind a new restaurant at Avebury are both archaeologists. And the main course every day is called the megalith, after the huge stones which form the Avebury circle. Hilary Howard actually runs the restaurant, which is called Stones, with the backing of her husband, Michael Pitts, who is the curator of the nearby Alexander Keiller Museum. The restaurant specialises in fresh food, with nothing coming out of cans, and no frozen food. Hilary devises all the recipes and the menu features no meat dishes. Nevertheless there is an appetising range of quiches, salads and nutbakes. Stones is next to the Great Barn Museum of Rural Life and, like the museum, will open only during the tourist season. The close season will give Hilary the opportunity to pursue her work as a leading ceramic petrologist, she examines pottery under a microscope to identify the minerals it contains and trace where it came from. Hilary is also planning to write a biography on Alexander Keiller, the man responsible for the excavation and restoration of the stone circle in the 1970's. Michael Pitt has been involved with one or two minor excavations around the stone circle and the sanctuary, and he is planning to solve one of the monument's greatest secrets, its age. Although other archaeologists have calculated that the monument was built between 3,500 and 4,000 years ago, Michael is hoping to provide an accurate date, to within a century, by using modern technology. He has taken samples from the earth banks at Avebury and sent them to the Atomic Research Establishment at Harwell for radio-carbon dating. Back to 1984 index |
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