The Beckhampton Avenue was a curving prehistoric

avenue Avenue or Avenues may refer to: Roads * Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees) * Avenue Road, Bangalore * Avenue Road, ...

of stones that ran broadly south west from

Avebury Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in t ...

towards

The Longstones The Longstones are two standing stones, one of which is the remains of a prehistoric 'Cove (standing stones), cove' of standing stones, at , close to Avebury, Wiltshire, Beckhampton in Avebury parish, in the English county of Wiltshire. Two st ...

at Beckhampton in the English county of Wiltshire. It probably dates to the late

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

and early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. Only one stone, known as Adam, remains standing and even in William Stukeley's time (early 18th century) there was little evidence on the surface of the avenue. The other stones were probably broken up and sold by local landowners in the post-medieval era. Excavations by the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

in 2000, however, revealed the parallel rows of holes that held the stones. 120 m of the avenue was uncovered and indicated that the avenue consisted of a double row of stones placed at 15 m intervals in a similar pattern to those at

Kennet Avenue Kennet Avenue or West Kennet Avenue is a prehistoric site in the English county of Wiltshire. It was an avenue of two parallel lines of stones 25m wide and 2.5 km in length, which ran between the Neolithic sites of Avebury and The Sanctua ...

. Stukeley's theory was that the two avenues were part of a giant 'snake' winding across the landscape with its head at

The Sanctuary The Sanctuary was a stone and timber circle near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Excavation has revealed the location of the 58 stone sockets and 62 post-holes. The ring was part of a tradition of stone ...

and also incorporating the Avebury monument. The avenue may have originally extended further past the Longstones, with Adam being part of the '

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

' or standing stone arrangement sited along its course. Eve is a known part of the avenue leading back to the western gateway of the henge, which included what is now the village high street. Before the avenue was built, the site was host to an earlier Neolithic

causewayed enclosure A causewayed enclosure is a type of large prehistoric earthwork common to the early Neolithic in Europe. It is an enclosure marked out by ditches and banks, with a number of causeways crossing the ditches. More than 100 examples are recorded i ...

References

Ancient trackways in England History of Wiltshire Stone Age sites in England Archaeological sites in Wiltshire Protected areas of Wiltshire Causewayed enclosures Bronze Age sites in Wiltshire {{UK-archaeology-stub