Uploads from dstirk, tagged silburyhill, with geodata

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:56:02 -0800

dstirk posted a photo:

Silbury hill was lit up on Halloween night, which gave me the opportunity to try out a few things.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 03:06:00 -0800

dstirk posted a video:

A fly through film of the portal of the 1960's tunnel into Silbury Hill. This was created from a photogrammetric 3 dimensional model from digital photographs taken in April 2007 when the portal was re-excavated and revealed, at the start of the conservation project.

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:47:05 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

Spot the difference. The original retaining wall to the right, the rebuilt portion to the left. This took me less than 5 minutes, and demonstrated to me at least that although the mound construction seems complex, it is a very pragmatic and quick solution to building a stable mound of chalk.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:47:05 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

Some aspects of the retaining wall construction on the summit were less explicable as practical engineering solutions. Here, sarsen stones and a cluster of antler pick tines were built into the retaining wall. It is hard to imagine anything other than a ritual interpretation for this; perhaps a prehistoric topping out ceremony?

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:47:06 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

Me at the base of the summit crater. Although a big setback for the conservation/restoration work, it did at least allow us to properly record more of the summit material, and more antler for radiocarbon dating was recovered.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:43:21 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

The neolithic ground surface (the thin dark brown band over the brown clay natural geology at the bottom of the picture) overlain by bands of hill make-up in the central part of the hill.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:47:05 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

The main project aim was to re-instate the hill to as close as was possible to its original state. On the summit this involved rebuilding the "walls" before backfilling. This had the side benefit of showing us how easy these retaining walls are to build., and furthermore that the angle of the walls is simply the one that is most stable.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:43:21 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

One of the pits cutting the earliest phase of the mound. Atkinson missed these in the 1960's excavation. There is no suggestion that these were burials or cremations however; in short no King Sel.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:43:21 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

The trench on the summit. Our project design required us to re-locate an Atkinson trench on the summit and an area of undisturbed mound beside it. This was immensely difficult given the complete lack of Atkinson records, and involved locating the trench by reference to landmarks on the horizon visible in the few photographs we have. In the end we did pretty well; the Atkinson trench backfill is to the left, and the undisturbed mound to the right.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:43:21 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

The end of the Atkinson main tunnel, and my surveying setup.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:43:21 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

A lovely view of organic central mound material that is distorting as the 1960'S wooden shoring rots and the iron mining supports buckle. The central chamber was not backfilled, which allowed the eventual collapse of the central shaft material into the chamber, and resulted in the crater appearing on the top of the hill.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:43:22 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

The first part of the summit work involved re-excavating Atkinson's trench. It came as a huge shock when a large post-hole became visible in the side of the trench. Re-examining the Atkinson photos shows that it was visible in them also. Either he missed it or he didn't consider it important. The post-hole contained Late Saxon or medieval pottery and is good evidence for the fortifications that were on top of the hill.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:47:05 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

After heavy rains the void on the summit opened up again. The temorary polystyrene block capping is visible to the left. The Skanska engineers ponder what to do next.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:24:45 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

Skanska miners reinforce the shoring in the main tunnel.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:24:45 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

To mark the publication of the English Heritage book (see below) I have uploaded a few more of photographs from the project. Here, Terry and Maria are in the main tunnel and we can see the curving arches of the central chamber for the first time.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:24:45 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

The main means of removing spoil from the tunnels, the bobcat. A great little machine, but it didn't half throw out a lot of fumes in the confined tunnels.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:24:45 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

Working conditions in the main tunnel. Archaeologists clean and record the sections while I survey around them.

Publication here;

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:24:46 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

The construction of the hill was laid out before us in the sides of the tunnel. Here a long section has been cleaned and will be recorded by photogrammetry and traditional section drawing.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:24:46 -0700

dstirk posted a photo:

The main tunnel and one of the voids above. This photo highlights the damage to the hill caused by poorly backfilled archaeological tunnels, and why the voids had to be properly filled this time round.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...

Silbury Hill conservation work 2007

nobody@flickr.com (dstirk) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:54:32 -0800

dstirk posted a photo:

This shows some of the stratigraphy inside Silbury Hill.

Publication here:

www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/Engl...