Avebury circle: an Atlantean map?
Ever since the realisation dawned that Celtic [aka Wheel, Iona and Atlantean] Crosses depicted the form of the Royal City [Basileia] of Atlantis as described by Plato [a reminder to the Celts of their lost ancient "homeland"?], I began to wonder about the meaning of stone circles.
Having seen William Stukeley's reconstruction of Avebury Stone Circle, dated 1743 [pictured above], I asked myself "what did the complex, when complete, represent?" The main stone circle enclosed 2 smaller double rings of stones. The northern one contained "The Cove" [3 stones in an "arrowhead" formation], while the southern henge centred on "The Obelisk", a 20 foot long megalith [see below].
There were 4 entrances roughly aligned to the cardinal points of the compass. From the western one a stone-lined avenue [A] wound south-west to Beckhampton Long Barrow. From the south entrance a similar feature - "West Kennet Avenue" [C] - curved south-east to the double stone ring, known as "The Sanctuary", on Overton Hill [D]. This henge
"appears first to have been a round wooden house, used for ritual purposes at the end of the New Stone Age. Its position was marked by 6 concentric rings of postholes, now marked by concrete pillars. It is possible that this was not a building but circles of free-standing posts."[Jacquetta Hawkes, The Shell Guide to British Archaeology, London, 1986, pg. 102]
Stukeley said that Avebury, like Stonehenge, had once been a druidic temple. He believed that it symbolised
"a holy snake, the embodiment of the Holy Trinity, with a sacred egg in its middle."[Aubrey Burl, Prehistoric Stone Circles, 1997, pg. 24]
While the idea of a Christian Stone Age monument is totally absurd, the "Holy Serpent" as a concept has more potential. When comparing maps of South America with Stukeley's image I noticed a striking similarity between the "Serpent" and the snake-like form of the Andes. The central henge [B] roughly corresponds with Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, J.M. Allen's location for Atlantis in Atlantis: The Andes Solution [1998]. Allen found in the Bolivian Altiplano, says Colonel John Blashford-Snell in the Foreword,
"a rectangular plain similar to Plato's description and examined what appears to be remains of a vast canal complex constructed by a pre-Inca culture."
Alternatively, favouring the Platonic Atlantean location, the "snake" was the Mid-Atlantic Ridge [above water before the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago], while "The Sanctuary" would've been off the Portuguese coast. Pico Alto, in the Azores, is said to be a remnant of Atlantis. There are sunken ruins all along the eastern Atlantic seaboard. Avebury Circle [B] roughly aligns with the Caribbean. Thus, the Northern and Southern Circles within the henge may have represented the large islands of Poseidia and Antill(i)a [the latter shown on some ancient sea maps]. The first, to the north, encompassed Andros, Grand Bahama, Bimini, and Great Inagua. The visible remnants of the second, to the south, are the Lesser and Greater Antilles, hence the name. The "Cove" is not unlike the chevron-like bay in the Yucatan.
