Description

Stonehenge and Avebury, among the most famous prehistoric monuments of northern Europe, are situated in Wessex, the old Saxon kingdom at the centre of southern England. In the same district are thousands of other ancient structures, the earliest of which date to the Neolithic period about 7,000 years ago. The civilization that created these great works of earth and stone reached its peak in the Bronze Age, but the religion and science behind it continued through the Iron Age into early Christian times. The mystery of these monuments has been intensified by modern scientific discoveries of their astronomical significance – their relationships at certain seasons to the positions of the heavenly bodies. This is among the subjects covered in George Wingfield’s thoughtful and accurate guide to the most interesting of the Wessex antiquities.

George Wingfield