Avebury

Reviewed by Benjamin Tun-Yee Chan

Introduction
The Chapters
Conclusion
References

 Introduction

Avebury by Mark Gillings and Joshua Pollard is part of the Duckworth Archaeological Histories series. This seeks to take a wider view of archaeologically important sites, landscapes and buildings by considering the history of sites from their original construction and use through the course of their history, development and changing significance up to the present day. Accordingly the book is split into ten chapters which chart the course of the development of the Avebury landscape from the later Mesolithic up until the later twentieth century. Gillings and Pollard are a fine choice to tackle such a book, being as they are both active researchers at the forefront of their fields who have worked extensively in the Avebury landscape for a number of years. Few others have the familiarity and enthusiasm for Avebury and its surroundings as these two and this is clearly shown within the text.

The layout of the chapters is chronological and there is a significant variation in their length necessitated by varying amounts of material present for discussion from different periods. The basic layout involves a summary of the archaeological and historical evidence for a given period and a discussion of the manner in which Avebury was both treated and perceived within that broad period of history.

 The Chapters

Rather than beginning at the beginning (in chronological terms at least) the introductory chapter instead provides a “standard” archaeological description of the Avebury monument. This chapter is rather brief and mainly serves to familiarise the reader with the various parts of the monument in preparation for subsequent and more detailed discussions. The major omission from this introductory chapter is a description of the wider archaeological landscape in which Avebury is situated, but this is at least acknowledged by the authors.

Following on from the introductory chapter, Chapter 2 introduces Avebury's history by discussing the periods prior to the construction of the monument itself. By and large this involves an exploration of the Avebury landscape during the Mesolithic, for which there is scant evidence at best, and the Early Neolithic, during which this situation improves only slightly. The lack of specific archaeological contexts representing these periods results in a general discussion which relies heavily upon material from elsewhere. The lack of specific material leads, for the most part, to a standard interpretation of the periods in which there is an opening up of the forest over time with much importance placed on paths and clearings and flux and stability. One gets the sense, as is the case with many similar such interpretations, that the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic discussion is merely serving to set the scene for the arrival of the impressive monuments of the later Neolithic. The point of these discussions is most often to show that the Late Neolithic monuments were constructed within places already laden with meaning. Whilst this is undoubtedly an important point, its general applicability across so many chalkland landscapes reveals its lack of both historical contingency and a sense of regional variation.

Chapter 3 is the longest chapter in the book and given that it deals with the main monumental phases of Avebury itself this is rightly so. The chapter deals primarily with the development of the monument during the 3 rd Millennium BC and covers in reasonable depth the phasing and dating of the construction of the different components of Avebury and its associated monuments. The authors are quite upfront about the sad state of our knowledge about many key elements of Avebury and its constructional sequence. A clear point is made contrasting the number of radiocarbon determinations for Avebury in comparison to Stonehenge . The general lack of study of Avebury in comparison to its more famous cousin, Stonehenge , is a point justifiably made several times within the text and perhaps reveals the attachment that the authors have for the Avebury landscape and its study.

Overall Chapter 3 is well written and detailed enough to reveal much of what we know, what we think and what we don't know about Avebury's main monumental phase. If there is a criticism of the chapter it is that it does not choose to step outside of the monument to spend any time discussing the wider landscape setting of the monument.

The next three chapters in the book (Chapters 4,5 and 6) deal with the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age, the Romano-British and the Anglo-Saxon periods respectively. All three periods are most notable for the dearth of our knowledge concerning them and accordingly these are three of the shortest chapters in the book. Owing to our lack of knowledge of the aforementioned periods, the authors are forced to look first outside of Avebury and then outside of the Avebury landscape altogether in order to find matters for discussion. When it comes to interpreting periods outside of their normal areas of interest the authors tend to carry over the “social” traditions of interpretation that they practice within prehistoric archaeology. For example, it is quite clear that in discussing the Romano-British period they are interested in discussing the process of Romanisation as a social phenomenon rather than the movements of legions and the technological and militaristic advances of Roman Empire . Whilst this approach is not new, it is none-the-less commendable that the authors have managed to maintain their approach towards understanding the past even when dealing with periods with which they must be relatively unfamiliar.

Once again in Chapter 6 the authors display their dedication to the study of people and everyday life by largely dismissing the historical evidence of the Saxon Chronicles, with their tales of warlords and great battles, and instead concentrating on the archaeological evidence, that provides insight into much more mundane affairs. Owing to the lack of material from Avebury dating to the Romano-British period it is not until after Chapter 5 that the focus of discussion within the book returns more solidly to developments within the henge itself. This is primarily because during the Saxon period Avebury appears to have stopped being a place that was avoided and respected. Instead, for the first time it started to be viewed as an appropriate context for settlement. During the sixth century AD a settlement took seed immediately to the west of Avebury and grew and established itself so that by the tenth century a thriving settlement existed. The other significant feature within this period is that for the first time the Christianity appears in relation to the henge in the form of a Saxon church.

Chapters 7 and 8 cover the medieval and early post-medieval periods and mark a change in character in the discussion prompted mainly by an increase in our historical knowledge but also in the radical transformation in the way that the monument was treated. During the medieval period for the first time the stones of Avebury and its avenues were taken down. This activity appears to have two main phases with the dismantling and burying of stones during the Medieval period and the more pro-active and large-scale destruction of them during the post-medieval period. The latter period is also notable for the “academic” discovery of Avebury with the arrival of the likes of Aubrey and Stukely. Partly owing to Stukely there is also a good corpus of texts for this period, which adds a lot of insight and colour to our understandings of the stone breakers and consequently the changing relationship between the monument and the people that lived around it.

By Chapter 8, the book has moved through several different phases from describing the prehistoric landscape (with which the authors are obviously familiar), to the Roman to Saxon landscape (about which there are varying amounts of relevant evidence) to moving finally towards the Medieval and post-medieval periods. In so doing the character of the narrative of the book alters markedly along its way. The earlier two phases are most generally understood through reference to archaeological material and are at different times primarily concerned with what was built and when. Although, as previously suggested, there is a consistent attempt to engage with the changing perceptions of people towards Avebury; by necessity these types of interpretations for these periods remain rather vague. In contrast, from the post-medieval period and into the modern period the discussion becomes more and more directed towards the perception and treatment of Avebury by individuals rather than populations and particularly by named actors. Accordingly, the contrast between the two halves of the book does much to reveal the differences between archaeology and history and the types of narratives they accommodate.

The final chapters (Chapters 9 and 10) represent a third and last phase within the book. The concentration on named actors continues but becomes more and more related to archaeologists and how they have treated the monument. Whilst this is a symptom of the archaeological consciousness that emerged during the period covered by these chapters an unfortunate side effect is that for the first time within the book there are few references to how Avebury was perceived by every day people.

Chapter 9 deals primarily with the growth of archaeology as a discipline and provides a rapid potted history of the development of archaeological theory and practice during the nineteenth century. The chapter also outlines the effects of these developments on Avebury outlining the first question-led excavations at Avebury and its first scheduling as a protected monument in 1882.

 Conclusion

Overall, Avebury by Gillings and Pollard is a thoroughly researched and well written book. In particular, the writing style is easy to read and the experience is lightened by some amusing section headings (my favourite was “The marmalade man cometh”). Due to the nature of the subject matter there is little new knowledge presented in the work and it primarily represents a synthesis of existing work. Despite this the full chronological coverage of the book will mean that there should be something new for most to learn. Furthermore, the book is clearly not in “competition” with other academic texts on Avebury, of which there are many, as its project (to outline the known history of Avebury from Mesolithic to the present day) is quite different to any other work. Accordingly the book alters in style several times resulting in it being something of an amalgam of Barrett's (1994) Fragments from Antiquity , Bender's Stonehenge : making space (1998) and Chippindale's (1987) Stonehenge Complete .

Perhaps the best feature of Avebury as the subject for a historical study of the changing relationship between a local community and a prehistoric monument is the proximity of the two and the symbiotic relationship that has developed between them. This provides an excellent means to understand “the past in the past” and also a means to see how prehistoric monuments have gradually become “archaeological sites”; academic entities rather than unquestioned components of the landscape. Given this, it is a shame that the authors only skimmed over what might be called the “post-archaeological” reinterpretation and re-appropriation of Avebury by New Age spiritualists and contemporary pagans. The current tensions that exist between them, the archaeological community (including English Heritage and the National Trust) and the local Avebury people would perhaps have provided a more fitting endpoint to the book.

References

Barrett, J. C. 1994 Fragments from Antiquity. An archaeology of social life in Britain , 2900-1200 BC . Oxford : Blackwell.

Bender, B. 1998 Stonehenge : making space. Oxford : Berg.

Chippindale, C. 1987 Stonehenge Complete. Thames and Hudson

The Reviewer

Dr. Ben Chan works for ARCUS, an archaeological research consultancy and contracting unit attached the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield . His work for ARCUS covers a wide variety of responsibilities ranging from conducting evaluations and excavations of Industrial sites to carrying out analysis of excavated lithics assemblages. His main research interests include the study of prehistoric technologies, lithic analysis, surface survey and Neolithic and Bronze Age southern Britain . From October 2006 he will be working as a Research Assistant conducting lithics analysis for the Stonehenge Riverside Project.

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