Page:Prehistoric Britain.djvu/198

190 The outer circles of the two enclosed group measured respectively 325 and 270 feet in diameter, and in the centre of each was, in one case, a menhir, and in the other a ruined dolmen.

Various opinions have been held with regard to the primary object of the Avebury circles, avenues, menhirs, etc. Dr. Stukely advocated the theory that they are the remains of a Druidical temple, the priests of which were serpent-worshippers; while Fergusson believed that they, as well as Silbury Hill, mark the site of the graves of those who fell in the last Arthurian battle of Badon Hill ( 520). But the majority of archæologists of the present day see no reason for dissociating the Avebury group from analogous remains elsewhere in Britain, many of which are proved to have been burial-sites of the Bronze Age.

Some recent explorations have, been made both within and without the great circle, especially in the surrounding ditch, but without throwing much new light on its age or purpose. In the ditch picks made of antlers, similar to those from Cissbury and Grime's Graves, have been found, and an urn of the; beaker type was found within the circle.

Stonehenge.—No other monument within in the British Isles has given rise to more ingenious speculations, as to its origin, purpose and date of construction, than Stonehenge. The few hoary stones still in situ are sufficiently imposing to excite the wonder of