The complex including Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness, Skara Brae, as well as other tombs and standing stones represents a concentration of Neolithic sites that is rivalled in Britain only by the complexes associated with Stonehenge and Avebury.

Most henges do not contain stone circles ; Brodgar is a striking exception, ranking with Avebury ( and to a lesser extent Stonehenge ) among the greatest of such sites.

Burl notes that the diameter of the bank at Brodgar is almost exactly 175 megalithic yards, the same as the inner banks of the Avebury and Newgrange monuments in England and Ireland respectively.

Avebury is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England.

Much of Avebury village is encircled by the prehistoric monument complex also known as Avebury.

The Avebury monument is vast, and consists of several smaller sites of varying dates.

Avebury Manor and Garden is a National Trust property located in the village, consisting of the manor house and its garden.

Avebury is a civil parish with an elected parish council and is in the area of Wiltshire Council.

Silbury Hill is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire.

It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site, and lies at.

At high, Silbury Hill – which is part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury, which includes the Avebury Ring and West Kennet Long Barrow – is the tallest prehistoric human-made mound in Europe and one of the largest in the world ; it is similar in size to some of the smaller Egyptian pyramids of the Giza Necropolis.

Michael Dames put forward a composite theory of seasonal rituals, in an attempt to explain the purpose of Silbury Hill and its associated sites ( West Kennet Long Barrow, the Avebury henge, The Sanctuary and Windmill Hill ), from which the summit of Silbury Hill is visible.

One of the Kennet's sources is Swallowhead Spring near Silbury Hill in the county of Wiltshire, the other being a collection of tributaries to the North of Avebury near the villages of Uffcott and Broad Hinton which flow south past Avebury and join up with the waters from Swallowhead Springs.

He was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded ( often for the first time ) numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England, and who is particularly noted as the discoverer of the Avebury henge monument.

In parts of Britain and Ireland the best-known type of megalithic construction is the stone circle, of which examples include Stonehenge, Avebury, Ring of Brodgar, and Beltany.

The region has numerous remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age, such as Stonehenge and Avebury.

The Ridgeway passes near many Neolithic, Iron Age, and Bronze Age sites including Avebury Circle, a stone circle similar to Stonehenge ; Barbury Castle, Liddington Castle, Uffington Castle, Segsbury Castle, Pulpit Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon Hill, all Iron Age and Bronze Age hill forts ; Wayland's Smithy, a Neolithic chieftain burial tomb ; the Uffington White Horse, an ancient chalk horse carved into the hillside near Uffington Castle ; and Grim's Ditch, a section of earthwork near Mongewell created by Iron Age peoples as a possible demarcation line.

Several other important Neolithic monuments in Wiltshire in the care of English Heritage, including the large henges at Marden and Stonehenge, may be culturally or functionally related to Avebury and Silbury.

Earlier monuments associated with a later henge might include Neolithic monuments such as a cursus ( e. g., at Thornborough Henges the central henge overlies the cursus ) or a long barrow such as the West Kennet Long Barrow at Avebury, Wiltshire, or even, as in the case of Stonehenge, Mesolithic post holes.

By the beginning of the Victorian period in 1837, the majority of Neolithic standing stones at Avebury had gone, having been either buried by pious locals in the 14th century or smashed up for building materials in the 17th and 18th.

More significant evidence of settlement and occupation in the area is available for the Neolithic period, most notably due to the extensive ritual complex at Avebury ( 6 miles to the south ) and scattered finds in the locality.

The West Kennet Long Barrow is a Neolithic tomb or barrow, situated on a prominent chalk ridge, near Silbury Hill, one-and-a-half miles south of Avebury in Wiltshire, England.

The best known tradition of stone circle construction occurred across the British Isles and Brittany in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with over 1000 examples still surviving to this day, including famous examples like Avebury, the Rollright Stones and Stonehenge.

Windmill Hill is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure in the English county of Wiltshire, part of the Avebury World Heritage Site, about 1 mile ( 2 km ) northwest of Avebury.

It is part of a wider Neolithic landscape which includes the nearby sites of Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow and Avebury, to which The Sanctuary was linked by the 25m wide and 2. 5 km long Kennet Avenue.

It was an avenue of two parallel lines of stones 25m wide and 2. 5 km in length which ran between the Neolithic sites of Avebury and The Sanctuary.

It lies around 130m ( 140 yds ) south east of the cove of The Longstones and may therefore be connected with the Neolithic ritual landscape centred on Avebury.

The largest stone circle is the Great Circle, 113 m in diameter and the second largest stone circle in Britain ( after Avebury ); it is considered to be one of the largest and most impressive Neolithic monuments to have been built.

Geologically, its chalk downs, dry valleys and sarsen outcrops are of note, the last in the area around Marlborough providing material for many of the Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the area such as Avebury Henge.

" The Neolithic henges of Avebury and Stonehenge are two of the largest and most famous megalithic monuments in the world.

The three largest stone circles in Britain Avebury, the Great Circle at Stanton Drew stone circles and the Ring of Brodgar, are each in a henge.

Avebury henge contains several stone circles

Meanwhile, the population of Avebury village was rapidly increasing, leading to further housing being built inside the henge.

In an attempt to prevent further construction on the site, the wealthy politician and archaeologist Sir John Lubbock, who later came to be known as Lord Avebury, purchased much of the available land in the monument, and encouraged other buyers to build their houses outside rather than within the henge, in an attempt to preserve it.

He was able to demonstrate that the Avebury builders had dug down into the natural chalk using red deer antlers as their primary digging tool, producing a henge ditch with a high bank around its perimeter.

Michael Dames ( see References ) put forward a composite theory of seasonal rituals, in an attempt to explain the Long Barrow and its associated sites ( the Avebury henge, Silbury Hill, The Sanctuary and Windmill Hill ).

Michael Dames has proposed a composite theory of seasonal rituals in an attempt to explain Windmill Hill and its associated sites: ( West Kennet Long Barrow, the Avebury henge, The Sanctuary, and Silbury Hill ).

Michael Dames ( see References ) put forward a composite theory of seasonal rituals, in an attempt to explain the Sanctuary and its associated sites ( West Kennet Long Barrow, the Avebury henge, Silbury Hill and Windmill Hill ).

The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebury Henge monument.

Even so, the monument appears to have eclipsed the site at Avebury in importance towards the end of this phase.

The Avebury monument was a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill.

Meanwhile, the Reverend Thomas Twining had also published a book about the monument, Avebury in Wiltshire, the Remains of a Roman Work, which had been published in 1723.