Pinning down the serpent’s tail:confirming the course of the Beckhampton Avenue, Avebury

Comprising pairs of evenly spaced standing stones, the Beckhampton Avenue is thought to have been constructed towards the end of a remarkable burst of late neolithic monument construction at Avebury. Running for a distance of 1.5km to the west of Avebury, it links the henge to the Longstones Cove. Despite the Avenue’s existence having been confirmed through excavation in 1999, we still know little of its course and character. A programme of geophysical survey carried out in 2022 on the suspected line of the Beckhampton Avenue has succeeded in newly mapping a 120m stretch, shedding important light upon its form and the fate of the standing stones that once marked its course.