Page d'accueil LISTEN to the EARTH

CROP CIRCLES

The 2010 season in England
(Wiltshire region)

Defensive walls made of earth...

New this year, a great deal of crop circles, among them the first one to be designed, on May 5th 2010, have been made at the feet of these defensive walls made of earth. The British call them « castles » or « hill forts », and they are very numerous in the region.

These are more or less circular platforms which are usually located to exploit a rise in elevation - on top of a hill - which allowed a panoramic view and which formerly sheltered villages during the Bronze Age or the Iron Age. A deep ditch dug around the walls and one or two defensive earthworks allowed the inhabitants to be protected from outside attacks. Today, nothing remains from the wooden buildings (photos 1, 2 and 3).

Danebury Hill - July 6, 2010
Photo © Olivier Morel
Old Sarum - May 5, 2010
Photo © Lucy Pringle

The most well-known are namely « Barbury Castle », « Uffington Castle » or « Oliver's Castle », as crop circles were made in their areas in the recent years (photo 4). However, this was not the case this year.

Westbury castle - July 27, 2010
Photo © Daniel Harran
Uffington castle - July 2006

...off centre as regards Avebury

Indeed, the second new thing of the season is that the immediate area of Avebury, where the probability of appearance, that is to say where the concentration of crop circles were the highest these last years, has been deserted, so to speak, by the designers of those drawings. All the defensive walls made of earth which were like pointed out by the crop circles are located in the periphery of the area of highest probability (see list below and picture 5). Except for a few crop circles, it is only from the end of July onwards that their designers have once again concentrated their works around the megalithic sites of Avebury.

The near absence of glyphs near Avebury at the beginning of the season and thus the moving off centre of the works, then again the concentration around the village after July 25th are new and surprising. One hypothesis may be that the year before, i.e. in 2009, a few farmers living near the village had overreacted at discovering a crop design in their fields and had immediately destroyed it partially or in totality. The designers had several times tried again and had created a new pattern in the same field or had completed the precedent one which had been partially destroyed. However the farmers stuck to exasperation, probably as they were unable to understand the origin of the phenomenon (see the report of season 2009 in England). Nothing similar happened in 2010.

A list of the defensive walls made of earth in connection to a crop circle in 2010
1 - May 5th Old Sarum (near Salisbury) South Wiltshire
2 - May 16th Yarnbury Castle (near Winterbourne Stoke) South Wiltshire
3 - June 2nd Liddington Castle (near Swindon) North Wiltshire
4 - June 3rd Codford St Peter (near Warminster) South Wiltshire
5 - June 25th White Sheet Hill (near Mere) South-west Wiltshire
6 - July 3rd St Martin Chapel (near Chisbury camp) East Wiltshire
7 - July 6th Danebury Hill, (near Nether Wallop) Hampshire
8 - July 9th Cley Hill (near Warminster) South-west Wiltshire
9 - July 17th Fosbury (near Vernham Dean) East Wiltshire
10 - July 27th Bratton Castle (near Westbury) South-west Wiltshire
Locations of the crop circles which appeared in the county of Wiltshire in 2010 (from the map conceived by Bert Janssen) [Red spots = crop designs next to defensive walls made of earth | The crop designs concentrated  near Avebury at the end of the season]

Locations of the crop circles which appeared in the county of Wiltshire in 2010
(from the map conceived by Bert Janssen)
Red spots = crop designs next to defensive walls made of earth.
The crop designs concentrated near Avebury at the end of the season.

Out of the about forty significant crop circles which have been listed in the south of England this year, ten among them were situated at the foot of these old defensive walls, that is to say a proportion of 24 %, which is significant - and new.

Meaning hypothesis

What could be the meaning of those locations ? These walls made of earth correspond to remains of fortified villages which are prior to our era and date back from 2,000 or 3,000 years. The designers of these crop circles obviously tried to attract people's attention on these remains. They may try to make us aware of our own history - but why ?

After having drawn our attention on the megaliths and the tumuli which are true remains of the men who lived there about 5,000 years ago, together with the « white horses », a still existing human tradition which may date back from the same period - see heading What is the meaning of the crop circles ?), the designers of the crop circles may have chosen to complete their awakening call - not to say a wake-up call - for human conscience, pointing out other remains of the old days. Leading us in this way to examine our history, they may urge us to better know ourselves and to weigh up the significant evolution of our civilization..

To be more specific, let us consider the topic previously developed - i.e that the designers of the geometric crop circles would be nature spirits. One might thus believe that pointing out those historical sites, at a time when men still lived close to nature, they encourage us to remember that those men had the knowledge of invisible word and of the beings of nature, and that they could perceive them. But man evolved and his intellect and his reasoning capacities developed, which led to the loss of his perception capacities of the suprasensible word. This evolution went with a rise in materialism. Consequently man forgot all about that knowledge and lose touch with nature and spirits.

The crop circle phenomenon remains mysterious, just because men nowadays are not acquainted anymore with this invisible word. The designers, namely nature spirits, are trying to warn and encourage us to get back to that knowledge. However, they only communicate through symbols and geometric designs made in living vegetal matter. Then, they do their utmost by drawing our attention on the remains of the old days, so as to remind us that men at that time still possessed that knowledge.

Stonehenge, tumuli and other neolithic sites

Stonehenge - May 9, 2010
Photo © Lucy Pringle
Stoney Littleton long barrow - June 6, 2010
Photo © Lucy Pringle

The megalithic site of Stonehenge, which may have seemed abandoned lately, have been given renewed prominence through a nice pattern in a rape field (photo 6). It can be noticed that the crop design is composed of a variation around three circles, whose centres are lining up, and that the direction is perfectly lining up with the stone circle. The message is immediately clear.

Tumuli :

Most often and just like the previous years, the crop circles have been designed near tumuli, which are numerous in that area. Apparently, the aim was to draw our attention to them (photos 7, 8 and 9). Among the 41 significant patterns which were reported in 2010 in the south of England, 11 appeared next to a tumulus, namely 27 % of them, which makes it a significant proportion.

Roundway Hill - July 25, 2010
Photo © Lucy Pringle
Whitefield Hill - August 3, 2010
Photo © Madelien Scholten
White horses and other neolithic sites :

Two crop circles have been designed in fields situated at the foot of the « white horses » of Milk Hill (photo 10) and Pewsey (photo 11), when a third one - near of Bratton Castle - has been designed not far from the white horse of Westbury. For the two first ones, the patterns have an axis of symmetry, and it is precisely pointing at the white horse.

Pewsey White Horse - August 8, 2010
Photo © Matthew Williams
Alton Barns, Milk Hill - July 25, 2010
Photo © Frank Laumen

Moreover, four patterns appeared very near from other neolithic sites (Stonehenge, Silbury Hill, Windmill Hill and Avebury Manor).

So, if we add all the crop designs located next to the defensive walls made of earth, next to the tumuli, to the « white horses » and to the other neolithic sites, we get to the number of 26 crop circles situated near tokens of man's ancient past - some of them have been counted twice, with the defensive walls made of earth and with the tumuli, for example - namely a noteworthy proportion of 63 %.

63 % of the 2010 crop circles were located next to a token of man's ancient past.

After having drawn our attention on the megaliths and the tumuli which are true remains of the men who lived there about 5,000 years ago, together with the « white horses », a still existing human tradition which may date back from the same period - see heading « What is the meaning of the crop circles ? »

Summary table of the locations of the crop circles created in 2010
(on 41 significant patterns studied)
Locations Number Proportion
Near a tumulus 11 27 %
Near a defensive wall made of earth (hillfort or castle) 10 24 %
Near a white horse 3
Near another ancient site 4
Near a token of man's ancient past 26 63 %
In a rape field 5
In a corn field 3

In a field of broad beans :
a technique impossible to reproduce !

One can tell that crop circles can be created in various materials, those being mostly vegetal but mineral too. This year, for the first time, a broad bean field has been chosen to create a crop circle, in the field where the long tumulus of Stoney Littleton - county of Somerset - is situated (photos 7 and 12).

Field observation revealed that the stems of the broad beans which are very rigid have been folded... in the ground, at the level of the root (photo 13),in such a way that the stems are bent on the ground ! (Charles Mallet, Silent Circle). What finer answer could we give to the detractors of the authenticity of crop circles ? One already knew that all the crop circles made in rape and flax fields cannot be copied by man because of the significant fragility of those plants.

It can be noted that this marks a new stage in the evolution of the means of expression used by the designers of the crop circles. They keep on conceiving new, simple and dramatic processes to answer to man's incredulity. But they keep on searching new ways of expressing themselves which remain connected to the techniques linked with crop circle design, and this shows that the designers cannot communicate in a different and more explicit way with men. They cannot communicate through writing or speaking. This remark corresponds to the hypothesis of the spirits of nature. Those are very intelligent beings, but they are linked to matter, and thus their means of communication are limited - see Rudolf Steiner books.

However, this evolution in means of expression is not unproblematic. Indeed, the roots of the broad bean plants are ligneous and fragile. Mark Vidler, a researcher, has observed on the ground that between 10 and 20 % of the stems of the broad bean plants were broken under the ground level. This is where the stem is woody, consequently this caused losses in crops.

Stoney Littleton (broad beans)
Photo © Geoff Ward
Stoney Littleton : the stem of the broad bean was bent at the level of the root (in the ground)
Photo © Olivier Morel

A similar observation has been made for corn. Since two or three years only, a small number of crop circles designed in corn fields has been discovered, at the end of the season. However, corn stems are also very rigid and brittle. As one observes it, it appears that a rather significant proportion of the stems are broken, whereas the others are properly bent, not showing any evidence of mechanical strength.

A pattern designed in three steps

The design created in three steps in East Field, near Alton Barns, on July 29th and 30th, and then on August 3rd 2010, should be pointed out (photos 14, 15 and 16). This procedure in three steps is not seldom but is always dramatic. The perfect joining could mean that the designers are present in situ, which is contradictory to the hypothesis stating that the designers would be spirits living on other planets or even other galaxies...

East Field - Alton Barns - July 29, 2010
Photo © Lucy Pringle
East Field - Alton Barns - July 30, 2010
Photo © Patrice Marty
East Field - Alton Barns - August 3, 2010
Photo © Lucy Pringle

A deeply decreasing number

Vigen, near Limoges, France - July 2010

The number of 41 crop circles in the south of England is clearly decreasing if we compare it to that of the previous years.

In France, one crop circle only was reported near Limoges (photo 17). According to what has been noted before, the pattern is more simple than for those designed in England.

© 2010-2024 - Écoute la Terre (France)