Roman settlement found next to 'devil's hill'
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
10/03/2007
Evidence of a Roman sacred site has been discovered at the foot of a man-made hill created thousands of years before the Romans arrived in Britain, it was announced yesterday.
Silbury hill: The original purpose and use of the man-made Neolithic hill still mystifies archaeologists
English Heritage called the uncovering of the settlement a "startling discovery", and all the more so because it lies next to 5,000-year-old Silbury hill, which at 130ft is Europe's largest man-made prehistoric monument.
The original purpose and use of the Neolithic hill, which took an estimated 20 million man hours to make, still mystifies archaeologists.
Yesterday's disclosure indicates that a Roman community was equally taken with the Wiltshire hill and established a sacred settlement in its shadow, some 3,000 years after it was created.
The discovery of a settlement the size of 24 football pitches is "quite unexpected" said Dr Amanda Chadburn, an English Heritage archaeologist and team leader.
"Although there were hints - the odd Roman coin kicking around - that the Romans were doing something around there we did not know what. This is an important Roman settlement."
The site straddled the Roman road from London to Bath where it crossed the Winterbourne River.
But it was more than just a way station for weary travellers. The Romans were as intrigued by Silbury as people are today, and there is even a tantalising hint of a temple.
"There are a lot of legends about it being built by the devil and you wonder what the Romans thought about it," said Dr Chadburn.
telegraph.co.uk
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SILBURY HILL
The nearby traffic gives you an idea of the enormous size of it.
Silbury Hill (grid referenceSU100685), part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet Long Barrow), is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the world's largest.
Moses B. Cotworth stated at the beginning of the 20th century that Silbury was a giant sundial to determine seasons and the true length of the year. More recently, the writer Michael Dames has identified Silbury Hill as the winter goddess, but he finally acknowledges that the monument remains a stupendous enigma.
The exact purpose of the hill is unknown. According to legend, this is the last resting place of King Sil, sitting on a fabled golden horse. Another legend states that the mound holds a lifesize solid gold statue of King Sil and yet a third, that the Devil was carrying an apron of soil to drop on the citizens of Marlborough, but he was stopped by the priests of nearby Avebury.
Michael Dames (see References) put forward a composite theory of seasonal rituals, in an attempt to explain Silbury Hill and its associated sites (West Kennet Long Barrow, the Avebury henge, The Sanctuary and Windmill Hill), from which the summit of Silbury Hill is visible.
Paul Devereux (see References) observes that Silbury and its surrounding monuments appear to have been designed with a system of inter-related sightlines, focusing on the step several metres below the summit. From various surrounding barrows and from Avebury, the step aligns with hills on the horizon behind Silbury, or else with hills in front of Silbury, leaving only the topmost part visible. In the latter case, Devereux hypothesises that ripe cereal crops grown on the intervening hill would perfectly cover the upper portion of Silbury with the top of the corn and the top of Silbury coinciding.
wikipedia.org
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
10/03/2007
Evidence of a Roman sacred site has been discovered at the foot of a man-made hill created thousands of years before the Romans arrived in Britain, it was announced yesterday.
Silbury hill: The original purpose and use of the man-made Neolithic hill still mystifies archaeologists
English Heritage called the uncovering of the settlement a "startling discovery", and all the more so because it lies next to 5,000-year-old Silbury hill, which at 130ft is Europe's largest man-made prehistoric monument.
The original purpose and use of the Neolithic hill, which took an estimated 20 million man hours to make, still mystifies archaeologists.
Yesterday's disclosure indicates that a Roman community was equally taken with the Wiltshire hill and established a sacred settlement in its shadow, some 3,000 years after it was created.
The discovery of a settlement the size of 24 football pitches is "quite unexpected" said Dr Amanda Chadburn, an English Heritage archaeologist and team leader.
"Although there were hints - the odd Roman coin kicking around - that the Romans were doing something around there we did not know what. This is an important Roman settlement."
The site straddled the Roman road from London to Bath where it crossed the Winterbourne River.
But it was more than just a way station for weary travellers. The Romans were as intrigued by Silbury as people are today, and there is even a tantalising hint of a temple.
"There are a lot of legends about it being built by the devil and you wonder what the Romans thought about it," said Dr Chadburn.
telegraph.co.uk
***********************************************
SILBURY HILL
The nearby traffic gives you an idea of the enormous size of it.
Silbury Hill (grid referenceSU100685), part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet Long Barrow), is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the world's largest.
Moses B. Cotworth stated at the beginning of the 20th century that Silbury was a giant sundial to determine seasons and the true length of the year. More recently, the writer Michael Dames has identified Silbury Hill as the winter goddess, but he finally acknowledges that the monument remains a stupendous enigma.
The exact purpose of the hill is unknown. According to legend, this is the last resting place of King Sil, sitting on a fabled golden horse. Another legend states that the mound holds a lifesize solid gold statue of King Sil and yet a third, that the Devil was carrying an apron of soil to drop on the citizens of Marlborough, but he was stopped by the priests of nearby Avebury.
Michael Dames (see References) put forward a composite theory of seasonal rituals, in an attempt to explain Silbury Hill and its associated sites (West Kennet Long Barrow, the Avebury henge, The Sanctuary and Windmill Hill), from which the summit of Silbury Hill is visible.
Paul Devereux (see References) observes that Silbury and its surrounding monuments appear to have been designed with a system of inter-related sightlines, focusing on the step several metres below the summit. From various surrounding barrows and from Avebury, the step aligns with hills on the horizon behind Silbury, or else with hills in front of Silbury, leaving only the topmost part visible. In the latter case, Devereux hypothesises that ripe cereal crops grown on the intervening hill would perfectly cover the upper portion of Silbury with the top of the corn and the top of Silbury coinciding.
wikipedia.org
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