EXCAVATIONS AT THE BECKHAMPTON ENCLOSURE, AVENUE AND COVE, AVEBURY 



257 



F.54 



F.50/72 



F.81 



Line of Avenue 



m A Adam 



F.87 



F.87 



Phase 1 



Phase 2 



F.83 



10 



Fig. 8. The original terminal of the Beckhampton Avenue? A reconstruction of the two phases of stone settings excavated 

 in Trench 24. 



arguments. An alternative is to see the construction 

 of the Cove as an act that referenced and 

 commemorated the earlier enclosure. Both 

 monuments are characterised by an enclosed yet 

 permeable architecture; the experience of standing 

 inside the open form of the Cove also being quite 

 different from that of the dark, restricted space of a 

 chamber in a megalithic tomb. Almost invariably 

 associated with henge monuments and stone circles 

 (Burl 2000, 31), these enigmatic settings may in 

 fact have carried diverse meanings and bodies of 

 symbolism. 



The Cove has a complex history. It became the 

 focus for a variety of later activities: a Beaker- 

 associated burial was discovered alongside Adam 

 when that stone was re-erected in 1912 

 (Cunnington 1913); sherds of Roman pottery were 

 found in the fills of the destruction pits; and the 

 iron spearhead and other metalwork recovered from 

 the fill of F.52 most likely relates to a pagan Saxon 



burial or weapon deposit. Such later activity could 

 be seen in the context of attempts at appropriating 

 something of the myths or histories that later attached 

 themselves to the Cove. The setting clearly suffered 

 badly at the hands of the 1 8th century stone-breakers. 

 It is recorded by Stukeley that some of the stone was 

 carted away to build part of the present Waggon and 

 Horses public house on the Calne-Marlborough road 

 (Burl 1979, 51). The scale of the destruction work 

 inspires respect, particularly the hazardous operation 

 of undermining and fire-setting the northern Cove 

 stone. Whilst driven to some extent by monetary gain, 

 there appears a zealousness to these operations that 

 implies a desire on the part of certain early 18th- 

 century farmers to rid the Avebury landscape of a 

 perceived 'pagan' past. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 



Once again, we would like to thank Robin Butler 

 for granting permission to work on his land and for 



