The Longstones are two standing stones, one of which is the remains of a

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

' cove' of

standing stone A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright rock (geology), stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. T ...

s, at , close to Beckhampton in Avebury parish, in the English county of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. Two stones are visible, known as 'Adam' and 'Eve' although the latter is more likely to have been a stone that formed part of the Beckhampton Avenue that connected with Avebury. The avenue probably terminated here although it may have extended further to the south west beyond the stones.

William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...

recorded the site in the eighteenth century when it was only partially destroyed and suggested it extended further although modern excavation and archaeological geophysics have not confirmed this. Adam is the larger of the two stones, weighing an estimated 62

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s, and along with three others formed a four-sided cove. Excavations carried out jointly by the Universities of Leicester, Newport and Southampton

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 revealed the socket holes for the other stones which were tightly placed close to Adam. The cove had been open on its south eastern side which faced towards the nearby

South Street barrow The South Street barrow is a Neolithic long barrow in the English county of Wiltshire, near Beckhampton. It lies around 70 metres southeast of the cove of The Longstones and may therefore be connected with the Neolithic ritual landscape centred ...

130m away. The other stones were destroyed in the post-medieval period by a local landowner. Adam fell over in 1911 and was re-erected by Maud Cunnington in 1912. She also found a Beaker inhumation of a middle-aged man buried close by the stone, which is considered to postdate the megalith. In 1933 the stones were scheduled as an ancient monument.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longstones History of Wiltshire Archaeological sites in Wiltshire Scheduled monuments in Wiltshire Megalithic monuments in England Stone Age sites in England