Avebury Henge - the history books are wrong [18:07]

[link set to start at the 3 minute mark]

Transcript
0:04 · foreign
0:34 · [Music]
0:55 · [Music]
1:02 · thank you
1:08 · the weather is so unpredictable
1:12 · I left the house and it was Blue Skies
1:15 · now it's rain and wind
1:19 · so today we are going to eighth Brewery
1:23 · Avery is the largest stone circle
1:28 · in the world
1:32 · approximately 100 Stones were
1:36 · brought here to build a stone circle
1:41 · about 5 000 years ago
1:46 · not many of them
1:48 · uh exist today and they've all been
1:51 · carted off
1:53 · and repurposed
1:56 · over the centuries
2:01 · as you can see I'm driving through Avery
2:04 · now
2:05 · through the center of the stone circle
2:16 · this weather this grim
2:23 · brighter over there
2:26 · pretty much twice now
2:29 · and is it coming our way
2:34 · right let's park her up and give it a
2:38 · give it a go
· Time Index Set to Here
3:00 · the area around Avery in Wiltshire
3:03 · contains an extraordinary cluster of
3:05 · monuments dating to the Mesolithic
3:08 · Neolithic and Bronze Age
3:12 · this video focuses on Avery henge and
3:15 · its Stone circles probably the most
3:17 · well-known prehistoric monument second
3:19 · to Stonehenge in Britain
3:22 · within one and a half miles of Avery are
3:25 · many other prehistoric sites that were
3:27 · built around the same time and therefore
3:29 · no doubt share a connection to Avery
3:32 · these sites include
3:34 · windmill Hill built over 6 000 years ago
3:38 · much older than they've rehenge and
3:40 · towards the end of the Mesolithic age
3:43 · Adam and Eve Stones all that is
3:46 · remaining of the ancient beckhampton
3:49 · Avenue
3:51 · longstones long barrel built around four
3:54 · and a half thousand years ago
3:57 · silbury Hill the largest man-made
3:59 · mountain in Europe built around four and
4:02 · a half thousand years ago
4:05 · West Kenneth long barrel built
4:08 · 5650 years ago
4:13 · East kennet longborough which is yet to
4:17 · be excavated
4:21 · the sanctuary built around 4 500 years
4:25 · ago
4:27 · West Kennett Avenue wants a one and a
4:30 · half mile route lined with 100 pairs of
4:32 · stones connecting Avery and The
4:35 · Sanctuary
4:38 · it would be remiss of me not to give a
4:40 · mention to Valley of stones the site
4:43 · where the Assassin stones used to build
4:45 · Avery came from
4:47 · the sites in and around Avery were a
4:50 · significant place for prehistoric people
4:52 · who gathered here to build monuments
4:55 · made of Earth Timber and stone for over
4:57 · 2 000 years
5:00 · today this unique landscape forms part
5:03 · of the UNESCO Stonehenge and Avery world
5:06 · heritage site reflecting its
5:09 · International importance
5:12 · so I am approaching Avery at the moment
5:16 · the largest stone circle in the world
5:24 · before me is the
5:26 · Western most
5:28 · outer ditch
5:31 · this uh
5:34 · Neolithic
5:36 · Earthworks were created approximately
5:39 · four and a half thousand years ago its
5:41 · purpose
5:42 · is still unclear although
5:47 · many people
5:49 · generically stamp it as being
5:52 · for ceremonial purposes potentially
5:55 · religious
5:57 · uh that could be true
6:00 · but
6:01 · much like my five field video recently
6:05 · published
6:06 · they keep forgetting
6:09 · that much of this was underwater
6:13 · in fact I would be
6:15 · underwater right now four and a half
6:18 · thousand years ago
6:34 · [Music]
6:41 · [Music]
6:50 · [Music]
7:10 · thank you
7:14 · [Music]
7:27 · this is the start of the
7:31 · the well-known outer Stone Circle
7:36 · comprised originally from
7:39 · 100 sarson stones
7:42 · sourced from
7:44 · the valley of stones
7:46 · in five field
7:47 · a couple of miles to the east
7:50 · some of these weighed up to 30 tons in
7:53 · weight
7:56 · many have disappeared
8:00 · these ones
8:03 · which I've disappeared have been
8:04 · identified
8:06 · as these concrete bollards here
8:10 · to show the original location
8:12 · interestingly though many of the stones
8:15 · have been buried and no one knows why
8:19 · although there was a some evidence found
8:22 · of one of the buried Stones it had a uh
8:25 · a skeleton buried with it some 700 years
8:29 · ago so I'm not sure what they were up to
8:33 · oh
8:43 · so most folk know uh Avery for its uh
8:47 · large Stone Circle
8:49 · well what's left of it
8:52 · the largest in the world
8:56 · but larger still is the set of worth
8:59 · Works surrounding it
9:04 · there's one giant circular ditch
9:08 · and the Earth which was cut out of that
9:10 · ditch was placed on the outer Bank
9:14 · now this is significant because
9:16 · immediately because they placed it on
9:19 · the outer Bank we know
9:20 · it's not defensive as all uh
9:24 · defensive Earthworks they cut and then
9:27 · fill
9:28 · the inner Bank
9:33 · so why was that then
9:37 · and the ditch that we see today even
9:39 · though it's still vast
9:42 · uh
9:44 · it's roughly three meters deep in places
9:48 · that's actually only a third of what it
9:50 · was
9:52 · there have been some excavations and
9:55 · uh it's been proved that the ditch did
9:59 · go down to nine meters originally
10:02 · but of course over time
10:06 · uh the the bank and the sides have
10:10 · collapsed and eroded
10:13 · filling in the ditch
10:17 · you know four and a half thousand years
10:18 · is a long time
10:20 · but why make a ditch
10:23 · nine meters deep
10:27 · for ceremonial purposes
10:41 · Avery Stonehenge or Stone Circle as it's
10:44 · also called
10:45 · it's best seen from the air but because
10:48 · of the size of it
10:50 · a drone
10:52 · won't be able to capture it
10:54 · in full View
10:57 · from directly above
10:59 · because of the 120 meter maximum
11:03 · altitude restriction or 400 feet
11:07 · foreign
11:09 · but that's where lidar can come in and
11:12 · help us
11:13 · [Music]
11:47 · [Music]
11:55 · [Music]
12:01 · now
12:04 · the kennet comes
12:07 · all the way down here
12:09 · today runs through the village of Avery
12:15 · and then
12:16 · further south
12:19 · but
12:21 · four and a half thousand years ago
12:24 · that Kenneth River
12:26 · would have been approximately 25 meters
12:31 · deeper than it is today
12:33 · it would also been
12:35 · about a hundred times wider than it is
12:38 · today
12:43 · a good chunk of that land as far as the
12:45 · eye can see
12:47 · West
12:49 · of this outer ditch
12:51 · would have been underwater
12:53 · [Music]
12:55 · right
13:03 · [Applause]
13:05 · [Music]
13:23 · this Stitch contrary to what the history
13:26 · books say
13:28 · abruptly stops in the middle there
13:33 · there's about
13:36 · a eight to ten meter section
13:40 · where the ditch
13:41 · starts and stops
13:45 · I have almost like a giant letter c
13:49 · so there was an opening to the ditch on
13:51 · that side
13:53 · and according to geological uh
13:56 · groundwater levels
13:58 · back then the river Kenneth
14:03 · would have been
14:04 · level without opening
14:08 · therefore filling these ditches with
14:10 · water
14:18 · essentially this was one giant moat
14:23 · and the center
14:27 · was no doubt some kind of
14:29 · trading station
15:01 · foreign
15:07 · [Music]
15:51 · foreign
15:54 · [Music]
15:58 · foreign
16:02 · [Music]
16:10 · is one of the principal sites of
16:12 · Neolithic Britain that we can visit
16:14 · today
16:16 · it was built and altered over many
16:19 · centuries from
16:21 · 2850 BC to 2200 BC
16:26 · it is one of the largest and undoubtedly
16:29 · the most complex of Britain's surviving
16:32 · Neolithic hinge monuments
16:36 · good
16:37 · it is quite likely that before the stone
16:40 · circles were erected Timber circles and
16:43 · structures may have originally filled
16:45 · the area within the bank and ditch
16:48 · as at other hinges in this part of
16:50 · Britain
16:52 · the exact sequence of construction of
16:55 · the banks ditches and stone circles at
16:58 · Avery is still not completely understood
17:04 · at some stage two Avenues of stones were
17:08 · also built linking the great Eng with
17:11 · other ceremonial sites to the West at
17:14 · beckhampton and to the south at Overton
17:17 · Hill
17:19 · foreign
17:20 · Discovery suggests they may have even
17:23 · been a Third Avenue heading Southwest to
17:26 · the huge man-made mound of silvery Hill
17:32 · whatever the reason for this great henge
17:34 · being built whether ceremonial or for
17:37 · trade it remains one of the most magical
17:40 · and breathtaking sights in Britain today
17:50 · thank you
17:52 · [Music]
17:59 · foreign
18:00 · [Music]
18:03 · foreign

Huge thanks to Amanda Chadburn, Jill Chapman, Alex Bayliss and Jim Leary for inspiration on this weeks video.
The Day Silbury Hill Collapsed | 11:42
Paul Whitewick | 117K subscribers | 707,578 views | May 5, 2024

Transcript
0:02 · July 2007 and one of the wetest July on record Amanda Chadburn would receive a phone
0:09 · call hello oh hi David Amanda yes um silvery Hill has collapsed oddly this
0:22 · wasn't the first phone call uttering those exact [Music]
0:27 · words Amanda and the team have been working on the conservation of the mound securing its integrity
0:35 · and safety after centuries of shafts and tunnels had been dug by drilling from the top and points
0:42 · on the side this collapse could be a major setback for that project as it turned out though this
0:48 · collapse gave English Heritage the opportunity to understand silbury Hill more than anyone had done
0:54 · in the last half [Music] Millennia so Hill is an artificial chalk Mound mainly chalk Su clay
1:04 · in fact it's completely man-made Now by and large the mound was built using chalk from the immediate
1:11 · vicinity I sat here for Millennia confusing the random passer by the antiquarian of old
1:22 · and perhaps even the more modern scientific and academic world that was until just a few
1:27 · years ago 1663 and John Abrury draws the first known image of this Monument
1:33 · he writes about silbury and the surrounding monuments publishing Monumenta Britannica he
1:39 · mused at the notion that this could be very old pre-s Saxon pre-roman
1:44 · prehistory 1740 it insteps William stukeley and he publishes his work on silbury and the
1:53 · entire avebury landscape and he does a very iconic famous picture with aere Stone Circle
2:00 · sat top in the middle and an Avenue either side Beck Hampton to the West and West kennet
2:07 · Avenue to the east now and behold center stage at the bottom is of course silbury
2:13 · Hill William stukeley saw this as a viewing platform a centerpiece for this
2:22 · landscape back to the claps but not that claps you see there was another 7 years
2:32 · prior May the 29th 2000 the first collapse and Amanda Chadburn receives the first phone
2:39 · call hello Amanda silbury Hill has collapsed it appears that a large hole has appeared in
2:49 · the top of silbury hill now knowing the approximate age of this place to you and
2:54 · I that sounds quite odd but to Amanda it didn't because she knew the history
2:59 · of this place place in great detail the largest artificial mound in the northern
3:04 · hemisphere Amanda and her team needed a plan they needed a task which would
3:12 · ensure the long-term security and integrity of this Monument it wouldn't be an easy task but
3:18 · perhaps for the first time in two or 300 years it would be about conservation not
3:24 · archaeology so how exactly was there a collapse the monument we knew had been there for a few
3:32 · thousand years at least more importantly how was it that the collapse was just a hole in the top
3:39 · that sunk down to answer that we need to go back some time in fact 1776 the Duke of Northumberland
3:48 · employed a team of miners to open up a shaft on the mound now the nature of his reputation
3:55 · really preceded the good Duke in fact some would refer to him as a treasure hunter rather than an
4:01 · early archaeologist nonetheless he sunk a shaft right down very long way expecting to find all
4:09 · kinds of Untold treasures and he found absolutely nothing other than chalk now you'd have to wait
4:18 · for another 75 years before another excavation took place the archaeological Institute newly
4:24 · formed tasked a man called Mereweather to Tunnel once again but this time in from the side once
4:31 · again expecting to find all kinds of artefact's and things that they could use to perhaps date
4:36 · this but once again he found absolutely nothing a century would now pass until a very keen BBC 2
4:46 · director by the name of David Attenborough would ask Richard Atkinson to conduct a further dig now
4:52 · Atkinson would tunnel once again and would try and unearth silbury Hills mystery he did use new
4:58 · techniques and new standings and he did report something that the previous tunnellers had not
5:04 · now Atkinson was probably the first to suggest as far as I can tell that Sil was built in three
5:10 · different stages first of all the original Turf Mound followed by another chalk Mound followed
5:16 · by choke Mound on top of that now as far as I can tell again the funding was cut for Atkinson and
5:22 · he suggested that they should leave his Tunnel open for future Generations kind of made sense
5:28 · but also English Heritage or the history of works at the time so that was probably unsafe
5:32 · so they should look at backfilling at least part of it so was stukeley right was this a platform
5:38 · on the landscape it is such a curious place for this to be positioned we aren't high up at all in
5:43 · fact we're in a valley the valley that this mound sits in allows it to rise up to the height of the
5:49 · surrounding Hills it's like the centerpiece of a bowl or a dish with the center meeting up to the
5:56 · surrounding edges and if we travel across to West kennet long Barrow on the horizon while something
6:01 · even more Curious greets [Music] us top of this hill we have West kennet longbarrow and that gives
6:11 · us an entirely different view of silbury Hill but not the physical view you see West kennet
6:17 · longbarrow in its first Inception its first form was built just over 1, 1,200 years before silbury
6:27 · Mound [Music] so why is that date so important how does it relate to silbury Hill well the first
6:39 · burial here as we said 1,200 years before silbury Hill but then it was continued to be used the
6:46 · graves were infilled reused and perhaps for the next thousand years or so it was used as maybe a
6:53 · ceremonial Place one Theory by Mike Parker Pearson is that because of the timing of the final closure
7:02 · of West kennet longbarrow with these huge sarsons around a thousand years after its first use well
7:09 · they came at almost the same time as the first stages of silbury Hill Mike goes on to suggest
7:16 · the uh the change in society the change in people burial practices the the incoming of this new
7:24 · technology brought about by the Bronze Age or maybe just maybe that this was the last stand
7:30 · for the near liic people back to the claps Amanda and her team have been working hard planning the
7:37 · conservation work for years now the involvement of the company scanska is vital for their work
7:43 · and supporting Amanda and the team they find the 1968 lintel and when they start digging in early
7:50 · 2007 so theyd found a number of voids started to open up above that tunnel so they started to uh
7:57 · sure it up and uh brace it a bit further they also found some uh more antlers and again this
8:04 · time now they could radiocarbon date these with a lot more accuracy by specialist Alex bayliss so
8:10 · why was this July 2007 collapse so important well it actually created a void closer to the center of
8:19 · silbury Hill a tip a top stage two or phase two of silbury Hill was now exposed with organic matter
8:32 · Jill Campbell analysed grass stems from this tip of Silbury 2 and found a specific species
8:38 · of grass that takes 10 to 15 years to establish this means it was now possibly growing on the
8:46 · hill at that point after Phase 2 snail shells also present implies that this was left for
8:52 · some period of time they were also able to reaffirm the start date 2400 BC based
8:59 · on the original turf or grass layer before any of this took place any construction here
9:05 · the turf Mound 2,400 BC give or take one or two generations how specific is that
9:12 · based on the numerous new results the almost per chance opportunity to date the different
9:17 · silbury Hills that formed its overall One Construction we have a new set of data to
9:23 · help nothing really other than construction tool tools and material were found within
9:31 · it to uh give us an indication of the purpose of its build we do now have that 20400 BC start date
9:40 · which is the main thing that can help give us the context of this Monument within the surrounding
9:45 · landscape maybe just maybe as short as a 100 years or maybe even one person's lifetime would
9:52 · have seen the entirety of this built however that could be as much as 3 or 400 years so
9:59 · phase one was built within a generation of the 2,400 BC date Phase 2 was built and then phase
10:07 · three and we now know as well there was at least a 10 or 15E period at least between Phase 2 and
10:16 · phase three because of that organic matter that was found Jim leary suggests that because of this
10:21 · Gap this potential minimum 10 to 15 years between Phase 2 and three silbury was constructed over a
10:28 · long period of time time perhaps centuries based on this standstill period it indicates that it
10:34 · was not a continuous progress and perhaps as Mike Parker Pearson suggests that this was a Last Stand
10:42 · by the neolithic in the face of new technologies emerging around them we may never truly understand
10:49 · the purpose of silbury Hill when it was built but the story of the collapses the story of the 17th
10:55 · century antiquarians through to the more modern archaeologists and of of course Amanda Chadburn
11:00 · and her team help us give a much better sense of the the place of this monument in the landscape
11:07 · today potentially what it was for perhaps those that built it did see a huge change in the way of
11:15 · life new technologies evolving and this was their their Last Stand now if you like the prehistory
11:21 · type videos we do you can go and watch this one just here AC Smith mapped all of this area
11:26 · on Horseback and he found many secrets that we wouldn't have known about if it wasn't for him
11:42 · [Music]

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Transcript
0:04	·	foreign
0:34	·	[Music]
0:55	·	[Music]
1:02	·	thank you
1:08	·	the weather is so unpredictable
1:12	·	I left the house and it was Blue Skies
1:15	·	now it's rain and wind
1:19	·	so today we are going to eighth Brewery
1:23	·	Avery is the largest stone circle
1:28	·	in the world
1:32	·	approximately 100 Stones were
1:36	·	brought here to build a stone circle
1:41	·	about 5 000 years ago
1:46	·	not many of them
1:48	·	uh exist today and they've all been
1:51	·	carted off
1:53	·	and repurposed
1:56	·	over the centuries
2:01	·	as you can see I'm driving through Avery
2:04	·	now
2:05	·	through the center of the stone circle
2:16	·	this weather this grim
2:23	·	brighter over there
2:26	·	pretty much twice now
2:29	·	and is it coming our way
2:34	·	right let's park her up and give it a
2:38	·	give it a go
	·	Time Index Set to Here
3:00	·	the area around Avery in Wiltshire
3:03	·	contains an extraordinary cluster of
3:05	·	monuments dating to the Mesolithic
3:08	·	Neolithic and Bronze Age
3:12	·	this video focuses on Avery henge and
3:15	·	its Stone circles probably the most
3:17	·	well-known prehistoric monument second
3:19	·	to Stonehenge in Britain
3:22	·	within one and a half miles of Avery are
3:25	·	many other prehistoric sites that were
3:27	·	built around the same time and therefore
3:29	·	no doubt share a connection to Avery
3:32	·	these sites include
3:34	·	windmill Hill built over 6 000 years ago
3:38	·	much older than they've rehenge and
3:40	·	towards the end of the Mesolithic age
3:43	·	Adam and Eve Stones all that is
3:46	·	remaining of the ancient beckhampton
3:49	·	Avenue
3:51	·	longstones long barrel built around four
3:54	·	and a half thousand years ago
3:57	·	silbury Hill the largest man-made
3:59	·	mountain in Europe built around four and
4:02	·	a half thousand years ago
4:05	·	West Kenneth long barrel built
4:08	·	5650 years ago
4:13	·	East kennet longborough which is yet to
4:17	·	be excavated
4:21	·	the sanctuary built around 4 500 years
4:25	·	ago
4:27	·	West Kennett Avenue wants a one and a
4:30	·	half mile route lined with 100 pairs of
4:32	·	stones connecting Avery and The
4:35	·	Sanctuary
4:38	·	it would be remiss of me not to give a
4:40	·	mention to Valley of stones the site
4:43	·	where the Assassin stones used to build
4:45	·	Avery came from
4:47	·	the sites in and around Avery were a
4:50	·	significant place for prehistoric people
4:52	·	who gathered here to build monuments
4:55	·	made of Earth Timber and stone for over
4:57	·	2 000 years
5:00	·	today this unique landscape forms part
5:03	·	of the UNESCO Stonehenge and Avery world
5:06	·	heritage site reflecting its
5:09	·	International importance
5:12	·	so I am approaching Avery at the moment
5:16	·	the largest stone circle in the world
5:24	·	before me is the
5:26	·	Western most
5:28	·	outer ditch
5:31	·	this uh
5:34	·	Neolithic
5:36	·	Earthworks were created approximately
5:39	·	four and a half thousand years ago its
5:41	·	purpose
5:42	·	is still unclear although
5:47	·	many people
5:49	·	generically stamp it as being
5:52	·	for ceremonial purposes potentially
5:55	·	religious
5:57	·	uh that could be true
6:00	·	but
6:01	·	much like my five field video recently
6:05	·	published
6:06	·	they keep forgetting
6:09	·	that much of this was underwater
6:13	·	in fact I would be
6:15	·	underwater right now four and a half
6:18	·	thousand years ago
6:34	·	[Music]
6:41	·	[Music]
6:50	·	[Music]
7:10	·	thank you
7:14	·	[Music]
7:27	·	this is the start of the
7:31	·	the well-known outer Stone Circle
7:36	·	comprised originally from
7:39	·	100 sarson stones
7:42	·	sourced from
7:44	·	the valley of stones
7:46	·	in five field
7:47	·	a couple of miles to the east
7:50	·	some of these weighed up to 30 tons in
7:53	·	weight
7:56	·	many have disappeared
8:00	·	these ones
8:03	·	which I've disappeared have been
8:04	·	identified
8:06	·	as these concrete bollards here
8:10	·	to show the original location
8:12	·	interestingly though many of the stones
8:15	·	have been buried and no one knows why
8:19	·	although there was a some evidence found
8:22	·	of one of the buried Stones it had a uh
8:25	·	a skeleton buried with it some 700 years
8:29	·	ago so I'm not sure what they were up to
8:33	·	oh
8:43	·	so most folk know uh Avery for its uh
8:47	·	large Stone Circle
8:49	·	well what's left of it
8:52	·	the largest in the world
8:56	·	but larger still is the set of worth
8:59	·	Works surrounding it
9:04	·	there's one giant circular ditch
9:08	·	and the Earth which was cut out of that
9:10	·	ditch was placed on the outer Bank
9:14	·	now this is significant because
9:16	·	immediately because they placed it on
9:19	·	the outer Bank we know
9:20	·	it's not defensive as all uh
9:24	·	defensive Earthworks they cut and then
9:27	·	fill
9:28	·	the inner Bank
9:33	·	so why was that then
9:37	·	and the ditch that we see today even
9:39	·	though it's still vast
9:42	·	uh
9:44	·	it's roughly three meters deep in places
9:48	·	that's actually only a third of what it
9:50	·	was
9:52	·	there have been some excavations and
9:55	·	uh it's been proved that the ditch did
9:59	·	go down to nine meters originally
10:02	·	but of course over time
10:06	·	uh the the bank and the sides have
10:10	·	collapsed and eroded
10:13	·	filling in the ditch
10:17	·	you know four and a half thousand years
10:18	·	is a long time
10:20	·	but why make a ditch
10:23	·	nine meters deep
10:27	·	for ceremonial purposes
10:41	·	Avery Stonehenge or Stone Circle as it's
10:44	·	also called
10:45	·	it's best seen from the air but because
10:48	·	of the size of it
10:50	·	a drone
10:52	·	won't be able to capture it
10:54	·	in full View
10:57	·	from directly above
10:59	·	because of the 120 meter maximum
11:03	·	altitude restriction or 400 feet
11:07	·	foreign
11:09	·	but that's where lidar can come in and
11:12	·	help us
11:13	·	[Music]
11:47	·	[Music]
11:55	·	[Music]
12:01	·	now
12:04	·	the kennet comes
12:07	·	all the way down here
12:09	·	today runs through the village of Avery
12:15	·	and then
12:16	·	further south
12:19	·	but
12:21	·	four and a half thousand years ago
12:24	·	that Kenneth River
12:26	·	would have been approximately 25 meters
12:31	·	deeper than it is today
12:33	·	it would also been
12:35	·	about a hundred times wider than it is
12:38	·	today
12:43	·	a good chunk of that land as far as the
12:45	·	eye can see
12:47	·	West
12:49	·	of this outer ditch
12:51	·	would have been underwater
12:53	·	[Music]
12:55	·	right
13:03	·	[Applause]
13:05	·	[Music]
13:23	·	this Stitch contrary to what the history
13:26	·	books say
13:28	·	abruptly stops in the middle there
13:33	·	there's about
13:36	·	a eight to ten meter section
13:40	·	where the ditch
13:41	·	starts and stops
13:45	·	I have almost like a giant letter c
13:49	·	so there was an opening to the ditch on
13:51	·	that side
13:53	·	and according to geological uh
13:56	·	groundwater levels
13:58	·	back then the river Kenneth
14:03	·	would have been
14:04	·	level without opening
14:08	·	therefore filling these ditches with
14:10	·	water
14:18	·	essentially this was one giant moat
14:23	·	and the center
14:27	·	was no doubt some kind of
14:29	·	trading station
15:01	·	foreign
15:07	·	[Music]
15:51	·	foreign
15:54	·	[Music]
15:58	·	foreign
16:02	·	[Music]
16:10	·	is one of the principal sites of
16:12	·	Neolithic Britain that we can visit
16:14	·	today
16:16	·	it was built and altered over many
16:19	·	centuries from
16:21	·	2850 BC to 2200 BC
16:26	·	it is one of the largest and undoubtedly
16:29	·	the most complex of Britain's surviving
16:32	·	Neolithic hinge monuments
16:36	·	good
16:37	·	it is quite likely that before the stone
16:40	·	circles were erected Timber circles and
16:43	·	structures may have originally filled
16:45	·	the area within the bank and ditch
16:48	·	as at other hinges in this part of
16:50	·	Britain
16:52	·	the exact sequence of construction of
16:55	·	the banks ditches and stone circles at
16:58	·	Avery is still not completely understood
17:04	·	at some stage two Avenues of stones were
17:08	·	also built linking the great Eng with
17:11	·	other ceremonial sites to the West at
17:14	·	beckhampton and to the south at Overton
17:17	·	Hill
17:19	·	foreign
17:20	·	Discovery suggests they may have even
17:23	·	been a Third Avenue heading Southwest to
17:26	·	the huge man-made mound of silvery Hill
17:32	·	whatever the reason for this great henge
17:34	·	being built whether ceremonial or for
17:37	·	trade it remains one of the most magical
17:40	·	and breathtaking sights in Britain today
17:50	·	thank you
17:52	·	[Music]
17:59	·	foreign
18:00	·	[Music]
18:03	·	foreign

Transcript
0:02	·	July 2007 and one of the wetest July on record Amanda Chadburn would receive a phone
0:09	·	call hello oh hi David Amanda yes um silvery Hill has collapsed oddly this
0:22	·	wasn't the first phone call uttering those exact [Music]
0:27	·	words Amanda and the team have been working on the conservation of the mound securing its integrity
0:35	·	and safety after centuries of shafts and tunnels had been dug by drilling from the top and points
0:42	·	on the side this collapse could be a major setback for that project as it turned out though this
0:48	·	collapse gave English Heritage the opportunity to understand silbury Hill more than anyone had done
0:54	·	in the last half [Music] Millennia so Hill is an artificial chalk Mound mainly chalk Su clay
1:04	·	in fact it's completely man-made Now by and large the mound was built using chalk from the immediate
1:11	·	vicinity I sat here for Millennia confusing the random passer by the antiquarian of old
1:22	·	and perhaps even the more modern scientific and academic world that was until just a few
1:27	·	years ago 1663 and John Abrury draws the first known image of this Monument
1:33	·	he writes about silbury and the surrounding monuments publishing Monumenta Britannica he
1:39	·	mused at the notion that this could be very old pre-s Saxon pre-roman
1:44	·	prehistory 1740 it insteps William stukeley and he publishes his work on silbury and the
1:53	·	entire avebury landscape and he does a very iconic famous picture with aere Stone Circle
2:00	·	sat top in the middle and an Avenue either side Beck Hampton to the West and West kennet
2:07	·	Avenue to the east now and behold center stage at the bottom is of course silbury
2:13	·	Hill William stukeley saw this as a viewing platform a centerpiece for this
2:22	·	landscape back to the claps but not that claps you see there was another 7 years
2:32	·	prior May the 29th 2000 the first collapse and Amanda Chadburn receives the first phone
2:39	·	call hello Amanda silbury Hill has collapsed it appears that a large hole has appeared in
2:49	·	the top of silbury hill now knowing the approximate age of this place to you and
2:54	·	I that sounds quite odd but to Amanda it didn't because she knew the history
2:59	·	of this place place in great detail the largest artificial mound in the northern
3:04	·	hemisphere Amanda and her team needed a plan they needed a task which would
3:12	·	ensure the long-term security and integrity of this Monument it wouldn't be an easy task but
3:18	·	perhaps for the first time in two or 300 years it would be about conservation not
3:24	·	archaeology so how exactly was there a collapse the monument we knew had been there for a few
3:32	·	thousand years at least more importantly how was it that the collapse was just a hole in the top
3:39	·	that sunk down to answer that we need to go back some time in fact 1776 the Duke of Northumberland
3:48	·	employed a team of miners to open up a shaft on the mound now the nature of his reputation
3:55	·	really preceded the good Duke in fact some would refer to him as a treasure hunter rather than an
4:01	·	early archaeologist nonetheless he sunk a shaft right down very long way expecting to find all
4:09	·	kinds of Untold treasures and he found absolutely nothing other than chalk now you'd have to wait
4:18	·	for another 75 years before another excavation took place the archaeological Institute newly
4:24	·	formed tasked a man called Mereweather to Tunnel once again but this time in from the side once
4:31	·	again expecting to find all kinds of artefact's and things that they could use to perhaps date
4:36	·	this but once again he found absolutely nothing a century would now pass until a very keen BBC 2
4:46	·	director by the name of David Attenborough would ask Richard Atkinson to conduct a further dig now
4:52	·	Atkinson would tunnel once again and would try and unearth silbury Hills mystery he did use new
4:58	·	techniques and new standings and he did report something that the previous tunnellers had not
5:04	·	now Atkinson was probably the first to suggest as far as I can tell that Sil was built in three
5:10	·	different stages first of all the original Turf Mound followed by another chalk Mound followed
5:16	·	by choke Mound on top of that now as far as I can tell again the funding was cut for Atkinson and
5:22	·	he suggested that they should leave his Tunnel open for future Generations kind of made sense
5:28	·	but also English Heritage or the history of works at the time so that was probably unsafe
5:32	·	so they should look at backfilling at least part of it so was stukeley right was this a platform
5:38	·	on the landscape it is such a curious place for this to be positioned we aren't high up at all in
5:43	·	fact we're in a valley the valley that this mound sits in allows it to rise up to the height of the
5:49	·	surrounding Hills it's like the centerpiece of a bowl or a dish with the center meeting up to the
5:56	·	surrounding edges and if we travel across to West kennet long Barrow on the horizon while something
6:01	·	even more Curious greets [Music] us top of this hill we have West kennet longbarrow and that gives
6:11	·	us an entirely different view of silbury Hill but not the physical view you see West kennet
6:17	·	longbarrow in its first Inception its first form was built just over 1, 1,200 years before silbury
6:27	·	Mound [Music] so why is that date so important how does it relate to silbury Hill well the first
6:39	·	burial here as we said 1,200 years before silbury Hill but then it was continued to be used the
6:46	·	graves were infilled reused and perhaps for the next thousand years or so it was used as maybe a
6:53	·	ceremonial Place one Theory by Mike Parker Pearson is that because of the timing of the final closure
7:02	·	of West kennet longbarrow with these huge sarsons around a thousand years after its first use well
7:09	·	they came at almost the same time as the first stages of silbury Hill Mike goes on to suggest
7:16	·	the uh the change in society the change in people burial practices the the incoming of this new
7:24	·	technology brought about by the Bronze Age or maybe just maybe that this was the last stand
7:30	·	for the near liic people back to the claps Amanda and her team have been working hard planning the
7:37	·	conservation work for years now the involvement of the company scanska is vital for their work
7:43	·	and supporting Amanda and the team they find the 1968 lintel and when they start digging in early
7:50	·	2007 so theyd found a number of voids started to open up above that tunnel so they started to uh
7:57	·	sure it up and uh brace it a bit further they also found some uh more antlers and again this
8:04	·	time now they could radiocarbon date these with a lot more accuracy by specialist Alex bayliss so
8:10	·	why was this July 2007 collapse so important well it actually created a void closer to the center of
8:19	·	silbury Hill a tip a top stage two or phase two of silbury Hill was now exposed with organic matter
8:32	·	Jill Campbell analysed grass stems from this tip of Silbury 2 and found a specific species
8:38	·	of grass that takes 10 to 15 years to establish this means it was now possibly growing on the
8:46	·	hill at that point after Phase 2 snail shells also present implies that this was left for
8:52	·	some period of time they were also able to reaffirm the start date 2400 BC based
8:59	·	on the original turf or grass layer before any of this took place any construction here
9:05	·	the turf Mound 2,400 BC give or take one or two generations how specific is that
9:12	·	based on the numerous new results the almost per chance opportunity to date the different
9:17	·	silbury Hills that formed its overall One Construction we have a new set of data to
9:23	·	help nothing really other than construction tool tools and material were found within
9:31	·	it to uh give us an indication of the purpose of its build we do now have that 20400 BC start date
9:40	·	which is the main thing that can help give us the context of this Monument within the surrounding
9:45	·	landscape maybe just maybe as short as a 100 years or maybe even one person's lifetime would
9:52	·	have seen the entirety of this built however that could be as much as 3 or 400 years so
9:59	·	phase one was built within a generation of the 2,400 BC date Phase 2 was built and then phase
10:07	·	three and we now know as well there was at least a 10 or 15E period at least between Phase 2 and
10:16	·	phase three because of that organic matter that was found Jim leary suggests that because of this
10:21	·	Gap this potential minimum 10 to 15 years between Phase 2 and three silbury was constructed over a
10:28	·	long period of time time perhaps centuries based on this standstill period it indicates that it
10:34	·	was not a continuous progress and perhaps as Mike Parker Pearson suggests that this was a Last Stand
10:42	·	by the neolithic in the face of new technologies emerging around them we may never truly understand
10:49	·	the purpose of silbury Hill when it was built but the story of the collapses the story of the 17th
10:55	·	century antiquarians through to the more modern archaeologists and of of course Amanda Chadburn
11:00	·	and her team help us give a much better sense of the the place of this monument in the landscape
11:07	·	today potentially what it was for perhaps those that built it did see a huge change in the way of
11:15	·	life new technologies evolving and this was their their Last Stand now if you like the prehistory
11:21	·	type videos we do you can go and watch this one just here AC Smith mapped all of this area
11:26	·	on Horseback and he found many secrets that we wouldn't have known about if it wasn't for him
11:42	·	[Music]