The Neolithic World and the Astronomy of Avebury Stone Circle, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow, The Sanctury and Longstones Cove. Part 2.

The Neolithic World and the Astronomy of Avebury Stone Circle, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow, The Sanctury and Longstones Cove.

As we have seen in my previus post Neolithic Astronomy at Avebury Henge, Neolithic people were aware of the movements of the Sun, the passage of time via the Lunar calendar. However, they were also aware of the fixed way the stars and galactic centre rose, set, and circled both ends of the polar axis. Astronomy is arguably the first science and it’s not an exaggeration to say it has been an exact science for at least five thousand years. Avebury was built to last. However, the Sun Moon and planets and stars change their position of rising and setting over time. Our view of the greater heavens is not consistent over long periods. Due to the astronomical phenomenon of precession, the way the earth’s axis circles around the sky in a 26,000-year cycle, means the sky we see today looks the same in terms of where everything is placed, but in a different orientation to the horizon. Our current view of the night sky includes stars that were not visible to the builders of Avebury, but are to us, and vice versa. This change needs to be calculated to understand alignments between stones, mounds hills and other landscape features as they existed at the time of construction. Today we have sophisticated computer applications that can do exactly that, transporting us back to the Neolithic skyscapes lost to us otherwise.  We need to understand that the sky at Avebury has changed, and that is VERY important. The construction at Avebury was a mirror of that view of the cosmos.

Nicholas R. Mann is an internationally respected speaker and author who has spent a lifetime exploring the wisdom of ancient peoples. He read history and anthropology at University College London. His highly recommended book Avebury Cosmos: The Neolithic World of Avebury Henge, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow, The Sanctury and Longstones Cove, lays out an intriguing theory of how Avebury was not an observatory in the modern sense, but an embodiment of the cosmic whole planted on the landscape. The proceeding commentary is based on his work.

Nicholas Mann describes this monumental construction at Avebury as:

“…on such a scale that it seems their goal was to incorporate the spirit of everything into the fabric of the monument. The Neolithic people wanted Avebury to be a mirror of the cosmos, a place that honoured, told and retold all its stories…this place was a powerful expression of their identity, and their relationship with the surrounding forces of nature and the cosmos.”

The rising, passage, apogee and settings of stars and constellations would also be observed and structured the Neolithic year, indicating the time for preparation, sowing, planting and harvesting, as well as associated festivals and ritual practices. Previously in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, the Moon and stars would have spoken of a time for migration and good hunting, movement and itinerant settlement. Palaeolithic evidence from marks on bone show the Moon was used as a calendar long before the Mesolithic even. People of the Neolithic were entirely familiar with these celestial rhythms measuring the passage of time. Phenomena such as the Winter Full Moon rising at the same position as the Midsummer Sun would be well understood. There is much evidence that they were also tracking the 18.6-year cycle of the extreme positions of the Moon at the major and minor standstills.

The major and Minor Lunar Standstills are rare astronomical events that occur approximately every 18.6 years when the Moon's orbit reaches its maximum and minimum tilt relative to the Earth’s equator. During these periods, the Moon rises and sets at its most extreme and minimum northern and southern points on the horizon. These are built into many monuments sightlines and mark an especially spectacular phenomena at Callanish I, a stone circle in northern Scotland that will be the subject of a later post.

Archeologists Robin Heath and Gerald Hawkins have noted that the Neolithic people also understood the cycle of Lunar eclipses and could predict them. (see my Stonehenge blog). The Neolithic founders of Stonehenge and Avebury observed the Sun and Moon move across the sky, but they also watched in wonder the visible planets that roam across the heavens made up of the fixed stars, constellations and Milky Way. They would know that stars would rise predictably at the same time of year in the same place on the horizon providing a reliable measure of the annual cycle and its seasons. The fixed stars also offered a reliable backdrop to measure the movements of Sun, Moon and planets. This led to the idea of “houses” at different times in the year when the Sun Moon or planets occupy a section of sky. This developed into astrology, the oldest evidence being from 2700 BCE in the temple of Nisba in Eres, Sumeria. Star and constellation identification is much older. Ursa Major’s association with a bear is at least 14,000 years old. The Egyptians noted the rising of Sirius as the start of the Nile flood - so important to their agriculture that it was the start of their new year.

The Avebury founders would probably not have divided the celestial elliptic into the familiar 12 Greek Zodiac houses, but according to Nicholas Mann, it is very likely they used the Milky Way to divide the night sky. At that time the Milky Way was not rising at the same angle to the horizon that is today. It would start at an angle pointing up but as it rose it would flatten out to encompass the horizon. It would have created a 360-degree panorama, encircling the skyline in all directions. At the time of the founders at Windmill Hill, and for a thousand years after, the Neolithic people would have seen our galaxy of densely packed stars in the round, intersecting with the movements of the Sun, Moon, planets and embedded stars at distinct places within it. It must have been an awe-inspiring sight. The landscape features that also intersected with these risings, transitions and settings when viewed from certain points would also have taken on special meanings.

 Here are some of the keys to unlocking the mysteries of ancient sites and their placement.

Avebury, Temple of the Stars, Mirror of the Sky.

The first thing to note about Avebury is that looking from the founder site of Windmill Hill towards the south-east, there is a hill on the ridge that marks the rising of the mid-Winter Solstice Sun. This alignment goes straight through the saddle of land that was to become Avebury, it is also the line indicating the rising of the Summer Full Moon. Avebury is also precisely located on an interesting latitude, another "coincidence" that suggests an understanding of latitude, longitude and surveying across vast distances (this needs a post on its own, watch this space). Also, looking towards the southern horizon on a line from Windmill Hill to the West Kennet Long Barrow, (and close to the later Silbury Hill), it carries on over a ridge to another ancient causeway enclosure, Knapp Hill.  Interestingly, around 4000 BCE the constellation of the Southern Cross was rising over West Kennet Barrow, followed by our nearest and second brightest star, Alpha Centauri. Both are embedded within the Milky Way. As the Southern Cross reached its zenith, Alpha Centauri rose and the Milky Way levelled horizontally, becoming visible around the entire horizon. This event lasted for 1000 years. 4000-3000 BC. The era of Windmill Hill and West Kennet Long Barrow. Interestingly, West Kennet Long Barrow was ceremonially closed around 2500 BC, at a time when the phenomena described above was no longer rising above the barrow. Another significant solar alignment occurs at West Kennet Long Barrow. The entrance is facing East and the mid-Winter Sunrise that would have illuminated the interior before its ritual blocking.  When looking from West Kennet towards Silbury, it marks the mid-Winter Sunset.

As already discussed in part 1, it is very probable that the first megaliths set in place before the ditch, bank, henge or other stones were placed were the Obelisk and The Cove stones. The Obelisk is placed upon the site of at least one earlier Neolithic “founder” building. The archaeology shows the remains of an older house beneath, and this probable founding building was where the builders decided to place the tallest stone at Avebury. The same stone that Professor Meaden describes as a fertility symbol. As neolithic houses came in pairs or groups, it is speculated that there could be another under The Cove in the northern circle. Archaeologists have not looked yet. These two early sites form an alignment or main axis. This axis is also supported by 12 of the 18 megaliths that are considered primary to the site. What were they marking? Looking south along this line from the southern circle the stones ahead frame Waden Hill. This main axis aligns with the bottom of the hill where it starts to rise. At this point at the time Avebury was built the stars of the Southern Cross (that points to the south pole) and Alpha Centauri both rose at mid-Winter. By 2.30 AM The top three stars of the Southern Cross would be visible as a triangle above the top of the hill. 500 years earlier the whole of the Southern Cross would be visible. At this point of the Southern Cross’s apogee, Alpa Centauri appears at the bottom of Waden Hill, marking the Milky Way reaching its 360-degree horizontal position. Looking at the white chalk bank of the encircling henge beyond the framing stones, the milk white bank of the henge mirrors the Milky Way encircling the monument, as the Milky Way encircles the horizon. The embankment is in unison with the event. Archaeologists are still puzzled by why the bank is outside the ditch as this means it is not defensive, but containing. It’s meant to be seen from inside. Mann’s theory explains that Avebury is a mirror of the cosmos, surrounded by a milky bank. Its main alignment is looking at key stars to the south. To the north the opposite celestial pole marker to the Southern Cross is the constellation of Cygnus, also on this alignment. There are myths and legends that attach to both these constellations.

Moving to the southern internal circle and looking from the Obelisk towards a large stone in the southwest, you can see the top of Silbury Hill. The only place you can see the hill from inside Avebury. This marks the exact point where the triangle of stars set - and they frame the top of Silbury, indeed if the flattening of the Hill was a later addition in the Roman or Saxon period as some believe, Silbury’s profile would exactly match, and be framed by the setting of the Southern Cross. This could be a reason for the siting and building of Silbury Hill to mark this event as seen from the earlier laying out of the greater monument.

Beckhampton Cove

At the end of the lost, (but now re-found) Beckhampton Avenue, stand two large megaliths: the Adam and Eve stones. Eve is the only surviving stone from the Avenue. Archaeology has shown that Adam was a part of another Cove. This Cove frames the Winter Solstice Sunrise and Lunar Major and Minor Standstills. However, right in the centre of the alignment is the rising of the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. This alignment also goes on to the site of Silbury Hill. Again, there is a link with the Sun, Moon and Stars at Avebury and its associated landscape. A truly monumental organisation of Stone, Earth and Sky.

As we have seen, although the academic experts  such as professor Clive Ruggles and Aubery Burl see very little evidence of precise alignments at Avebury, the work of Terrance Meaden and Nicholas Mann using broader criteria that include the anthropological aspects of stargazing show a sophisticated astronomical knowledge of the builders of Avebury and suggest that the site was designed with careful consideration of solar and Lunar cycles as well as the polar orientations and the rising and setting of stars and the Milky Way. Their work proposes that Avebury was not just a physical structure connected to religion and burial, but also a spiritual and astronomical tool, deeply connected to the movements of the heavens and spectacular alignments and sitings. They were as fascinated and motivated by the meanings and lessons therein hidden, within the grand cosmic display of the heavens as we still are today.

Avebury’s stone circle and the surrounding Neolithic monuments are remarkable for their size, complexity, and the clear evidence of astronomical alignments. These alignments demonstrate that the builders had a sophisticated knowledge of the heavens, integrating this knowledge into their sacred spaces in a way that linked the earthly with the cosmic. The site stands as a testament to the importance of celestial events in Neolithic society and remains a profound mystery that continues to inspire awe and wonder.

Alexander Peach August 2024