Silbury Hill

Nikon D2Xs + Tamron 70-210mm f/2.8 LD SP (67DN) lens.

Silbury Hill is a part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet long barrow and the Sanctuary). It was built around 2,600 - 2,400 BC, which is later than the other sites in the area. To design, organise, and construct this mound shows the technical skill of the age and reveals strong and prolonged control over labour and resources. At 129 ft high, Silbury Hill is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the largest in the world. There is nothing inside it other than chalk, clay, rubble and soil, and there is no big hole to account for the materials used in construction. It would have taken 500 labourers 15 years to complete. The flattened top is 100ft in diameter. The area immediately surrounding the monument is lower than the level of the land around it. The presence of natural springs indicate a moat or reservoir. In fact, the mound sits in a dip in the landscape; it would have been an unusual choice for a strategic defensive site. Perhaps the site itself was important to the builders.

At 129 ft high, Silbury Hill is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the largest in the world. There is nothing inside it other than chalk, clay, rubble and soil, and there is no big hole to account for the materials used in construction. It would have taken 500 labourers 15 years to complete.

This is a view from the north when Silbury was in flood. The land under water was once a neolithic quarry at the southerly limit of a belt of alluvium (see useful map and details of Silbury excavations at mikepitts.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/silbury-hill-flooded/) . The quarry fills with water from the Beckhampton brook when the water table rises. A bit further south are Swallowhead Springs, officially the source of the river Kennet. Swallowhead marks the confluence of waters from the north, many of which are winterbournes, and quite dry during summer.

Silbury Hill is a part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet long barrow and the Sanctuary). It was built around 2,600 - 2,400 BC, which is later than the other sites in the area. To design, organise, and construct this mound shows the technical skill of the age and reveals strong and prolonged control over labour and resources. At 129 ft high, Silbury Hill is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the largest in the world. There is nothing inside it other than chalk, clay, rubble and soil, and there is no big hole to account for the materials used in construction. It would have taken 500 labourers 15 years to complete. The flattened top is 100ft in diameter. The area immediately surrounding the monument is lower than the level of the land around it. The presence of natural springs indicate a moat or reservoir. In fact, the mound sits in a dip in the landscape; it would have been an unusual choice for a strategic defensive site. Perhaps the site itself was important to the builders. Nikon D2Xs and AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G lens.

Silbury Hill was built about 4,750 years ago and is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. At about 131 feet high and occupying 5 acres, it is comparable to Egyptian pyramids being built at around the same time. It would have taken 500 men working for 15 years to complete this Neolithic project. Photographed with a Nikkor-P 105mm f/2.5 lens on a Nikon D2Xs.

I've posted this before, but I think this edit is better, a bit sharper in the foreground. The fact is, it's not technically or artistically a great photo. It's one of those you fiddle around with hoping a great photo is going to magically emerge. Magic! That's what we want, to disguise a lack of talent or luck. Silbury looks big because the picture was shot at a focal length full-frame equivalent of 300mm. You get an impression of packed up perspective. But that's all it is: an impression.

I have exhibited this before, but not previously without cropping it smaller. Now I can see how attractive and historically sympathetic the National Trust car park gate actually is, I must post afresh. It was shot with the equivalent of 300mm focal length. That's why Silbury Hill looks so close and imposing. It's not really like that when viewed with the naked eye. Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G.

At 129 ft high, Silbury Hill is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the largest in the world. There is nothing inside it other than chalk, clay, rubble and soil, and there is no big hole to account for the materials used in construction. It would have taken 500 labourers 15 years to complete. I used an AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G lens to photograph the mound. I have owned two of these lenses and sold both. They are not designed for demanding standards of quality, and not very well built either. Yet within their limitations they can turn in a decent image. They need to be well stopped down, and not used beyond 200mm. Here, the focal length is 78mm and the aperture f/11, with a shutter speed of 1/640th to ameliorate the effect of shaky hands being magnified. The main advantage of this lens is its light weight, useful when tramping over fields for three or four miles. Camera: Nikon D90.