Durrington Walls

[poliphilo]

So there were stones at Durrington Walls- big ones- 15 ft sarsens- apparently arranged in a line along the top of the embankment in the shape- roughly- of a letter "C".  At some point they were taken down and buried (or allowed to become overgrown) on site. In it's heyday- circular earthwork with walls of naked chalk, topped for part of its length with very large standing stones- it must have looked a little like a Greek amphitheatre.

This would seem to be a prehistoric monument unlike any other in Britain. It stands about a mile from Stonehenge and right next to the much smaller Woodhenge, with its south-east entrance located about 100 metres from the course of the River Avon.

Earlier interpretations have read it- in spite of its great size- as subsiduary to Stonehenge. But was it? Have we been misled by its worn-down and denuded present condition? Stonehenge is quite small as henges go while Durrington Walls is enormous- the largest henge in Britain and- with its sarsens in place- must have been hugely impressive.  Perhaps, after all, it's Stonehenge that's the way station in the ritual landscape and Durrington that's the nexus.

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Saw the reports on this- it sounds to be on the scale of the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, which is enormous and is also the nexus of a huge monumental landscape (one big element at Ness of Brodgar also recently discovered) covering miles!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We've learned such a lot about these monuments in recent times. If only our ancestors had left us something in writing to explain just what they were up to!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Therein lies the real puzzle!

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

We can only guess.