While transcribing Denis Grant King’s journals, it has struck me how little mention there is of tensions in Europe caused by Hitler and Germany. Of course, my view comes with the gift of hindsight with full knowledge of the tsunami that is about to crash across Europe in the form of the Second World War. […]
Cataloguing correspondence for the digitisation project may appear to be a dry old business, but in fact it’s often pretty interesting and every now and then it throws up a real gem of a letter. Below is a copy of a letter which caught our attention this week (typed on ‘flimsy’ paper – thin sheets […]
By Dushyant Naresh (MSc Digital Archaeology, University of York) I’ve never really believed in magic, or the supernatural, or a higher power. But I have to admit that there is something undoubtedly magical about Avebury and the prehistoric landscape it is nestled in. Maybe it’s the size of the stones, or how large the circles […]
[First posted 18 September 2023; edited 21 November 2023] Our call for submissions closed at midnight, end of day Monday 20 November. You can find an archive version of the artist brief via this Google doc. But please note that we will not be accepting further submissions. To sign up to notifications regarding more Archaeology […]
The inspiration for writing this blog came from finding an axe whilst trawling through the archive of weird and wonderful objects held in the Alexander Keiller Museum at Avebury. Most of the objects in the museum were found during archaeological excavations and are boxed along with crucial information on which excavation they were uncovered by, […]
During photography in the Stables library attic, we’re continuing to find a lot of interesting drawings, posters, and maps, some are archaeological, and others are a bit different. Here are a select few. This cartoon was made by Denis Grant King During the 1939 excavation of the South East sector at Avebury. The cartoon has […]
One of the reasons I got involved with the Avebury project was because I am a Wiccan/Pagan, and the stones are an important spiritual site for those people following a similar spiritual path. I am particularly interested to learn when the site became a popular place for like-minded “Witchy folk” to visit. I am currently […]
Visitors to Avebury recently may have witnessed the odd sight of two people walking around with cameras on the end of long poles. Certainly, many people came up to ask what we were doing, and no, it wasn’t part of a mysterious mid-summer ritual! The truth is sadly more mundane. Adam Stanford of SUMO GeoSurveys […]
*Content warning: drawings of a human skull at the end of the post* Whilst organising the stables archive there have been some interesting discoveries, here are some of them: These mounted pictures of dinosaurs were used as a museum display piece! From left to right we have a styracosaurus, an iguanodon, and a ceratosaurus. During […]
Here in the archive, we are gearing up for round two of photography. We are moving the photography equipment to the stables archive where we have a lot of our larger maps and plans stored. But before we make the move we have to make sure everything is in order. To make sure photography at […]