Avebury: 25th October 2014. 3:01 pm.
Avebury is divided by roads into four quarters.
I was walking along the path that runs beside the road, towards 'The Swindon stone' in the north-west quarter.
A group of people were holding hands and standing around stone 44 (on this map).
At first I thought that it had been 'attacked', that someone had painted the stone using a brush big enough, and paint white enough to cover a garage.
I thought that the people were healing the stone...
From a distance the graffiti seemed to be like the Ordinance Survey symbol for a church!
But then, as the sun went behind a cloud, the image faded...
It isn't graffiti.
When the sun came out again, the patten looked more like this:
Here is a very bad photo.
Approximate angles...
Hard to judge from this photo
At 3 pm the sun is at an azimuth of 227 and the elevation angle is 14.5 degrees.
How relevant is this effect of sun on stone?
Is it purely accidental and if not how will I be able to judge the date at which it was meant to be seen if the stone has been restored incorrectly?
Alexander Keiller excavated this NW region of avebury between 1934 and 1939. His work included excavation and re-erection of fallen and buried stones. The concrete pillars were placed in their current positions. I have no way to judge the accuracy of the re-positioning.
It is possible that some of the megaliths including number 44, were part of Avebury before the ditch and bank were dug.
An earlier excavation by Henry Meux in 1894 (Pitts 2000, 187) and Faith Vatcher in 1969 (Evans 1972, fig 95) indicate an earlier earthwork in this area, Neolithic and Peterborough ware sherds were found (Smith 1965a, 224). The date for the original positioning of the stones is harder to judge. A date somewhere between 2900- 1700 BC is a fairly safe guess (Pollard and Reynolds 2010, 90). Bronze Age Beaker shards, were found close to stones 46 (Swindon stone) and 44 (the symbol stone).
One more find, close to stones 44 and 46. A sandstone disc Similar discs have been found in Cotswold Seven long barrows, and this disc may have been brought from its older setting to link the past with the present...5000 years ago.
I was walking along the path that runs beside the road, towards 'The Swindon stone' in the north-west quarter.
A group of people were holding hands and standing around stone 44 (on this map).
At first I thought that it had been 'attacked', that someone had painted the stone using a brush big enough, and paint white enough to cover a garage.
I thought that the people were healing the stone...
From a distance the graffiti seemed to be like the Ordinance Survey symbol for a church!
But then, as the sun went behind a cloud, the image faded...
It isn't graffiti.
When the sun came out again, the patten looked more like this:
Here is a very bad photo.
Approximate angles...
Hard to judge from this photo
At 3 pm the sun is at an azimuth of 227 and the elevation angle is 14.5 degrees.
How relevant is this effect of sun on stone?
Is it purely accidental and if not how will I be able to judge the date at which it was meant to be seen if the stone has been restored incorrectly?
Alexander Keiller excavated this NW region of avebury between 1934 and 1939. His work included excavation and re-erection of fallen and buried stones. The concrete pillars were placed in their current positions. I have no way to judge the accuracy of the re-positioning.
It is possible that some of the megaliths including number 44, were part of Avebury before the ditch and bank were dug.
An earlier excavation by Henry Meux in 1894 (Pitts 2000, 187) and Faith Vatcher in 1969 (Evans 1972, fig 95) indicate an earlier earthwork in this area, Neolithic and Peterborough ware sherds were found (Smith 1965a, 224). The date for the original positioning of the stones is harder to judge. A date somewhere between 2900- 1700 BC is a fairly safe guess (Pollard and Reynolds 2010, 90). Bronze Age Beaker shards, were found close to stones 46 (Swindon stone) and 44 (the symbol stone).
One more find, close to stones 44 and 46. A sandstone disc Similar discs have been found in Cotswold Seven long barrows, and this disc may have been brought from its older setting to link the past with the present...5000 years ago.
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