Posted on 02/02/2010 8:46:49 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Letters that lay undiscovered in national archives for more than 230 years suggest that Silbury Hill, the enigmatic man-made mound that stands between Marlborough and Beckhampton, may have originally be constructed around some sort of totem pole... A separate excavation found fragments of oak timber within the cavity leading historians to believe that the mound was built around the pole dating from around 2,400 BC... The 18th century letters, written from Edward Drax to Lord Rivers... Drax, a wealthy landowner who lived in Bath, had hired a team of miners to dig a shaft from the top of Silbury Hill, to the centre of the hill, 125 feet below. To begin with the miners found little but chalk and pieces of deer antler, but 95 feet down -- some 30 feet above where they expected the base of the mound to be -- they stumbled upon a deep, narrow cavity. The hole was six inches across but Drax noted: "We have already followed it already about 20 feet, we can plumb it about eleven feet more."
(Excerpt) Read more at gazetteandherald.co.uk ...
|
|
|||
Gods |
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
Festivus pole?
must be a progenitor of Hugo Drax, huh?
It’s as good as the explanation in the article. :’)
The hole was six inches across but Drax noted: “We have already followed it already about 20 feet, we can plumb it about eleven feet more.”
In his letter he wrote that “something now perished must have remained in this hole to keep it open”.
Must have been a six inch diameter 31 foot long snake that perished there—but how long did it live there to keep the hole open? Ah that’s the question.
Or maybe why this theory was lost.
...and sometimes...a hill is just a hill.
Son, he said, grab your things, I’ve come to take you home...
Why in the world would they build a mound around a totem pole?
Maybe it was the ugliest totem pole, ever. Looked like Helen Thomas.
“Maybe it was the ugliest totem pole, ever. Looked like Helen Thomas.”
Lol. Man, that WOULD be a scary one (..)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.