Not a momentary action – it required squatting down at the back and painstakingly scraping away the rear surface, something that would have taken quite a few minutes of hard work.
The notice was giving details of the DEFRA Countryside Stewardship Special Project which protects both the natural and archaeological aspects of the World Heritage Site and it’s hard to see how that could prompt such an attack.
UPDATE: Culprits exposed! See Comments.
The Heritage Journal 
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02/07/2010 at 20:07
Don Petrie
That’s deer antlers. I’ve seen it done before.
Deer rub their heads on the posts to a good scratch and the antlers scrape away the undersurface of the sign. You can tell by the pattern of scratching. It is not random but centred on certain points.
How do I know?, I work in the Forestry industry and habve actually seen this taking place one early morning on a similar landmark sign. This ‘Random’ vandalism had puzzled Rangers for months beforehand.
02/07/2010 at 20:45
heritageaction
Ha! Superb!
Many thanks for clearing this up.
Looks like DEFRA will have to re-design their signs.
02/07/2010 at 23:07
Littlestone
Wonderful! Thanks Don for that explanation!
02/07/2010 at 23:51
Don Petrie
It’s a bit foolish for them to use those signs with no backing to them in the first place.
Deer, like most animals, just love a good head scratch and what better than upright posts with nice and sharp angles on them. Shame some DEFRA numpty put perspex signs above them.
Sleep tight folks, the Avebury Chavs are nothing more than deer going about thier daily routine.
You should see the damage that the ever increasing wild boar population are doing. Pasture fields are ending up like Somme battlesfields in some areas.