This final lecture of the current series is about the Neolithic monument of Avebury and the exciting new interpretations that are emerging from new campaigns of fieldwork and archive investigation. One of the pre-eminent monumental landscapes of Europe, Avebury has been vexing researchers since its discovery as an object of antiquarian enquiry in the mid 17th century. However, despite nearly 400 years of study, what we don’t know about Avebury still dwarfs what we do. In an attempt to rectify this, the last decade has seen a burst of new studies at the site; investigations that are not only challenging and unsettling accepted stories, but also shedding remarkable new light on the emergence and history of this monumental landscape.
The speaker, Professor Mark Gillings, is a landscape archaeologist based in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology of the University of Bristol. He fell in love with Avebury as a child after watching Children of the Stones (from behind the sofa, naturally) and has been carrying out fieldwork at the site with his friend Josh Pollard (University of Southampton) for nigh on 30 years.
To book a place for the in-person talk or to register for the simultaneous online broadcast click here to be taken to the museum’s website.
The Museum Winter Lecture series is sponsored by The Friends