Avebury Geometry Pt. 2. - Windmill & Silbury Hill alignments & the crop circle hexagram

Pic. 1. Avebury Henge 

In the previous post;

 "Avebury Geometry Pt. 1. - finding the practical centre of the Avebury mechanism & the cross-quarter day lozenge; https://ancientwhisperspenwith.blogspot.com/2018/11/avebury-geometry.html

 - we established a practical centre for the Avebury mechanism. This post examines some surrounding features & how they relate to this point.

Avebury Geometry Pt. 2. - Windmill & Silbury Hill alignments & the crop circle hexagram 

Windmill Hill straight line earthwork & Avebury Henge 

Pic. 2, Windmill hill earthworks, straight line earthwork running from field boundary to the Great Bell Barrow on the summit

 Windmill Hill Neolithic causewayed enclosure & barrows lie to the North-West of Avebury Henge in the direction of the decimal or general mid-summer sunset. It has been found to have been in use well over 1000 years before Avebury Henge existed. 

  During my visits there I have always took note of a straight linear earthwork feature that runs from the west side of the Great Bell Barrow near the summit, down to the bottom of the hill in a North-West (Mid-Summer sunset) direction (see Pic.1.). At the bottom of the hill this line continues as a field boundary line up to the summit of a smaller hill or rising (see “Windmill Hill satellite images 1,2 &3” – note the crop circle “ghost” in Satellite images 2 & 3 to the NE of Avebury Henge - more later). From this smaller hill the linear earthwork would mark a line visible on Windmill Hill marking the direction of the decimal or general mid-winter sunrise.

      A

    B

Pics 3, A & B: Windmill Hill earthworks with a straight line earthwork running from the trees to the Great Bell Barrow.

Sat. image 1; Windmill Hill with straight line earthwork becoming field boundary.

Map. 1. Avebury Henge, Silbury Hill & Windmill hill

Sat. image 2; Windmill Hill & Avebury Henge, with crop circle "ghost"

                                 (Click on image to enlarge)

  I have never seen this line included on archaeological plans of the site (not even on the Ordinance Survey maps) so I have no idea how old this feature is, the fact that there is a boundary stone set in its’ upper termination, next to the great bell barrow, is also intriguing. This linear earthwork is visible in most aerial photographs & satellite images , also on the O.S. map it is possible to locate it as it has a footpath that runs alongside. The footpath runs in a straight line from the summit of the smaller hill to the great bell-barrow in the direction of the M-W. sunset, suggesting an old procession way (this footpath is a beautiful walk on a sunny spring day!)

  However ancient or modern this linear earthwork is, it is the thing that drew me into the workings of Avebury Henge. I noticed that the South-East termination, not only pointed towards the Henge, but seemed to head for the Oblelisk marker in particular. After plotting this alignment on an O.S. map & plan of the old workings, I realised that it entered the Henge at the exaggerated “corner” feature in the N.W. sector, ran alongside the S.W. edge of the North circle, passed through the Obelisk marker & out of the Henge towards the site of “Falkners stone circle” (see Diagram 1. below [red line])”

                           Diagram  1. The Windmill Hill Solstice Alignment “channel”

Note above that the black (Cove) & red (Obelisk) lines each run through the centre feature of one circle then run along the edge of the other.

Fig. 1.the geometric Sun & Moon limit directions

The two remaining stones of The Cove, central feature of the northernmost inner circle at Avebury

  A parallel line can be drawn through the Cove which runs along the edge of the southern circle that also has the same edge/central feature alignment ( Diagram 1. above [black line]). Also, in the chart, I have drawn in corresponding lines from the outer edges of both circles (blue lines) & the line through the “practical centre” (purple line). A relationship can be seen with this alignment & the positioning of the circles, for instance the lines that pass through the cove & the obelisk also each have edge alignments with the other circle.

                              Diagram  2 Some other apparent channels

     In Diagram 2 we see our Windmill Hill channel now coloured yellow. The core of this channel (white) is formed by the lines running through the central features (Cove & Obelisk) with the “practical center” line in the middle, while the outer channel (yellow) is formed by the outer edges of each circle. Channels formed by the two crossed edge alignments (discussed in Pt. 1.) have been added (red core – Max Full-Moon & blue core – Equinox).

  Also added are the central feature (Cove/Obelisk) alignment channel (brown, no core) & the Silbury Hill channel (green core).

   The Cove/Obelisk channel (brown, no core) is at 340 deg. Or 20 deg. West of North. The outer edge lines do not quite touch both circles as they lie at a 5 deg. Clockwise rotation.

  The Silbury Hill channel (green) runs from 10 deg.  and after passing through Henge corners, circle edges & central features (just like the Windmill Hill channel), heads towards Silbury Hill. This channel has the same width & core width as the Windmill Hill channel but what is interesting about this is that the core of this channel is the same size as the diameter of the cap of Silbury Hill, while the outer (circle edge) lines have the same width as the diameter of the base of Silbury Hill (see Diagram 3 below), this might challenge the idea that the man made hill was originally conical at the top & had the top flattened in roman times. because of the exact height of Silbury Hill i think it would have been useful for observation from it's creation aprox. 4000 years ago.

  It can be seen that the channel cores all have crossing points  at a particular distance from the practical center which means a circle can be drawn at this distance ( as in diagram 2 below). Note that a circle of this size seems to correspond with the shape of the South-East  quarter of the Henge bank.

  The gaps around this circle to the N-E, the N-W & the S-W all look like hills so lead me to suspect that the outer ring serves as an adapter to convert the geometric/general orientations to local ones taking skyline & location into account.

 The crossing channels form many quadrangles & triangles within & overlapping the circle, for instance it can be seen that the blue channel (max full-Moon) with the brown channel (Cove/Obelisk) form a parallelogram with its’ acute angles pointing North & south & its’ obtuse angles pointing in a Mid-Sum. Set, Mid-Win.  Rise orientation. These lozenges seem to dictate certain proportions & spacing of the mechanism features.

  Other interesting points include crossing points on many of the lips of the apertures or gaps on the N,S, E & W of the henge. Also, there is a fifth smaller gap just North of the Eastern gap that looks as if it could or could not be intentional. The amount of linear activity at this point (also in other studies) suggests this may be a peep hole for certain Sun/Moon rises observed from different points in the workings, it almost certainly serves as a peep hole for the full moon at maximum rise to hit the Obelisk & cast a shadow into the exaggerated point of the south western henge portion.

  The small section of henge bank between the peephole & the main eastern aperture measures 10 degrees in respect to the practical centre, this means that the midsummer sunrise would appear at the other side on the north bank edge of the main eastern aperture, also casting an obelisk shadow.

As stated earlier, the south-west quarter of the henge bank looks like part of a circular arc with the practical centre as it's rotation point. If this circle is continued (with compasses) it seems to pass through lots of points where different channels cross (see diagram 3. below).

Diagram 3. Practical Circle & different channels named

   Because of bad planning (on my part) & bad scanning the channels are different colours but they are all labelled so it doesn't really matter.

   Notice that the channels  of the Silbury Hill (green) & Windmill Hill (red) channels are the same size in edge & core widths. 

  On the practical circle, the Obelisk, Cove & practical centre lines, on these 2 channels are 10 degrees apart, for instance the Windmill Hill (red) channel core provide the directions for the Solstice, Full Moon Maximum & the Full Moon Minimum from the practical centre.

   The width of all the channels & cores are of course determined by the circle dimensions & placement & by the distance between the central features (Cove & Obelisk) at any given angle. It's as if geometric permission to build Silbury Hill was taken from Windmill Hill.

   Silbury Hill was constructed between 2400 - 2300 BC, thought to coincide with the placement of the outer stone circle of Avebury. It's the largest man-made prehistoric mound in Europe & lies at an angle of 10 degrees west of south from Avebury centre. The diagram above shows that the position of the 2 inner circles & centre features seem to dictate the dimensions of Silbury Hill base & cap.

                    Pic. 4. Silbury Hill largest man-made mound in Europe

Pic. 5,  Silbury Hill & Avebury Henge

Sat. image 3; Avebury henge showing positions of Silbury Hill & Windmill Hill & crop circle "ghost"

                                               (Click on image to enlarge)


The Crop Circle

  I have shown 2 satellite images containing what is said to be a crop circle (even though it's hexagonal) "ghost". What this is is a gradually deteriorated version of the original image that appears in subsequent crops for a few years after. - presumably those pesky fakers return yearly to somehow perform this with their boards & string away from the vigilant eyes of local farmers whom many think crop circles bring much trouble. Their attention to detail for the sake of a prank is astounding!
   While I was studying satellite images for this work (a number of years back) The ghost of the 2005 hexagonal crop image was shown. I noticed that the outer edges facing SW - NE lined up with the Obelisk & Cove, the central features of the 2 inner circles. That meant that the centre line of the crop image was aligned with the practical centre of the Avebury mechanism.

Pic. 6. The summer 2005 crop image "ghost"- NE of Avebury henge as it appeared a few years later.

Pic. 7. 2005 crop image facing 50 degrees from Avebury practical centre, a solstice direction

Sat. image 4, "Ghost" appearing 2 years after original crop image in 2005, outside edges lining up with the Cove & the Obelisk.

Pic 8. 2005 Crop Circle, Avebury Henge & Silbury Hill - (photo by Steve Alexander)


  So the crop image seemed to be just as geometrically placed as all the ancient features in the Avebury landscape. Having something justifying the practical centre not long after I'd identified it was exciting.

As there was a big hexagram pointing to the centre of the mechanism, I decided to draw one in on the practical circle. When I did I instantly noticed a strong relationship.

Diagram 4. the crop circle hexagram within the Avebury mechanism

All of the spurs of the star were pointing to places on the circle where the cores of the channels created by the Cove & Obelisk passed.  The north & south spurs were pointing to points where the Silbury Hill channel core & the Obelisk/Cove axis channel circle edge alignments cross.

I then noticed that the Windmill Hill channel & the Silbury Hill channel cores & centres were at 10 degree intervals around the practical circle so I rotated the hexagram star 10 degrees East of North so that the south spur of the star pointed directly to the center of the Silbury Hill channel. Instantly it made even more sense as the spurs & shoulders of the star all lined up with channel core centres.

Diagram 5. Avebury mechanism, hexagram at 10 degree tilt

As can be seen above, (the circles edge alignments have been removed leaving just the channel cores) the Silbury Hill, Windmill Hill & Cove/Obelisk axis are all indicated but also the geometric max. full. moon limit from SW - NE which is one of the two crossed edge alignments between the inner circles.

This indicates that the crossed edge alignments of the inner circles provide a guide to line up a hexagram in two different positions. The first as in diagram 4 (& Fig. 2) lining up with the equinox cross alignment. In this position North & South are indicated by the top & bottom spurs, East (Equinox rise) & West (Equinox set) by the side shoulders & all full moon minimum limit directions by the diagonal spurs.

  The second position, provided by lining up with the SW-NE cross edge alignment (as in Fig. 3), lines up with the moon maximum (40 deg.) direction. This conforms with the Silbury Hill channel providing the 10 deg. tilt to indicate the Windmill Hill (solstice) channel, also the Cove/Obelisk axis is picked up by the NNW-SSE shoulders.

The Hexagram

The hexagram star in its usual position (a spur pointing North) indicates North & South, East (Equinox Rise) & West (Equinox Set) & It's diagonal spurs indicate the Full Moon Minimum directions as can be seen in fig. 2. below.

Fig. 2. The hexagram indicating N, S, E, W & Full Moon Minimum directions

With a 10 degree tilt East of North, the NW & SE spurs indicate the Solstice line while the NE & SW shoulders pick up the Moon Maximum line as shown in Fig. 3. below.

Fig. 3. Hexagram at 10 degree tilt indicating a Solstice line & a Full Moon Maximum line

To pick up the 2 yet to be indicated lines (opposite Solstice & Moon Max.) you could of course just mirror the action of Fig. 3. above or you could rotate the hexagram a further 10 degrees (to 20 deg. East of North) for the same spur & shoulder to pick them up as in Fig. 4. below.

Fig. 4. Hexagram at 20 deg. tilt indicating the other Solstice & Full Moon Maximum lines

        In later posts I will use the Hexagram to unlock information from other sites, e.g. The Hurlers Stone Circles; 

(https://ancientwhisperspenwith.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-st-michaelmary-alignment-my.html) 

But my next will deal with a precise placement of the Saint Michael/Mary alignment & Avebury's position on it.