Can you visit Silbury Hill?

Can you visit Silbury Hill?

Visiting Silbury Hill There is no public access to the hill, in order to protect this important archaeological site. However, you can walk around the base of the mound and admire the view of this mysterious monument standing tall above the pretty Wiltshire countryside.

Is there anything in Silbury Hill?

The largest artificial mound in Europe, mysterious Silbury Hill compares in height and volume to the roughly contemporary Egyptian pyramids. Probably completed in around 2400 BC, it apparently contains no burial. Though clearly important in itself, its purpose and significance remain unknown.

What’s under Silbury Hill?

Artefacts. Few prehistoric artefacts have ever been found on Silbury Hill: at its core there is only clay, flints, turf, moss, topsoil, gravel, freshwater shells, mistletoe, oak, hazel, sarsen stones, ox bones, and antler tines.

What was the purpose of Silbury Hill?

No one knows why Silbury Hill was built, but we do know that it was during a time of great change, when new forms of pottery, new burial rites and the first metal-working arrived in Britain. It must have been a special place, where people gathered for events and episodes of building.

Who built Silbury Hill?

The first excavation took place in 1776 when Hugh Percy, the 2nd Duke of Northumberland was patron to Colonel Edward Drax and commissioned a team of Cornish miners to sink a vertical shaft into the monument from the summit.

What is the tallest prehistoric man made mound in Europe?

Silbury Hill, part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet long barrow), is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the world’s largest. On a base covering over 2 hectares (5 acres), it rises 39.6m (130ft) high.

Is Silbury Hill a pyramid?

Is Silbury Hill a Pyramid? Although not officially classed as a pyramid, many people compare its construction to that of the Pyramids of Egypt. They were built around the same time and also built at similar heights and size to the ones found in the Giza necropolis.

What is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe?

What is Silbury Hill and where is it?

Silbury Hill is the largest artificial prehistoric mound in Europe. Probably built over a short period between about 2470 and 2350 BC, it is one of the most intriguing monuments in the prehistoric landscape of the Avebury World Heritage Site.

What is the Avebury World Heritage Site?

These monuments, including Silbury Hill, now form the core of the Avebury World Heritage Site. The story of Silbury Hill does not end in prehistory. A recent geophysical survey has shown that the Romans chose to build a road and an extensive settlement around the foot of the mound.

Is there parking at Silbury Hill?

Silbury Hill is part of the Avebury World Heritage Site, and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Read more about the history of Silbury Hill. Parking: Car parking is available on site for which there is a £2 charge for non-members, payable by text. Parking is free for Members with a valid English Heritage car sticker on display.

How long did it take to build Silbury Hill?

Origins and Construction. Silbury Hill stands 30 metres high and 160 metres wide, and its construction is estimated to have involved about 4 million man hours of work. Half a million tonnes of material, mostly chalk, were used to create it. The monument we see today was not conceived and built in a single campaign,…