Another Centre Of The Universe

[poliphilo]

Silbury Hill really is a mystery. They've recently completed a dig which established that it was built in three stages- over a period corresponding to a long lifetime- but they're still no closer to establishing what it's for- or how it relates to the rest of Avebury's neolithic landscape. 

Michael Dames- whose books first got me interested in Avebury- argues that the hill represents the pregnant belly of the Mother Goddess. His work is unscholarly and largely discredited now, but his guess remains as good as any.  Maybe it's a centotaph (we can rule out burial mound because there's nothing buried there) or a ritual platform or an observatory or merely an extravagant piece of self-assertion by some forgotten tribal warlord-  "Gaze on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"

Looking again at these photographs, I'm struck by how anomalous it is.  A smooth-sided hill rising out of a valley bottom- it doesn't fit; it's against Nature. It's as if some gigantic child with a bucket and spade had just dumped it there. 

It's made of chalk. In its original state- like the ditch and walls of Avebury- it would have gleamed an unearthy white.

Comments

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Odd, very odd - rather like some of the other gigantic pictures, etc. that are in other locations.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You mean like the Cerne Abbas Giant and other hill figures?

The secret is chalk. It's absolutely the best material for creating landscape art.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of surprised that it doesn't wash away.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, so am I.

[oakmouse]

Native chalk (ie chalk in the ground) is hard, and when you get it wet it becomes terribly slippery but doesn't go into solution very well. It does wear, but rather slowly. To get the soft chalk we use on blackboards and sidewalks, the hard stuff is ground to powder and then pressed into sticks.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Grand early architecture, a first cathedral.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe the only ancient monuments that are bigger than Silbury hill are the Egyptian pyramids.

It is...

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

PRETTY COOL! That's what it is! Thanks for sharing!

Re: It is...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's an amazing place.

[wolfshift.livejournal.com]

Michael Dames- whose books first got me interested in Avebury- argues that the hill represents the pregnant belly of the Mother Goddess.

Peculiar theory. I haven't seen too many pregnant women whose bellies are conical.

I saw one of those half-baked TV documentaries recently about pagan sites in Britain, that claimed that Silbury Hill was a platform used to coordinate rituals at three nearby ritual sites (Avebury, I think, and two others whose names I don't now remember). This theory was based (solely, it seems) on the fact that the top of Silbury Hill is visible from all three of the other locations.

Re: It is...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There's an extraordinary concentration of prehistoric sites in the Avebury area. It's not totally crazy to suggest the hill was designed as a ritual command centre- it's just that there's no real evidence to support this or any other theory.

Re: It is...

[wolfshift.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's just it. I had no objection to the theory itself, just to the way the programme presented it: "Here's our theory, and we're going to ignore all the others and present this one as if we've actually proved it because there's no evidence to disprove it." That's what bugs me about the whole genre of archaeological documentary television programmes. There's so rarely any acknowledgement that we just don't really know and ultimately probably can't know. Intellectual dishonesty irritates me.

I kind of liked one thing they said, though -- that if the hill was originally not covered with dirt and grass, the bare chalk would have gleamed brilliantly in the moonlight. What a sight that must have been!

Re: It is...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I agree. Those programmes annoy me too. Not only are they thoroughly unscholarly, but they stretch a paragraph's worth of (often dubious) information so it lasts an hour. They're a complete waste of time.

You've probably seen pictures of Newgrange in the Republic of Ireland- which has been restored to its former shining glory. The only difference is that the prehistoric Irish, not having any chalk, used quartz.

[mamarose.livejournal.com]

I visited this site a number of years ago, and saw things I'm not sure I saw.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

How do you mean? What sort of things exactly? I'm eager to know more....

[mamarose.livejournal.com]

In my teen and young adult years, I lived a highly mystical/magickal life. I 'saw' things regularly, and made a living as a tarot card reader who seldom actually read the cards, and received a lot of mail from clients regarding the detailed accuracy of my readings.

Somewhere in my mid-twenties, I lost all of the faith, and now question things I 'saw' and 'knew'. Nonetheless, the memories are there.

Sitting across from Silbury Hill, on an elevated tuft of grass, I meditated the curious nature of the mound. I had already read the signs, and the day I was there (this was Aug 97) a crop circle had been found in the field behind it. As badly as I wanted to see a crop circle, and could just barely see it from where I was sitting, I was completely distracted by Silbury Hill. A few days later, I did indeed go visit a crop circle :)

As for what I 'saw'. I'm not sure. A spiral procession to the top of the hill. Figures of a sort, dancing, at the very least a spiraling energy. Fluid movements, gentle, a seriousness/somberness and yet some sort of merriment, too. I was mesmerized, but later convinced myself that I have an active imagination that sees things like that to amuse myself or something. I am not finding the right words to describe what I saw, if only I were the sort of artist who could draw or paint!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Your vision makes sense to me. A person builds a hill. Why? Because they want to climb it. Why do they want to climb it? In order to get closer to the realm of the gods. And if the hill is circular- rather than square or pyramidal- a spiralling path is the obvious way of tackling the ascent.

I've never been able to "see" things. I wish I could. I'm terribly envious of those who can. :)

[mamarose.livejournal.com]

I have always "seen" things, even now when I am trying to convince myself that I don't. It feels a bit maddening, actually. To see things no one else does. Of course, I have met people who see the things I see, and it is always comforting to have confirmation.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Strange, isn't it? You find the gift a nuisance- and I'd just love to possess it.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

It's rather beautiful rising out of the fields as it does.
I am always reminded of the pyramids in Mexico when I see it even though there is no structural common denominator. They seem to link together in my mind.
How well you staged that last picture with the blue wildflowers in the foreground!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There are certainly some similarities. Was Silbury also a temple of the sun?

Thanks.

That last picture was taken from the top of the chambered tomb at West Kennet.

[oakmouse]

Lovely pictures! Silbury Hill is such a strange and beautiful place; but then, the whole area around Avebury is. And I do love West Kennet.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

I'll be posting pictures of West Kennet tomorrow

[oakmouse]

*anticipation*

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

These photos... the colors... the weight of the sky... it's like eating meringue with your eyes....

*stares*

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I love that simile!

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

It started out as 'chocolate', but that was too heavy for these confectionary images. :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Meringue is just right.

[amritarosa.livejournal.com]

I just have to say that I love the photos you have been posting- always a treat!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.