Archaeoastronomy in the British Isles - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 64

probably two or three generations of them took the trouble to watch
the moonrise and line it up. Whatever else it may have symbolized,
the alignment of the Cove embodies and immortalizes their effort,
and whatever their primary status in the community there is no
reason for us not to refer to them descriptively as astronomers. If
their main jobs were as shamans, priests, witchdoctors or vets, then
perhaps we should call them amateur astronomers, but astronomers
beyond doubt - unless, of course, the alignment is a coincidence.
If there were only the North Circle Cove of Avebury to go on,
it might be possible to argue that it was coincidence. To paraphrase
the Goons, “every Cove has to point somewhere,” although, as
shown above, after you have laid out a circle the changing positions
of the Moon on the horizon should start to impress themselves on
you, and lead naturally to an observing program. However, there
is a lot more than Avebury to go on; in fact, it was not until the
plan of Avebury was finalized and completion was in sight that the
action elsewhere really started.
According to Burl's timetable, work on the two circles within
the Avebury complex began about 2600 b.c. Work on a third circle
was abandoned in 2500 b.c. and instead a great ditch and bank
were begun, an earthwork project comparable with Silbury Hill. It,
and the stone ring within it, completely enclosing the earlier cir-
cles, were completed around 2400 b.c., and work began on the two
stone-lined avenues, West Kennet and Beckhampton, which took
another century to complete. It was not until then that the blue-
stones were brought from Wales to Stonehenge, although some
authorities think they had been on their way for centuries, and
possibly were set up for a time at three sites en route.
At any rate, around 2200 b.c. Stonehenge II was begun as a
double ring of bluestones at the center of the bank-and-ditch ring
that was already nearly 700 years old. Stonehenge II was half com-
pleted when the plan was changed and the bluestones removed, to
be replaced by the sarsen lintels and trilithons which we think of
as “Stonehenge” today (Fig. 4.16 ). After several more changes of
plan, the bluestones were erected in an inner circle and a horse-
shoe lined up with the main axis, towards midsummer sunrise.
That takes us to about 1550 b.c., and there was still more (nonas-
tronomical) work to be done on the Avenue; but a great deal had
been happening elsewhere in the meantime.