16 replies to this topic

[Pete G]

Hooray hooray the first of May!
The Silbury dig, starts today!





PeteG

[stonecarver]

Hi Pete,

does the post mean you think that Silbury is a 'site in danger' ? or that the exacavation is preventing something that otherwise places it at risk? Maybe it's just Monday and I'm not with it yet... I was like... is this news of impending doom? or a response to doom I didn't know about...

[Anew]

Pete G, on 1 May 2007, 6:57, said:

Hooray hooray the first of May!
The Silbury dig, starts today!





PeteG

Pete's Silbury photo:

 SilburyMay1.jpg   28.16K   0 downloads

Hoo-Haa

It would be great if they map the shapes & locations of the stones in the hidden ring; and as well the compass points of the radial strings . It mayn't be a bad idea to check for spores (they'll find some), and spore prints, (more difficult but more significant), of liberty cap mushrooms - perhaps at center or on the shells / stones / bones .  A cast of the tooth & caudal vertebra might be well, (significant if the tooth matched a jaw found elsewhere) . A look beneath the ground surface at center could yield something, (as always) .

[stonecarver]

Obsession with the centre of prehistoric monuments again....

A quick look at the relevant books should by now have convinced people that the centre of monuments is not where the 'most interesting bits' are often to be found.

the excellent book:-

British Barrows: A Matter of Life and Death by Ann Woodward ISBN 0-7524-1468-2

and any number of books on prehsitoric minuments indicate that the centres of monuments often don't hold the most interesting deposits. There's a modern fascination with the centre... when the perihery might have been more important in the past.

Anyway, why exactly is the news about the Silbury dig in the 'Monuments at Risk' category and not in the 'News' ?

[Pete G]

stonecarver, on 1 May 2007, 12:27, said:

Hi Pete,

does the post mean you think that Silbury is a 'site in danger' ? or that the exacavation is preventing something that otherwise places it at risk? Maybe it's just Monday and I'm not with it yet... I was like... is this news of impending doom? or a response to doom I didn't know about...

well this is a very serious dig.
The 1969 tunnel has to be emptied then backfilled with chalk.
Then the real problem bit starts. Taking out the huge polystyrene blocks from the top.
This has the danger of a possible side collapse which would be catastrophic.
To me this makes it a site in danger until the job is done.
PeteG

[stonecarver]

Is the monument made from blocks of chalk? why was the polystyrene inserted in the first place? If it was to stabilisise it because of an excavation - were was the excacavated material stored? couldn't that have just been put back in?

What are they hoping to achieve through the excavation? is it merely to stabilise the structure? Given it's size, anything other than an area excavation of the full monument is merely tinkering... a little like treasure-hunting. The complexity of large monuments (such as the pyramids or stonehenge) shows that they need to be understood in pleno.

But yes, if the exercise is to stabilise the monument, then this is indeed the right place to post it...

[shiny]

Stonecarver..............
A good source of information about what's going on around Stonehenge, Avebury and the Silbury Hill area is a website called "Eternal Idol."

If you Google your way onto the site, in the right hand column, under Media Links, you'll find a half hour BBC TV program that explains the history of the explorations of Silbury Hill.

"Silbury Hill........The Hill With The Hole."

I don't know about anyone else but it made me angry.

Nobody seems to know where the original excavated chalk went, all part of the shambles.

[Pete G]

stonecarver, on 1 May 2007, 13:44, said:

Is the monument made from blocks of chalk? why was the polystyrene inserted in the first place? If it was to stabilisise it because of an excavation - were was the excacavated material stored? couldn't that have just been put back in?

What are they hoping to achieve through the excavation? is it merely to stabilise the structure? Given it's size, anything other than an area excavation of the full monument is merely tinkering... a little like treasure-hunting. The complexity of large monuments (such as the pyramids or stonehenge) shows that they need to be understood in pleno.

But yes, if the exercise is to stabilise the monument, then this is indeed the right place to post it...

When the first collapse happened at the top of the hill it was discovered that the 1777 dig did not fill in the 30M hole but threw the spoil over the side making a spiral step that is visible today.
It was also discovered that the BBC failed to backfill the Atkinson tunnel from the 1969 dig.
UFO hunters climbed into the top of the hill one night causing a second major collapse which left a huge hourglass shaped hole inside the hill.
EH placed a plastic sheet inside the hole and filled it with blocks and capped it with chalk.
All this will be removed and the hill fixed forever.
EH details here Dumbed down EH lastest news

PeteG

[Pete G]

More photos here,
Silbury Photo diary
PeteG

[Pete G]

First EH Silbury update (PDF)
News of the first finds from the hill,
PeteG

[Pete G]

STATEMENT
Temporary halt to Silbury Hill conservation project.
English Heritage have had to temporarily halt the repair works at Silbury Hill
because of complications caused by instability above the central Atkinson chamber within the centre of the Hill,
which has also been exacerbated by the volume of rainfall in the last week or so.
Our expert archaeologists and engineers are developing a solution to take the project forward, with the aim to stabilise the Hill for the long term.
We will issue a new programme for the completion of the works as soon as possible.


This is as serious as it gets folks.
If you get the chance to photograph the hill do it now as its shape may change forever!
PeteG

[stonecarver]

There is mention of them having found some sarsen.... any further details?

[Pete G]

stonecarver, on 30 July 2007, 18:00, said:

There is mention of them having found some sarsen.... any further details?

They have opened a trench at the top and found several sarsen fragments and 2 apparently large stones.
Everything has stopped and the trench left open until Skanska and EH decide what to do about the collapse inside.
PeteG

[shiny]

This thread has got a bit neglected, I 'll try to put that right,



  Pete Glastonbury has been submitting pictures at intervals over the past 6 or 7 months..........

  http://www.users.myi...ilbury2007.html



  And.........English Heritage have released update number 27..................


   http://www.english-h.../show/nav.17511

[Pete G]

Hi Shiny,
normaly I would have posted much more info and many more photos and panoramics on a dig this size and of this importance.
However since the dig started a small handfull of fundamentalist heritage activists with a personal axe to grind have used the info as ammunition to bash English Heritage at every opportunity.
Because of this I have refrained from posting as much as I normally would have.
Once again a small group of bullies ruin things for everyone.

Once the dig has finished I will release a small selection of panoramics taken inside the tunnel and a selection of photos on the internet and release much more as a Dvd later in the year.
PeteG