Windmill Hill, Avebury facts for kids
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | Wiltshire, United Kingdom |
| Part of | Avebury Section of Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites |
| Criteria | Cultural: (i), (ii), (iii) |
| Inscription | 1986 (10th Session) |
| Extensions | 2008 |
Windmill Hill is a very old place in Wiltshire, England. It is a special type of ancient site called a Neolithic causewayed enclosure. This means it was built by people who lived during the New Stone Age.
Windmill Hill is part of the famous Avebury World Heritage Site. It is about 2 kilometers (1 mile) northwest of Avebury. This site is the largest causewayed enclosure known in Britain. It covers an area of about 21 acres.
People first lived here around 3800 BC. This was a time when people were starting to farm. They dug pits and used a type of pottery called Hembury pottery.
Later, around 3300 BC, people built three large, circular ditches around the top of the hill. These ditches were not continuous. They had gaps, like pathways, which are called causeways. The biggest ditch is 365 meters across. The causeways varied in size, from tiny gaps to 7 meters wide. The dirt from digging the ditches was piled up to make banks inside. The deepest ditches and biggest banks are on the outer circle.
Windmill Hill was made a protected historical site in 1925. The National Trust took ownership in 1942. Today, English Heritage helps look after it.
Exploring Windmill Hill
Early Discoveries
A man named Alexander Keiller bought the site in 1924. He and Harold St George Gray started digging there from 1925 to 1929. Their work helped us understand what causewayed enclosures were.
More digging happened in 1957 and 1958. These digs helped us learn even more about the site.
What Was Found
Archaeologists found many interesting things in the ditches. They found pottery that helped them understand the "Windmill Hill culture." Later, they found other types of pottery, like Peterborough ware.
They also found many bones. These included both human and animal bones. This tells us a lot about the people and animals that lived there.
Windmill Hill was used throughout the rest of the Stone Age. Even later, during the Bronze Age, a special burial mound called a bell barrow was built between the inner and middle circles of ditches.
