The DayAfter NOVEMBER 16-30, 2016 ISSUE | Page 65

tour & travel Theory of creation of Silbury Mound phase1 and phase 2 a golden horse. In the year 1663 Antiquarian and writer John Aubrey was on the way to show the Avebury Stone Circle to King Charles II when they spotted the Silbury Hill and they were told of the local legend. The other legend narrates that the Devil was going to empty a big sack of earth on the nearby town of Marlborough and he was forced to drop it here by the magic of the Priests! As per Antiquarian William Stukeley during excavation in 1723, a skeleton and an ancient bridle had been unearthed from the top of the hill! Could it be linked to King Sil, I wondered. Further evidence from Atkinson’s excavations suggested that the construction of the Silbury hill structure commenced in August which coincided with the ancient Celt Harvesting Festival. book at a Village shop that illuminated another perspective of the Silbury hill. The author of bestseller ‘Avebury Cycle’ has suggested that the Silbury Hill is a symbolic effigy of ancient Mother Goddess and is related to fertility rituals. Also, the name of the River Kennet that flows near the hill is said to be derived from River Cunnit taken from the word Cunt! Anon we also saw few sculptures of Silbury Goddess Avebury at the Village shop. An outline drawing was attached to one of them that said it to be the Neolithic figure of sitting Goddess with the Silbury Mound as its womb, giving birth to all. This was associated with Michael Dames book. Additionally interesting was the next sculpture whose caption read that the name of Phase 3 and 4 of creation of the mysterious ancient Chalk Silbury Mound The Carbon Dating of vast deposits of plants and insects-remains pointed towards this too. In the New- Stone - Age agriculture was widespread and at that time a monument like Silbury Hill was created to be used for this August Harvesting Festival. Another explanation for establishing the Silbury Mound is that it might have served as a precise Solar Observatory by means of shadows cast by the Mound itself on the level ground below. I had earlier read that the Meridian Line from Silbury-Hill runs through Avebury Stone Circles, Avebury Church that in turn stands on a Ley line to the famous Stonehenge! Ley lines are mystical alignments of man -made ancient sites or Holy places in a straight line ranging from 1, 2 to several miles in a landscape. Keeping in view the many British legends of Dragon slaying centers, Silbury was one of them and the ancient Celtic Druids ascertained this with a Geomancer’s Compass! MICHAEL DAMES THEORY Later we spotted unusual sculptures and the 1996 Michael Dames River Kennet is allied with the Indian word- Cunti or Kunda which means the Yoni of the Goddess that gives birth to all! Contradictory to this the famous Druid Ross Nichols believes that the ancient monument of West Kennet Long Barrow symbolizes Mother Goddess and the Silbury Hill on the other side symbolizes the masculinity!! RECENT PAST We read that finally the Tunnels were backfilled with Chalk and the Hill has been conserved by the English heritage since 2007-8. Visitors are restricted to viewing it from a distance and to safeguard the Chalk hill, climbing is not permitted. After a while we drove from the mysterious Silbury Hill, towards the nearby Avebury Stone circle – to try to unearth the secrets of this Neolithic age structure, all a part of large prehistoric landscape. Feedback on:[email protected] November 16-30, 2016 The Dayafter 65