Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument with three stone circles located near the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, southwest England. It is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in Britain and features the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. Today, it is a popular tourist destination and holds religious significance for modern pagans.
The monument was built over several hundred years during the third millennium BC, in the Neolithic period. It includes a large henge, which has a bank and a ditch, as well as a large outer stone circle and two smaller stone circles inside the center. The original purpose of the monument is unknown, but archaeologists believe it may have been used for rituals or ceremonies. Avebury is part of a larger prehistoric area that includes nearby sites such as West Kennet Long Barrow, Windmill Hill, and Silbury Hill.
By the Iron Age, the site was largely abandoned, though some human activity was recorded during the Roman period. In the Early Middle Ages, a village began to form near the monument and eventually grew into it. During the late medieval and early modern periods, many of the standing stones were destroyed by local people for religious and practical reasons. In the 17th and 18th centuries, historians John Aubrey and William Stukeley studied and documented the site as it was being damaged. In the 20th century, archaeologists such as Harold St George Gray and Alexander Keiller conducted research and helped restore parts of the monument.
Avebury is managed by the National Trust and is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a World Heritage Site. It is part of a larger area in Wiltshire called Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites. The village of Avebury and nearby areas, including Avebury Trusloe, Beckhampton, and West Kennett, are home to about 480 people living in 235 homes.
Location and environment
Avebury is located at grid reference SU10266996 and is approximately 6 to 7 miles (10 to 11 kilometers) from the modern towns of Marlborough and Calne. The monuments at the Avebury World Heritage Site cover about 8 3⁄4 square miles (23 square kilometers). Avebury lies in an area of chalkland within the Upper Kennet Valley, which is the region where the River Kennet collects water and supports local springs and seasonal streams. The monument is slightly higher than the surrounding area, sitting on a low chalk ridge 160 meters (520 feet) above sea level. To the east are the Marlborough Downs, a region of lowland hills.
The site is at the center of a group of Neolithic and early Bronze Age monuments. It was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1986, along with the monuments at Stonehenge, which is 17 miles (27 kilometers) to the south. Together, they are now part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site. These monuments are preserved to help people understand how prehistoric communities interacted with their environment.
Studies using radiocarbon dating and analysis of pollen and sometimes insect remains in buried soil show that the environment of lowland Britain changed around 4250–4000 BC. During the Neolithic period, clay-rich brown soils were common in the landscape formed by acidic conditions in a closed forest. These soils became more chalky due to human activity, such as clearing land.
The area originally had deep clay-rich brown soils in areas with lots of clay and chalky brown soils that were likely to turn into grassland. The shift from damp, heavy soils and dense forests to grassland was mainly caused by early farmers, probably through methods like cutting down trees and burning them. Environmental factors may also have played a role. The grassland formed a thick layer of vegetation, which eventually led to the loss of chalk in the soil. In the Mesolithic period, forests were dominated by alder, lime, elm, and oak trees. There was a major drop in pollen around 4500 BC, but grasses increased from 4500 BC to 3200 BC, and cereal pollen first appeared during this time.
Pollen does not preserve well in the chalky soils around Avebury, so the best evidence for past environmental conditions comes from studying snail shell deposits. Different snail species live in specific habitats, so the presence of certain snails indicates what the area was like at a particular time.
Available evidence suggests that in the early Neolithic period, Avebury and the surrounding hills were covered in dense oak woodland. As the Neolithic period progressed, the woodland around Avebury and nearby monuments gradually disappeared and was replaced by grassland.
Mesolithic and Neolithic history
The history of the site before the henge was built is not clear, because there is little evidence that can be dated from recent excavations. There is not much information about people living in the area before the 4th millennium BC, which suggests that few people lived there at that time.
The period now called the Mesolithic in Britain lasted from about 11,600 to 7,800 years ago. During this time, Britain was covered in forests, and a landmass called Doggerland connected Britain to Europe. People living in Britain during this era were hunter-gatherers, often moving in small family or tribal groups to find food and resources. Archaeologists have found evidence that some of these hunter-gatherers were near Avebury during the Late Mesolithic. Some flint tools, dated between 7000 and 4000 BC, were found in the area. The most important discovery is a group of worked flints found 300 meters west of Avebury. This suggests that a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers may have set up camp there for several weeks to work the flint.
Archaeologists Mark Gillings and Joshua Pollard suggested that Avebury may have had some ceremonial importance during the Late Mesolithic. They pointed to a posthole near the monument’s southern entrance, which once held a large wooden post. Although the posthole was not dated when it was found in the early 20th century, its position does not match the rest of the henge. This led Gillings and Pollard to believe it may have been built long before the henge. They compared it to similar wooden posts found at Stonehenge and Hambledon Hill, which were also sites where large monuments were later built.
Around the start of the Neolithic period in Britain, about the 4th millennium BC, society changed greatly. People began raising domesticated animals and plants, and they started using pottery. These changes allowed hunter-gatherers to settle and grow their own food. As agriculture spread, people cleared land and built the first monuments in the area. This is seen as a sign that people’s views about their place in the world changed.
Based on studies of recent and modern societies, Gillings and Pollard suggest that forests, clearings, and stones were important in Neolithic culture, not just as resources but as symbols. The site of Avebury was where these three elements met. Evidence of Neolithic activity at Avebury includes flint, animal bones, and pottery like Peterborough ware, dating from the early 4th and 3rd millennia BC. Five areas of Neolithic activity have been found within 500 meters of Avebury, including flints along the West Kennet Avenue, which connects Avebury to The Sanctuary. Pollard suggests these areas became important landmarks in the landscape.
"After more than 1,000 years of early farming, a way of life based on ancestral tombs, forest clearing, and settlement expansion came to an end. This was a time of important social changes."
During the Late Neolithic, British society changed again. Between 3500 and 3300 BC, people stopped expanding into new areas and focused on farming the most productive parts of the island, such as Orkney, eastern Scotland, Anglesey, the upper Thames, Wessex, Essex, Yorkshire, and the river valleys of the Wash.
Late Neolithic people also changed their religious beliefs. They stopped building large chambered tombs, which archaeologists believe were connected to honoring ancestors. Instead, they began building large wooden or stone circles. Hundreds of these circles were built across Britain and Ireland over 1,000 years.
Construction
The timeline of Avebury's construction is not fully understood. It was not built as a single monument, but rather the result of many projects completed at different times during late prehistory. Aubrey Burl suggests the central cove was built around 3000 BC, the inner stone circle around 2900 BC, the outer circle and henge around 2600 BC, and the avenues around 2400 BC.
The building of large monuments like those at Avebury shows that a stable farming society had developed in Britain by about 4000–3500 BC. The people who built these monuments needed to feel secure enough to spend time on activities that were not essential for survival. Avebury was one of several monumental sites built in this region during the Neolithic period. Its monuments include a henge, long barrows, stone circles, avenues, and a causewayed enclosure. These types of monuments are not unique to Avebury. For example, Stonehenge has similar features, and in Dorset, there is a henge near Dorchester and a causewayed enclosure at Maiden Castle. According to archaeologist Caroline Malone, who worked for English Heritage and was the curator of Avebury's Alexander Keiller Museum, the monuments at sites like Avebury and Stonehenge may have been used for rituals or ceremonies.
Archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson noted that the addition of stones to the henge occurred around the same time as the construction of Silbury Hill and major projects at Stonehenge and Durrington Walls. Because of this, he suggested that a "religious revival" may have taken place, leading to large amounts of resources being used for building ceremonial monuments.
Archaeologist Aaron Watson proposed that Neolithic workers who built the Avebury monument may have seen themselves as turning the land "inside out" by digging up soil to create large banks. This action could have symbolized creating a space between the world above and below the ground.
The Avebury monument is a henge, a type of structure made of a large circular bank with an internal ditch. The henge is not perfectly round, has a diameter of 347.4 metres (380 yards), and a circumference of over 1,000 metres (1,090 yards).
Radiocarbon dating suggests the henge was built by the middle of the third millennium BC.
The top of the bank is uneven, a feature Caroline Malone linked to the work of excavators who dug the ditch. However, later archaeologists like Aaron Watson, Mark Gillings, and Joshua Pollard believed this unevenness was an original part of the henge's design.
Inside the henge is a large outer stone circle, one of Europe's largest and Britain's largest. It was either built at the same time as or several centuries after the earthworks. It is believed there were originally 98 sarsen stones, some weighing over 40 tons. These stones varied in height from 3.6 metres (12 feet) to 4.2 metres (14 feet), as seen at the north and south entrances. Radiocarbon dating of some stones suggests they were built between 2870–2200 BC.
The two large stones at the southern entrance had unusually smooth surfaces, likely because they were polished with stone axes.
Near the center of the monument are two smaller stone circles. The northern inner ring was 98 metres (322 feet) in diameter, but only two of its four standing stones remain upright. A cove of three stones was in the middle, with an entrance facing northeast. Based on experiments at the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, archaeologists Joshua Pollard, Mark Gillings, and Aaron Watson believed that sounds inside Avebury's inner circles would have created echoes as sound waves bounced off the stones.
The southern inner ring was 108 metres (354 feet) in diameter before being destroyed in the 18th century. Parts of it now lie beneath buildings in the village. A single large stone, 5.5 metres (18 feet) high, stood in the center, along with smaller stones arranged in a line.
In 2017, a geophysical survey by archaeologists from the Universities of Leicester and Southampton found evidence of a square megalithic monument within the Avebury circles, possibly one of the earliest structures on the site.
The West Kennet Avenue, a path lined with pairs of stones, leads from the southeastern entrance of the henge. Traces of another avenue, the Beckhampton Avenue, extend from the western entrance.
Archaeologist Aaron Watson, using a phenomenological approach, believed the Avenue was intentionally built next to Avebury, the Sanctuary, Silbury Hill, and West Kennet Long Barrow. He noted that the Avenue created a planned route through the landscape, influencing how people moved and what they could see, emphasizing connections between places and highlighting the experience of traveling between monuments.
Purpose
The purpose of the Avebury monument for Neolithic people is still unknown, although many archaeologists have suggested ideas about its meaning and use. Some believe the henge may have been a place where people gathered for seasonal events, such as fairs or festivals. During these times, people might have watched ceremonies or stood on the earthen banks. Excavations at Avebury found little pottery or animal bones, which suggests the entrance to the henge was not open to the public. The lack of signs of daily life and the few archaeological finds indicate that the site may have been considered sacred. Many of the stones used in Avebury had been used for other purposes before being moved there. For example, some of the large sarsen stones were once used to sharpen stone axes, while others showed signs of heavy shaping.
Archaeologist Aubrey Burl believed that Neolithic people may have performed rituals at Avebury to seek protection from natural dangers, such as cold weather, illness, and death.
In his research on sites in Orkney, Colin Richards proposed that the stone and wooden circles built in Neolithic Britain might have represented the center of the world, or "axis mundi," for the people who built them. Aaron Watson later considered this idea when discussing Avebury.
The shape of the stones at Avebury is often described in two ways: tall and slender, or short and squat. This has led to theories about the role of gender in Neolithic Britain, with taller stones sometimes seen as "male" and shorter ones as "female." The stones were not shaped or decorated and may have been chosen for their natural appearance.
Human bones discovered by Gray suggest the monument may have been used for burial purposes. These bones are similar to those found at earlier causewayed enclosure sites. Some researchers believe ancestor worship could have been a major purpose of the monument and may have coexisted with other rituals involving gender roles.
The henge, which forms a clear boundary around the stone circle, was likely not used for defense because the ditch is located inside the structure (a key feature of a henge). As a henge and stone circle site, some theories suggest the stones at Avebury may have been aligned with astronomical events. The connections between the causewayed enclosure, the Avebury stone circles, and the West Kennet Long Barrow to the south have led some to describe the area as a "ritual complex"—a group of monuments with overlapping religious purposes. Based on the size of the site and the amount of archaeological material found in its ditches, especially animal bones, it is thought that the enclosure on Windmill Hill may have been a major location for large gatherings and feasting events from other regions.
Comparable Sites
Avebury is unique in its size and shape today, but it may have once had a similar site called Shap Avenue in Cumbria, Northwest England. This site is believed to have had two large stone paths leading to a very big central stone circle. However, the site was destroyed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and only the end part, called "Kemp Howe," remains today. This end part is similar to Avebury's lost Sanctuary stone circle, which also marked the end of a long stone path.
Before the 18th century, Shap Avenue was the only site like Avebury, making it a popular place for early historians to study. William Stukeley visited and mapped the site before much of it was destroyed, likely before 1725. He compared the landscape to his work at Avebury and wrote:
“Although it travels northward, it curves like those at Avebury and crosses a stream. A spring also appears near the Greyhound inn.”
Stukeley became interested in the site after receiving a map of the monument from a man named "Mr. Routh." He was amazed by the large, winding layout of the site, which stretched over a mile-and-a-half despite damage over time. He wrote:
“I have a detailed drawing and measurements from Mr. Routh of the stones at Shap, which I requested. These details please me greatly, and I plan to visit again next year to take another religious journey there. I now believe it is another large, winding temple, similar to that of Avebury. The remaining stones cover a mile-and-a-half, but much of it has been destroyed by the town and other activities nearby.”
Archaeological excavations
In 1829, the base of the Cove stone was dug to a depth of one yard. In 1833, Henry Browne claimed to find signs of burnt human sacrifices at the Cove in the north-east area. In 1865, the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society supported A. C. Smith and W. Cunnington to lead a week of excavations in fourteen places, including near the Cove. They found no human bones. In 1894, Sir Henry Meux funded excavations that created a trench through the bank of the south-east area, revealing that the earthwork was built in two stages.
Between 1908 and 1922, the site was studied and dug at times by a group of workers led by Harold St George Gray, on behalf of the British Association. Gray discovered over 40 antler picks near the bottom of the ditch, showing that builders of Avebury used red deer antlers to dig 11 metres (36 ft) into the chalk, creating a henge ditch with a 9-metre (30 ft) high bank. Gray recorded the ditch’s base as 4 metres (13 ft) wide and flat, but later archaeologists questioned his methods and suggested the ditch may have looked different. Gray found few artefacts in the ditch but did find scattered human bones, including many jawbones. At a depth of about 2 metres (7 ft), Gray found the complete skeleton of a woman who was about 1.5 metres (5 ft) tall.
In 1934 and 1935, Alexander Keiller funded and led excavations on West Kennet Avenue. In 1937, he studied the North West sector of Avebury; in 1938, the South West sector; and in 1939, the South East sector. Keiller directed his team to find and re-erect fallen or buried stones, and to build concrete "pylons" to replace missing stones. Stuart Piggott co-directed excavations; William E. V. Young, a local archaeologist, was the foreman; Doris Emerson Chapman illustrated the stones and facial reconstructions of human remains found across the area; and Denis Grant King made drawings and plans. Over 50 men from Wiltshire worked as "hands" during the six-year project, doing the digging and re-erecting of stones.
In 1938, Keiller’s team excavated the skeleton of a man buried beneath Stone 38 (Stone 9 using Isobel Smith’s system), now called the Barber surgeon of Avebury. Coins from the 1320s were found with the skeleton, suggesting the man was killed when a stone fell on him while he was digging a hole for its burial during a medieval "rite of destruction." Tools such as scissors and a lancet, used by barber-surgeons at that time, were also found, leading to the stone’s name.
Keiller and Piggott published short reports on their findings, but World War II, Keiller’s poor health, financial problems, and Piggott’s career changes prevented a full report. Isobel Smith was later commissioned by Gabrielle Keiller to complete the full report, which she finished in 1965. She reorganized the numbering system for stones and placed Windmill Hill, Avebury, and West Kennet Avenue into a broader context.
In 1969, when a new village school was built, the site was studied again. In 1982, an excavation was done to collect carbon dating material and environmental data.
In April 2003, during efforts to straighten some stones, one was found to extend at least 2.1 metres (7 ft) below ground. It was estimated to weigh over 100 tons, making it one of the largest stones found in the UK. Later that year, a geophysical survey by the National Trust in the southeast and northeast parts of the circle revealed at least 15 buried megaliths. The survey identified their sizes, the direction they were lying, and their positions in the circle.
Development after the Neolithic
During the British Iron Age, the Avebury monument no longer seemed to be used for its original purpose. It was mostly ignored, and there is little evidence that many people visited the site at this time. Archaeologist Aubrey Burl believed that the Iron Age Britons living nearby likely did not know when, why, or by whom the monument was built. They may have thought it was made by an earlier group of people or believed it was the home of a supernatural being.
In 43 AD, the Roman Empire invaded southern Britain. They formed alliances with some local leaders and brought the Britons under their control. Southern and central Britain remained part of the Roman Empire until the early 5th century, a time now called Roman Britain or the Roman Iron Age. During this period, travelers from nearby towns such as Cunetio, Durocornovium, and areas around Devizes visited Avebury and other ancient monuments. A new road was built, and evidence of these visitors includes broken Roman pottery found near the monument’s ditch.
The Early Middle Ages began in the 5th century after the Romans left. At this time, Anglo-Saxon groups from Europe moved to southern Britain and may have fought with the Britons already living there. Aubrey Burl suggested that a small group of Britons might have used Avebury as a place to hide and defend themselves from Anglo-Saxon attacks. This idea came from the name "weala-dic," which in Old English might mean "moat of the Britons."
The early Anglo-Saxon settlers practiced a pagan religion and worshipped gods like Woden and Thunor. They linked some prehistoric sites in Wiltshire to these gods. For example, four places near Avebury were named after Woden, such as Wansdyke ("Wodin's ditch") and Woden's Barrow. It is not clear if they had special religious beliefs about Avebury itself, but it is possible.
During the Early Mediaeval period, there were signs of people living near Avebury. A type of wooden house called a grubenhaus, with a sunken floor, was built outside the monument’s west bank in the 6th century. Only a few farmers lived there, and they did not disturb the monument. By the 7th and 8th centuries, the Anglo-Saxons began converting to Christianity. A church was built near Avebury in the 10th century.
In 939, the first written record of Avebury appeared in a document called a charter by King Athelstan, which described the boundaries of Overton, a nearby village. In the next century, Viking armies from Denmark fought with Anglo-Saxon groups in the area. Some believe the Vikings destroyed the village of Avebury, as Silbury Hill was fortified and used for defense by the local Anglo-Saxon people.
By the Late Middle Ages, all of England had become Christian. Avebury, being an ancient non-Christian site, was linked to the Devil by local people. The largest stone at the southern entrance became known as the Devil’s Chair, and other stones were called the Devil’s Quoits and the Devil’s Brand-Irons. In the early 14th century, villagers began tearing down the monument’s stones and burying them in pits, likely because they believed the stones were built by the Devil. Aubrey Burl thought this might have been encouraged by a local priest, possibly Thomas Mayn or John de Hoby.
In 1938, archaeologists found a man’s body under a fallen stone. He carried a leather pouch with three silver coins from around 1320–25, a pair of iron scissors, and a lancet. These items suggested he was a traveling barber-surgeon. His death may have stopped the villagers from tearing down more stones, as they feared it was punishment for disturbing the monument. Stories about the man being crushed by a falling stone were still told in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Soon after the stones were destroyed, the Black Death struck the village in 1349, killing about half the population. Survivors focused on farming and had no time or people to damage the monument further.
During the Early modern period, Avebury was first recognized as an ancient site worth studying. In 1541, John Leland, a librarian for King Henry VIII, noted Avebury’s existence. However, it remained little known until 1610, when William Camden briefly mentioned it in his book Britannia. Further study was delayed by the English Civil War (1642–51), which included a battle near Avebury at Roundway Down.
After the war, a new edition of Britannia was published in 1695, describing Avebury in more detail. This entry was written by John Aubrey, who first saw the site in 1649 and was surprised by its large stones. King Charles II asked Aubrey to describe Avebury, and they visited it together in 1663. The king wanted Aubrey to dig under the stones for human remains, but Aubrey never did this. In September 1663, Aubrey began studying the site more carefully and created a plan of it.
Contemporary Paganism and the New Age movement
Avebury is considered a sacred place by followers of modern Pagan religions, including Druidry, Wicca, and Heathenry. These groups see the monument as a "living temple" connected to their ancestors and the spirits of the place, known as genii loci. Rituals at the site are often held publicly and draw many visitors, especially on important Pagan holidays like the summer solstice.
Druidic ceremonies at Avebury are called gorseddau. During these events, participants call upon Awen, a concept meaning inspiration, and include a part where poems, songs, and stories are performed. The Druid Prayer, written by Iolo Morganwg in the 18th century, and the Druid Vow are often recited. A group called the Gorsedd of Bards of Caer Abiri holds its ceremonies at Avebury, which they refer to as Caer Abiri. In their ritual, created by Philip Shallcrass in 1993, people split into two groups: the God party and the Goddess party. The Goddess group goes to the "Devil's Chair" at the southern entrance of the Avebury henge, where a woman representing the spirit guardian of the site sits. The God group walks around the outer edge of the henge to the southern entrance, where they are asked about their intentions and offer gifts like flowers, fruit, bread, or mead to the Goddess's representative.
Because multiple Pagan and Druid groups hold ceremonies at Avebury, a schedule has been created. The Loyal Arthurian Warband (LAW), the Secular Order of Druids (SOD), and the Glastonbury Order of Druids (GOD) use the site on Saturdays. The Druid Network and the British Druid Order (BDO) hold their events on Sundays.
In addition to its role in Pagan traditions, Avebury is a popular destination for people with New Age beliefs. Some visitors use dowsing rods, tools used to detect unseen energies, in the hope of sensing psychic signals at the site.
Alexander Keiller Museum
The Alexander Keiller Museum displays ancient and later items found across the Avebury area. Alexander Keiller helped fund excavations at Avebury and removed some newer buildings to create the museum named after him. The museum is located in a 17th-century stable building and is managed by English Heritage and the National Trust. A nearby 17th-century threshing barn contains a room with permanent displays about Avebury and its history.
The museum was built to store Keiller’s collection of items from Windmill Hill and Avebury. These items were moved to the site from his London home in 1938. The collection includes mostly objects from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods, as well as items from the Anglo-Saxon and later times. The museum also displays the skeleton of a child called "Charlie," discovered in a ditch at Windmill Hill. In 2006, the Council of British Druid Orders asked that the skeleton be re-buried, but in 2010, it was decided to keep it on public display.
From the 1960s until her death in 1978, Faith Vatcher was the museum’s curator. She helped with digging work on the western side of the henge in 1969 and in what is now the visitor car park in 1976. The museum’s collection is owned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, managed by English Heritage, and is currently on loan to the National Trust.
Controversial theories
Various non-experts and pseudoarchaeologists have interpreted Avebury and nearby prehistoric monuments differently from professional archaeologists. These interpretations have been called "more phony than factual" by archaeologist Aubrey Burl, and in many cases, they are "entirely untenable." These incorrect ideas began with William Stukeley in the late 17th century. He believed Avebury was built by the druids, priests of the Iron Age people in north-western Europe, who were later persecuted by Roman invaders. Political events like the Acts of Union in 1707 and the Hanoverian succession in 1714 inspired British nationalism and Stukeley's interest in ancient history. In the 1720s, many scholars thought the stones were Roman works. Most believed ancient Britons were "too unsophisticated" to build such complex structures. Archaeologists later discovered that Avebury was built two thousand years before the Iron Age, during the Neolithic period.
Inigo Jones was the first to suggest the stones were built by Romans in his book The Most Notable Antiquity of Great Britain, Vulgarly called Stone-Heng on Salisbury Plain (1665). The book included designs showing the broken "Roman" construction. Thomas Hearne, an English diarist, was unsure if the stones were built by Romans or ancient Britons, but Stukeley was certain that Avebury and related sites were much older than the Roman period.
Stukeley believed that by collecting information about all known stone circles and archaeological sites, he could create a typology to better understand prehistoric places. He developed a typology of "Celtic" stone temples, linking them to the druids. In his book History of the Temples of the Ancient Celts, he claimed all stone structures in Britain had common features. He aimed to prove that Avebury and Stonehenge were built by ancient British people.
Stukeley likely shared his theories with friends in the Antiquarian Society or the Roman Knights. He wanted to show that druids built the stones to prove ancient Britons had scientific knowledge, countering skeptics like Hearne. Stukeley connected his work to the holy doctrine of the Trinity, believing the snake on the stones represented the Messiah and the circle symbolized "divine," a sign of God. He thought the missing wings, which represent the Holy Spirit, were hard to depict on stones. Terence Meaden later suggested Neolithic people carved faces into the stones.
After Stukeley, other writers proposed incorrect theories. Reverend R. Weaver, in The Pagan Altar (1840), claimed both Avebury and Stonehenge were built by the Phoenicians, an ancient seafaring people. James Fergusson, in Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries (1872), argued the monuments were built during the Early Mediaeval period to honor King Arthur's final battle. W. S. Blacket, in Researches into the Lost Histories of America (1883), suggested Native Americans from the Appalachian Mountains crossed the Atlantic to build the monuments.
Modern Druid Ross Nichols, founder of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, believed Avebury and Stonehenge were connected by an astrological axis. He thought West Kennet Long Barrow symbolized the Mother Goddess and Silbury Hill represented masculinity. Alexander Thom proposed Avebury was aligned with the star Deneb. Paul Devereux claimed the monuments were linked by "engineered sightlines" to Silbury Hill. Evidence from Silbury Hill showed no signs of soil disturbance, suggesting the sightline might have been used later.
Avebury's connection to crop circles has led to theories about ley lines, which are believed to be lines of energy connecting sacred places. Crop circles, which appear in fields, are sometimes linked to extraterrestrial beings or alternate universes. Others suggest natural causes like vortexes or ball lightning. Many crop circles appear in Wiltshire, including near Stonehenge and Avebury. Crop circles usually form between May and September, when harvesting removes the patterns.