Barrow

Barrow, mound of earth or rubble covering one or several burials, generally dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in western Europe. In areas where earth was difficult to dig, graves or burial chambers were often covered with piles of loose stone to form cairns, the upland equivalent of earthern barrows.

The earliest European barrows are the long barrows erected by the early Neolithic farming communities between about 3500 bc and about 2000 bc. Long barrows typically take the form of a long, wedge-shaped mound, usually 30 to 105 m (about 90 to 350 ft) long, and usually set on an east-west axis. The east end of long barrows is generally broader and higher than the west, and it is at the east end that the burial chamber, a timber or stone construction consisting of a passage with chambers leading off it, was located. The remains of several individuals are usually found, suggesting that an entire family or members of a social or high-status group were buried together a period of time before the burial chamber was finally sealed. Fussell’s Lodge (Wiltshire) contained the bones of over 50 people; West Kennet (Wiltshire), the bones of 46, and Wayland’s Smithy (Oxfordshire), the bones of 14. Because the bones had been deposited in a disarticulated state, it is thought that the flesh was removed from them (perhaps by exposure) before the remains were placed in the grave.

Closely related to earthern long barrows are chambered tombs, incorporating monumental stone structures, which in the British Isles are concentrated in the north and west. These include passage graves, such as Maes Howe (Orkney) and Newgrange (County Meath), in which a stone passage or tunnel leads to a central burial chamber, often with side-chambers, buried beneath a circular mound.

By the beginning of the European Bronze Age in about 2000 bc, long barrows had fallen out of use and were superseded by circular barrows; these are smaller than long barrows and are associated with individual, rather than collective burial, which could be either by cremation (the body being placed within a timber frame) or inhumation (when the ashes were placed in a pottery vessel). The earliest round barrows are associated with Beaker material; later round barrows are associated with Food Vessel and Collared Urn pottery, as well as other types of grave goods. Considerable social differentiation may be deduced from the richness of the grave goods in some barrow burials, especially those of the Wessex Culture (such as Bush Barrow, in Wiltshire). It is possible that the different forms of pottery and other objects deposited with the dead indicate status, or even different religious cults. Unlike long barrows, which are usually isolated monuments, round barrows are found clustered in groups to form cemeteries, which can be extensive; skyline locations were particularly favoured, and cemeteries are often associated with other major ceremonial sites, such as henge monuments. Stonehenge, for example, is surrounded by a large number of round barrows grouped in several clusters.

Although many barrows survive, their condition is often poor. Many have been destroyed by agricultural practices, especially by mechanized ploughing since the mid-19th century, which leave only the pits in which the burials were placed and the remains of the circular ditches from which the mound material was dug. Many more have been disturbed by treasure-hunters and by the ill-informed activities of early antiquaries, who would often open several barrows in a single day.