Returning from the Underworld: The West Kennet Palisades in the Avebury Monument Complex

Recent critiques challenging the contemporaneity of monuments within the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Avebury monument complex are refuted through an interdisciplinary approach integrating archaeology, landscape phenomenology, and archaeoastronomy. The study reveals that the West Kennet Palisades, Beckhampton Avenue, and Silbury Hill were intricately designed to simulate ritual journeys through a virtual underworld, serving as initiation rites for neophytes. This challenges previous doubts about the coherence of the monument complex by demonstrating its purposeful integration and functionality in ceremonial practices.

Sims, L. (2021). Returning from the Underworld: The West Kennet Palisades in the Avebury Monument Complex. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 87, 109–131. https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2021.7