I’ve been wandering in the past again, looking at a marvelous site on Avebury. It contains comprehensive information about the amazing Neolithic standing stones in southern England, including plans, maps, panoramic views, history and links to explore further.

Whereas Stonehenge has long been one of Britain’s most famous pre-historic sites, Avebury has been relatively unknown until recent times [because] much of the monument we see today had disappeared until Alexander Keiller resurrected it from the obscurity into which time and human behaviour had driven it. Stonehenge has stood upon Salisbury Plain always obvious to the eye and defiant of the weather but Avebury’s magnificence lay hidden, vandalised and ignored.” Now it is “one of the most important ancient sites in the British Isles. I’m amazed to learn that It is estimated that the henge and avenues originally contained in excess of 600 stones. So many have been destroyed that only 76 of them are now visible. Excavations and surveys in recent years have revealed that at least 20 others remain buried.

Besides the excellent research information, I enjoyed the personal notes by the author (name unknown), such as the story of his first encounter with the stones and his comments on the theories about Avebury. He writes that Avebury

in common with all of the many megaliths of the neolithic period, is something that lies outside of our experience, its purpose still demanding an explanation by our modern, scientific minds. These days my personal attitude towards it is merely one of delight that it exists. I’m certain that the people who built it had a perception of life and sensitivity to nature that is now quite alien to us. I like to imagine that they were also very altruistic, a trait that the love of money has largely eradicated from our modern world. Considering these points I now accept that the 4,500 years of history since has probably rendered us incapable of finding a path that would lead us to the correct explanation of Avebury’s many enigmas.

There are even “wallpapers” to download, one of which I chose to put above as a small illustration. (Thanks to plep for the link.)

You may find it interesting to compare Avebury’s standing stones to the ones in Sweden.

Addendum Dec.3.2005: I forgot to point out the page called plain stones where the author compares Avebury to other neolithic sites that have petroglyphs (carvings) and pictographs (paintings). Why were Avebury and Stonehenge left unadorned?

I’ve recently discovered Mayday 34°35’S 150°36’E, a “Finnish-Australian blog about survival in rural New South Wales”, Australia. Anni Heimo writes her posts in both Finnish and English.

The other day, I was pleasantly surprised to read: “Somewhere in 1990s, I was lucky enough to make a special trip, driving from Mozambique through South Africa to Zimbabwe to see, among other things, the rock paintings in the Matobo National Park.” Read about her experience and enjoy the lovely photos! I’m a bit envious, but inspired to learn a bit more about Zimbabwe’s rock art.

The beautiful Matobo Hills are steeped in the country’s history, and hold the highest density of San (Bushman) rock paintings in Africa. Matobo Hills was named world heritage site by UNESCO.

The area exhibits a profusion of distinctive rock landforms rising above the granite shield that covers much of Zimbabwe”. According to Wikipedia, “San (Bushmen) lived in the hills about 2,000 years ago, leaving a rich heritage in hundreds of rock paintings. In the many crevices and caves, clay ovens and other historic artefacts have been found…The hills are regarded as sacred by the Shona and many other peoples of Southern Africa. Many rituals and other religious activities are performed in the hills.

The wikipedia site has a few photos of the cave paintings and some unusual standing stones.

And of course the excellent Bradshaw Foundation pages (that I’ve mentioned several times in the past) include this site amongst the many in Africa, with a couple of gorgeous photos of the cave paintings, one of which is above.