A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include cairn circle, cairn ring, howe, kerb cairn, tump and rotunda grave. [1]
Bowl barrows were created from the Neolithic through to the Bronze Age in Great Britain. A bowl barrow is an approximately hemispherical mound covering one or more Inhumations or cremations. Where the mound is composed entirely of stone, rather than earth, the term cairn replaces the word barrow. The mound may be simply a mass of earth or stone, or it may be structured by concentric rings of posts, low stone walls, or upright stone slabs. In addition, the mound may have a kerb of stones or wooden posts.
Barrows were usually built in isolation in various situations on plains, valleys and hill slopes, although the most popular sites were those on hilltops. Bowl barrows were first identified in Great Britain by John Thurnam (1810–73), an English psychiatrist, archaeologist, and ethnologist.
English Heritage proposed the following classification of British bowl barrows:
Tump is Worcestershire dialect term for a small hill, such as a barrow, even a large barrow such as the Whittington Tump in the village of Whittington south east of Worcester, or an "unty tump" meaning mole hill (unty being Worcestershire dialect for a mole). It is related to the Welsh language term Twmpath which was once applied to the mound or village green. From a short list of tumps, it can be seen that the term is used extensively in the Welsh Marches and its use extends beyond that, to Somerset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire.
A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or with stone, and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age, and are found largely in Western Europe. When covered in earth, a passage grave is a type of burial mound which are found in various forms all over the world. When a passage grave is covered in stone, it is a type of cairn.
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus.
Arbor Low is a well-preserved Neolithic henge in the Derbyshire Peak District, England. It lies on a carboniferous limestone plateau known as the White Peak area. The monument consists of a stone circle surrounded by massive earthworks and a ditch.
A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one family or social group and were often used over long periods for multiple burials.
Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material represent the oldest widespread tradition of stone construction in the world. Around 40,000 long barrows survive today.
A gallery grave is a form of megalithic tomb built primarily during the Neolithic Age in Europe in which the main gallery of the tomb is entered without first passing through an antechamber or hallway. There are at least four major types of gallery grave, and they may be covered with an earthen mound or rock mound.
Porth Hellick Down is a Neolithic and Bronze Age archeological site located on the island of St Mary's, in the Isles of Scilly in Great Britain. The ancient burial monument encompasses a large cairn cemetery that includes at least six entrance graves, other unchambered cairns, and a prehistoric field system. The site is notable for having the largest assembly of surviving entrance graves.
Navan Fort is an ancient ceremonial monument in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. According to tradition it was one of the great royal sites of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland and the capital of the Ulaidh. It is a large circular hilltop enclosure—marked by a bank and ditch—inside which is a circular mound and the remains of a ring barrow. Archeological investigations show that there were once buildings on the site, including a huge roundhouse-like structure that has been likened to a temple. In a ritual act, this timber structure was filled with stones, deliberately burnt down and then covered with earth to create the mound which stands today. It is believed that Navan was a pagan ceremonial site and was regarded as a sacred space. It features prominently in Irish mythology, especially in the tales of the Ulster Cycle. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, "the [Eamhain Mhacha] of myth and legend is a far grander and mysterious place than archeological excavation supports".
A round barrow is a type of tumulus and is one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe, they are found in many parts of the world, probably because of their simple construction and universal purpose.
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including ceremonial, burial (tumulus), and commemorative purposes.
Whittington is a small village near Worcester close to Junction 7 of the M5 motorway, bounded by the motorway and the B4084, in the District of Wychavon. In fact the motorway cut through the village, most of it being on the west side but some houses were left on the east side.
Round Loaf is a late-Neolithic or Bronze Age tumulus on Anglezarke Moor in the West Pennine Moors near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The bowl barrow is a scheduled monument considered to be of national importance. It was first scheduled in March 1954. The structure is aligned between Great Hill and Pikestones.
This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic structures.
In archaeology, earthworks are artificial changes in land level, typically made from piles of artificially placed or sculpted rocks and soil. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features, or they can show features beneath the surface.
The unchambered long barrowearthen long barrow, non-megalithic long barrow or non-megalithic mound, is a type of long barrow found across the British Isles, in a belt of land in Brittany, and in northern Europe as far east as the River Vistula. The term "unchambered" means that there is no stone chamber within the stone enclosure. In Great Britain they are often known as non-megalithic long barrows or unchambered long cairns.
Beacon Hill, also known as Harting Beacon, is a hillfort on the South Downs, in the county of West Sussex in southern England. The hillfort is located in the parish of Elsted and Treyford, in Chichester District. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument with a list entry identification number of 1015915. The hilltop enclosure is dated to the Late Bronze Age, from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. The hillfort defences were renewed during the Late Iron Age.
Whittington Tump or Crookbarrow Hill is a partly artificial mound in Worcestershire. There is evidence of pre-historic activity at the site and some sources say it was fortified by the Romans. The site came to prominence during the Anglo-Saxon era when a settlement was established. In the mediaeval period, a manor house was established next to the hill and a motte castle constructed atop it. The castle has since disappeared and the area returned to agricultural use. The site was listed as a scheduled monument in 1923.
Tomnaverie stone circle is a recumbent stone circle set on the top of a small hill in lowland northeast Scotland. Construction started from about 2500 BC, in the Bronze Age, to produce a monument of thirteen granite stones including a massive 6.5-ton recumbent stone lying on its side along the southwest of the circle's perimeter. Within the 17-metre (56 ft) circle are kerb stones encircling a low 15-metre (49 ft) ring cairn but the cairn itself no longer exists.
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