Integrating archaeoastronomy with landscape archaeology: Silbury Hill – a case study
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 220–225
Pub. online: 20 December 2008
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
30 October 2007
30 October 2007
Revised
17 September 2008
17 September 2008
Published
20 December 2008
20 December 2008
Abstract
Weaknesses in both archaeoastronomy and landscape archaeology can be overcome by their combination. This is demonstrated through a new interpretation of Silbury Hill in Avebury, Wiltshire. If monuments in their local landscape are considered as one choice in a system of alternatives, tests can be devised to interpret the prehistoric builders‘ intentions. This exercise finds that the builders chose a prescriptive arrangement of views of Silbury Hill to simulate a facsimile of the moon entering and returning from the underworld.