Harry Aubrey Woodruff BurlFSA HonFSA Scot (24 September 1926 – 8 April 2020) was a British archaeologist best known for his studies into megalithic monuments and the nature of prehistoric rituals associated with them. Before retirement he was Principal Lecturer in Archaeology, Hull College, East Riding of Yorkshire. Burl received a volume edited in his honour.[2] He was called by The New York Times, "the leading authority on British stone circles".[3]
Burl's work, while considering the astronomical roles of many megalithic monuments, was cautious of embracing the more tenuous claims of archaeoastronomy.[4] In Prehistoric Avebury Burl proposed that Circles and Henge monuments, far from being astronomical observatories for a class of "astronomer priests" were more likely used for ritualistic practices, connected with death and fertility rites, and ancestor worship, similar to practices observed in other agricultural cultures (in particular the rituals of Native North American Tribes such as the Algonquin and the Pawnee). Rituals would have been performed at key times of the year, such as the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, to ensure a successful harvest from the land.
His approach led him to question what he saw as the over-romanticised view that Stonehenge was built from bluestones hauled by hand from the Preseli Hills in south west Wales to Salisbury Plain. In his view, the stones had been left close to the site by earlier glaciers and then exploited by the monument's builders [5] Others have argued that the bluestones have been traced to only the Preseli Hills through their chemical signature and that they could not have come from elsewhere. Additionally, it has been claimed that there was no known glacier with a course linking the hills with Salisbury Plain or a glacier from anywhere that reached far enough south. On the other hand, research by earth scientists shows that glacier ice reached the Scilly Isles on at least one occasion, and that ice which passed through Pembrokeshire did cross the coasts of Somerset and Devon.[6]
Burl died in April 2020 at the age of 93.[7]
^"(Harry) Aubrey (Woodruff) Burl". Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 2005. Retrieved on November 25, 2009.
^Alex M. Gibson, and D. D. A. Simpson. Prehistoric Ritual and Religion: Essays in Honour of Aubrey Burl. Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton, 1998. ISBN 978-0-7509-1598-4
^"MagicStones: Prehistoric Avebury" by Paul Johnspon The New York Times Book Review, Page BR3, October 21, 1979 link
^Burl, Aubrey. Great Stone Circles: Fables, Fictions, Facts[page needed]
^Burl, Aubrey. The Stone Circles of the British Isles.
^Burl, Aubrey. 2001. "Stonehenge: how did the stones get there? - Aubrey Burl Explains How the Myth of the Stones Transported from South Wales to Salisbury Plain Arose, and Why It Is Wrong". History Today. 51: 19.
^Rings Of Stone: Excavating The Legacies of Aubrey Burl
Harry Aubrey Woodruff Burl FSA HonFSA Scot (24 September 1926 – 8 April 2020) was a British archaeologist best known for his studies into megalithic monuments...
England; 81 in Wales; 49 in Brittany (France); and 6 in the Channel Isles. AubreyBurl records six sites in the Channel Islands, four on Guernsey and two on...
ISBN 978-1-84519-130-6. Burl, Aubrey (1979). Prehistoric Avebury. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02368-5. Burl, Aubrey (2002). Prehistoric...
American photographer Aubrey Boomer (1897–1989), Jersey golfer Aubrey Brain (1893–1955), British horn player and teacher AubreyBurl (1926–2020), British...
English "cromlech". Also, more recently in English, scholars such as AubreyBurl use "cromlech" as a synonym for "megalithic stone circle". Almendres...
toward circular monuments had symbolic associations. As the archaeologist AubreyBurl stated, "There was a change from the cramped, gloomy chamber of a tomb...
simple use of square and circle geometry. AubreyBurl also notes that the azimuth of the Heel Stone, beyond the Aubrey Circle, marks the midpoint in the swing...
axial stone circles. They are believed by some archaeologists such as AubreyBurl to be associated with rituals in which moonlight played a central role...
in Wessex. A funerary purpose is thought to be likely, especially by AubreyBurl. He thought that such sites in Cumbria are analogous to the kerbs that...
megalithic ring lies to the right of the path. Megalithic specialist AubreyBurl called Swinside "the loveliest of all the circles" in north-western Europe...
posts of the Sanctuary are marked by concrete markers. The archaeologist AubreyBurl noted that the site is "visually unexciting", offering only a "dull and...
Written by the prominent English archaeologist and megalithic specialist AubreyBurl, it was first published in 1981 by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. Each chapter...
climate of the Hyperboreans is so mild they grow two crops a year." AubreyBurl noted that other parts of Diodorus' description make it a poor fit for...
located in the Dumfries and Galloway council area. It is compiled from AubreyBurl's 'County Gazetteer of the Stone Circles in Britain, Ireland and Brittany'...
archaeologists continue to refer to this structure as a henge; for example, AubreyBurl classifies the ditch as a Class II henge; one that has two opposing entrances...
Stonehenge: A History in Photographs, English Heritage ISBN 1-85074-895-0 AubreyBurl (1979), Prehistoric Avebury, Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-02368-5...
(3.7 m), there would have been thirty seven original stones, whilst AubreyBurl suggested only twenty eight. The Stripple stones were excavated in 1905...
slaughtered for the feasting that would accompany the ceremonies. — AubreyBurl (1981) Rites of the Gods. Even in the 18th century the site was still...
in Ireland recorded by AubreyBurl. It is among a large number of megalithic monuments in the area, such as Ardgroom. AubreyBurl (2005). Prehistoric Stone...
Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 9 July 2014. Burl, Aubrey (1979). Rings of Stone. London: Francis Lincoln. Burl, Aubrey (2000). The Stone Circles of Britain,...
their monuments to have solar or lunar alignments. Megalithic specialist AubreyBurl in 1976 suggested that the King Stone had been a landmark or guidepost...
Burl, Aubrey (2000). The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08347-7. Burl, Aubrey...
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