the crop circles at avebury (and elsewhere)   These are amazing things created by breaking or tramping down the stalks of various kinds of crops (the double lines that you see are where the tractors travel through). Invariably, they're executed overnight. They first showed up around 1981, and although the claim is that it's the work of an otherworldly source, the human history of this area provides ample explanation: thousands of years of obsessive, gargantuan achievements in earth and stone, usually circular, and usually mystical or religious. And, always, breathtaking.   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::   ::       The figures in the center apparently represent a galaxy. I'm endlessly intrigued by the elegance of the spirally outline.   This one showed up outside of Ashford. It's the biggest work of crop art so far, at five-eighths of a mile.   This spectacular spiderweb-like formation is right next to the stone circle at Avebury.   An astounding rendering of a Julia set! You can see how close it was to Stonehenge, the mother of big circular projects in this spot of England.   A Mandelbrot set, one of the big visual manifestations of chaos theory.   A Koch Fractal, a kind of star of david of stars of david of stars of david, gilded here by a tiara of exquisitely dainty circles.       B A R R Y L A N D .