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Prehistoric Avebury Paperback – 3 May 2002

by Aubrey Burl (Author)

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An account of the prehistoric stone circles at Avebury, which not only date from an earlier era but are also larger than the more famous sarsen stone circle of Stonehenge. Written by an archaeologist, the text considers aspects of Avebury's history and construction and discusses the probable purpose of these massive structures, in the process seeking to create a vivid and moving picture of their creators - a primitive people whose lives were brief, savage and fearful.

ISBN-10

0300090870
ISBN-13

978-0300090871
Edition

2nd
Publisher

Yale University Press
Publication date

3 May 2002
Language

English
Dimensions

15.24 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm
Print length

320 pages
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Product description

Review

"In this beautifully illustrated book, Aubrey Burl combines both archaeological and historical evidence to present an absorbing account of the mysterious stone monuments at Avebury and the life of the primitive people who erected them nearly 5000 years ago." -- Publishers Weekly

"This beautifully illustrated book discusses Avebury today, where one can still wander among these fascinating stones, and relates the destruction of and excavations at this prehistoric site." -- Science News

'[a] masterly account of Britain's largest stone circle ... thorough, intelligent and, above all, wonderfully readable' -- Christopher Hirst, Independent, 29 June 2002

About the Author

Aubrey Burl was formerly principal lecturer in archaeology, Hull College of Higher Education, East Riding of Yorkshire. He is also the author of Great Stone Circles: Fables, Fictions, Facts (0 300 07689 4, [pound]22.50*), Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany (0 300 08347 5, [pound]40.00*), Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany (0 300 06331 8, pb. [pound]10.95*) and From Carnac to Callanish: The Prehistoric Stone Rows and Avenues of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany (0 300 05575 7, [pound]40.00*), all published by Yale University Press.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; 2nd edition (3 May 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300090870
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300090871
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 415,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 89 in Prehistory
- 240 in Prehistoric Archaeology
- 648 in Archaeology by Region

Customer reviews:
10 ratings

Steve Marshall
62
Paperback
23 offers from £9.99

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AJMatyla

Excellent source, well written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 5 March 2015

Verified Purchase

Excellent book for considering both Neolithic developments and various interpretations of both Avebury and other sites.

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Malcolm

The other half of visiting the site

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 22 August 2008

This book is excellent. Really taking you back into a world of people long gone but who left a momument that has outlasted everything. If you are planning a visit to the site, or have ever been there, then this is the other half of that visit. Hard to put down, always interesting and richly illustrated, this is a gem of a book that will deeply enrich your visit.

4 people found this helpful

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Stephen A. Haines

Your ancestors revealed!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 23 September 2003

A priceless treasure of information about the Neolithic world, this work will long endure. The physical evidence described here is enhanced with carefully derived suppositions about why stone circles, avenues, burial sites, ditches and banks were built. Burl has a keen analytical mind. He weaves inferences about Neolithic lifestyles with the information garnered from the available evidence. While the information he presents is almost overwhelming in its complexity, Burl's writing style keeps the account lively. You aren't submerged in arcane mysteries nor scholarly pedantry. His adroit presentation keeps your attention captured as he leads you through the likely history of Avebury, Stonehenge and other Neolithic communities.
"Communities" is a word you will have in mind throughout this narrative. Burl reminds us that Avebury's structures were built by normal people. They lived in the region, farmed, dug ditches, herded cattle and pigs, erected stones, traded with neighbours, and died. Life, he asserts frequently, was tenuous and brief. From this he derives their culture put much time and energy in dealing with the dead. Ancestor worship? Probably. Fertility rituals? Almost certainly. All this activity, however, was chiefly pragmatic. Neolithic society tried to propitiate spirits it could comprehend.
Burl scorns the modern mystical interpretations of Avebury and other sites. He lightly dismisses the astronomical alignments as overblown. The henges and stone circles may have marked some solar and lunar moon-rises and -sets, but only in a general way. These people had practical needs, he says. Precision alignments of stones or posts would be excessive effort. Much work went into just building these structures. Enough information to launch certain seasonal festivals or a reminder of births or deaths was sufficient. Burl has gleaned enough information to outline the growth and decline of prehistoric societies, with the Stonehenge ultimately supplanting Avebury in dominance of the area.
The text is enhanced with a finely balanced mixture of diagrams, old and new illustrations of people and places involved, topped off by a collection of excellent coloured photographs. One of the few shortcomings in this book is the selectivity of his Bibliography. Many works cited in the Notes are not listed there. Whether to keep the list short or to emphasise favoured works is obscure. A minor point, but a nuisance when delving further into the topic. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

17 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Enjoyable and packed with information

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 18 October 2004

How does Aubrey Burl do it? Generally books on archaeology are of two types: sensationalist or dry. In this book, Burl manages to write a definitive, scholarly guide to Avebury, while being entertaining, warm and realistic. It can only be heartily recommended.

3 people found this helpful

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Prehistoric Avebury Paperback – 3 May 2002

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