Innisidgen | |
---|---|
![]() Lower entrance Grave at Inisidgen | |
Location | St Mary's, Isles of Scilly |
Coordinates | 49°56′06″N6°17′30″W / 49.9349°N 6.2917°W |
Built | Bronze Age |
Innisidgen (Cornish : Enys Ojyon, meaning Ox Island) is the site of two Bronze Age entrance graves on the island of St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly. The two burial monuments, (Upper and Lower Innisidgen) lie on a steep slope of Innisidgen Hill overlooking Crow Sound with a view towards the Eastern Isles.
Innisidgen Hill is a scheduled monument on the Isles of Scilly, north east of Hugh Town, the largest village on the Island of St. Mary's. [1] It is the site of two Bronze Age entrance graves that overlook Crow Sound and the Eastern Isles in Scilly. [2] Innisidgen Hill is located near the small settlement of Trenowieh. [3] The larger burial chamber, generally referred to as "Upper Innisidgen", is perched on top of Innisidgen Hill. The smaller grave, "Lower Inisigen", is located on the lower northern slope of the hill. The burial monument also includes an archeological site dating to the English Civil War. [4]
Lower Innisidgen lies near the bottom of the northern slope of Innisidgen Hill. This grave is more damaged than the upper grave and has only two of its original capstones. Parts of the surrounding kerb of the mound remain, while the mound itself incorporates small outcroppings of rock. This entrance grave consists of a circular mound of earth and rubble, 8.5m in diameter and 1.7m in height. Inside the mound is a central chamber, 5.4m long 1.3m wide, and 1m high. The entrance to the chamber is on the south side of the mound and faces north. The walls of the burial space are lined with coursed rubble. There is a large stone positioned at the northern end of the chamber and large slabs edge the central and northern parts of the east wall. Two capstones provide a roof to the central and southern parts of the chamber. During an unauthorized excavation in 1950, the chamber was emptied of its existing earth and rubble. [5]
Upper Innisidgen, also known as "The Giant's Grave", is one of the best preserved entrance graves on Scilly. The entrance grave consists of a slightly oblong mound of earth and rubble measuring 9m by 8m, and is 1.8m in height. The mound's surrounding kerb is approximately 1 metres high on its north side. There are remnants of an outer platform, up to 2m wide. [1] The grave's upper surface is composed of turf. The mound covers an intact burial chamber with an entrance at the eastern side of the mound. The entrance is covered by a large stone slab. The rectangular chamber is 4.6m long and approximately 1.5m wide and 1.2m high. The chamber walls are lined with large slabs. Along the north-northeast wall, are coursed smaller slabs and rubble. The west-northwest end of the chamber is blocked by a large edge-set slab. Five large slabs make up the roof of the burial chamber. The roof slabs are slightly exposed in the grassy surface of the mound. [5]
The Isles of Scilly were originally settled during the Neolithic era, circa 2500 BC. Burial monuments on the islands range in date from the later Neolithic period to the Middle Bronze Age (c.2500-1000 BC). Entrance graves are distinguished by their burial chamber, typically constructed with edge-set slabs, coursed rubble walling or both, and roofed by large covering slabs. The chamber is usually accessible through an opening in the mound's stone outer edge. Excavations of entrance graves have generally uncovered cremation urns, pottery fragments and cremated and unburnt human bones. [4]
The two entrance graves at Innisidgen Hill were built during the Bronze Age. At the time of construction, the burial chambers overlooked a coastal inlet, later known as Crow Sound. During the prehistoric era, this site would have encompassed a wide valley of fields enclosed by stone walls. The remains of a prehistoric field system are located on the northern slope of Innisidgen hill next to the entrance graves, discernible as earth and piles of rubble. No artefacts or human remains were found when both graves were first excavated in 1854. [3] [5]
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The court cairn or court tomb is a megalithic type of chambered cairn or gallery grave. During the period, 3900–3500 BC, more than 390 court cairns were built in Ireland and over 100 in southwest Scotland. The Neolithic monuments are identified by an uncovered courtyard connected to one or more roofed and partitioned burial chambers. Many monuments were built in multiple phases in both Ireland and Scotland and later re-used in the Early Bronze Age.
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.
Entrance grave is a type of Neolithic and early Bronze Age chamber tomb found primarily in Great Britain. The burial monument typically consisted of a circular mound bordered by a stone curb, erected over a rectangular burial chamber and accessed by a narrow, stone lined entrance. Entrance graves have been discovered in the Isles of Scilly, west Cornwall, southeast Ireland, southwest Scotland, Brittany and the Channel Islands. They are often referred to as the Scillonian Group, named for the Scillonian Islands where the majority of entrance graves have been discovered.
Bant's Carn is a Bronze Age entrance grave located on a steep slope on the island of St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly, England. The tomb is one of the best examples of a Scillonian entrance grave. Below Bant's Carn, lies the remains of the Iron Age village of Halangy Down.
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.
Klekkende Høj is a megalithic tomb on the island of Møn in Denmark. It takes its name from its location near the village of Klekkende. "Høj" stems from the Old Norse word haugr, meaning hill, mound or barrow.
Denghoog is a Neolithic passage grave dating from around 3000 BC on the northern edge of Wenningstedt-Braderup on the German island of Sylt. The name Denghoog derives from the Söl'ring Deng (Thing) and Hoog (Hill).
Chapel Carn Brea is an elevated Hercynian granite outcrop, owned by the National Trust at the southern edge of the civil parish of St Just, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hill is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of St Just and 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) east of Sennen Cove, and just to the north of the A30 London to Land's End road, which runs through the village of Crows-an-Wra. It should not be confused with another Carn Brea, the hill overlooking the Camborne–Redruth area.
This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic structures.
The dolmens of Jersey are neolithic sites, including dolmens, in Jersey. They range over a wide period, from around 4800 BC to 2250 BC, these dates covering the periods roughly designated as Neolithic, or “new stone age”, to Chalcolithic, or “copper age”.
The Tumulus of Bougon or Necropolis of Bougon is a group of five Neolithic barrows located in Bougon, near La-Mothe-Saint-Héray, between Exoudon and Pamproux in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
Obadiah's Barrow or Obadiah's Grave is a Neolithic entrance grave located on the island of Gugh in the Isles of Scilly. The grave sits on a steep slope on the southwestern side of Kittern Hill, the highest point on Gugh. The grave was excavated in 1901 by British archaeologist, George Bonsor.
Nordic megalith architecture is an ancient architectural style found in Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia and North Germany, that involves large slabs of stone arranged to form a structure. It emerged in northern Europe, predominantly between 3500 and 2800 BC. It was primarily a product of the Funnelbeaker culture. Between 1964 and 1974, Ewald Schuldt in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania excavated over 100 sites of different types: simple dolmens, extended dolmens, passage graves, great dolmens, unchambered long barrows, and stone cists. In addition, there are polygonal dolmens and types that emerged later, for example, the Grabkiste and Röse. This nomenclature, which specifically derives from the German, is not used in Scandinavia where these sites are categorised by other, more general, terms, as dolmens, passage graves and stone cists.
The architecture of Scotland in the prehistoric era includes all human building within the modern borders of Scotland, before the arrival of the Romans in Britain in the first century BCE. Stone Age settlers began to build in wood in what is now Scotland from at least 8,000 years ago. The first permanent houses of stone were constructed around 6,000 years ago, as at Knap of Howar, Orkney and settlements like Skara Brae. There are also large numbers of chambered tombs and cairns from this era, particularly in the west and north. In the south and east there are earthen barrows, often linked to timber monuments of which only remnants remain. Related structures include bank barrows, cursus monuments, mortuary enclosures and timber halls. From the Bronze Age there are fewer new buildings, but there is evidence of crannogs, roundhouses built on artificial islands and of Clava cairns and the first hillforts. From the Iron Age there is evidence of substantial stone Atlantic roundhouses, which include broch towers, smaller duns. There is also evidence of about 1,000 hillforts in Scotland, most located below the Clyde-Forth line.
Brane Barrow, or Chapel Euny Barrow, is a Neolithic entrance grave located near the hamlet of Brane, Cornwall, England, UK. It is considered to be one of the smallest and best preserved burial monuments in Britain.
Tholos de El Romeral, situated 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) north east of the town of Antequera (Andalusia), is one of the most important examples of early Bronze Age architecture in southern Europe. Tholos de El Romeral, also known as Cueva de Romeral and Dolmen de Romeral, is a megalithic burial site built circa 1800 BCE. It is one of three tombs in region, the others being Dolmen de Menga and Dolmen de Viera, both situated to the south west.
Halangy Down is a prehistoric settlement located on the island of St Mary's, in the Isles of Scilly. The ancient site covers the lower slope of Halangy Down hill, overlooking the coastal inlet between the island of St. Mary's and Tresco Island. On the site are the remains of an Iron Age village, two entrance graves, prehistoric field systems, standing stones, post-medieval breastworks, and a Victorian kelp pit. The settlement was in continuous use for 500 years, from the late Iron Age until the end of the Roman occupation in Britain.
Huntersquoy chambered cairn is a Neolithic chambered cairn located on the island of Eday, in Orkney, Scotland. The monument dates from the 3rd millennium BC and is an Orkney–Cromarty type chambered cairn. Huntersquoy is a distinctive two-story burial monument with overlapping chambers. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1936.
Quanterness chambered cairn is a Neolithic burial monument located on Mainland, Orkney in Scotland. An Iron Age roundhouse built into the cairn was discovered during excavation in the early 1970s. The dwelling was constructed around 700 BC. Also found during excavation, were the remains of 157 people, pottery remnants and other artefacts. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1929.