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| Avebury - The Stones |
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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  |
The erection of the stones was an unenviable task. Leather ropes strapped around huge boulders were used to haul the stones onto wooden rollers on which they could be dragged to their destination. Once on site, a shallow hole was excavated and stakes were set into the chalk to steady the stone when it was raised into position. Other stakes would have been driven into the ground to help guide the stone into its correct upright position. Once the stone was raised and held in place by wooden props and ropes, packing material such as chalk blocks and smaller sarsen stones were used to keep it secure. THE SWINDON STONE The largest stone in the Avebury complex, the Swindon Stone, was found in the badly desecrated North West sector, which was excavated and restored by Alexander Keiller in the 1930s. When it was being placed, great care was taken to ensure the centre of gravity was directly over the hole. As you can see from the picture, all 65 tonnes have been balanced on a small corner of the stone for 4500 years. THE BARBER STONE Many of the stones were destroyed due to the need for building materials, plus a fear of the other-worldliness which they seemed to represent. Many were broken up or buried and concrete plinths now stand in their place. Underneath one of the buried stones, a body, believed to have been that of a barber-surgeon or tailor, was found. Keiller believed the man was accidentally buried during village stone-felling activities, and the monolith was henceforth known as the Barber Surgeon Stone. With the skeleton, they found the remains of a leather purse, some scissors, a probe and some coins. |
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