Neolithic tomb

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Newgrange Newgrange 14.jpg
Newgrange

Neolithic tombs are structures built by humans during the New Stone Age.

Contents

Types

Northwestern Europe

Poulnabrone dolmen, the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. Paulnabrone tombs dolmens burren rocks.jpg
Poulnabrone dolmen, the Burren, County Clare, Ireland.

The main types in Northwestern Europe, particularly Ireland, include passage graves, court cairn, and menhir.

All these types of tomb were built from large slabs of rock which were uncut or worked only slightly. In each case, there was a "doorway" made from two large stones facing each other.

The doorway led to an inner chamber, or a passage and chamber, lined with flat slabs. In all but the portal dolmens, the tomb was then covered in earth and small stones to make a mound.

Asia

Dolmen at Ganghwa Island, South Korea Example of a southern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island.jpg
Dolmen at Ganghwa Island, South Korea

The five types of neolithic tombs found in Korea include dolmen or menhir, cist, cairn, urn, and wooden chamber. [1]

Uses

While some of these stone structures did indeed have human remains contained within them, it is erroneous to suggest that they all were "tombs". It is peculiar to note that after being in use for 3–4,000 years many of these contained no bones whatsoever. Some remains that were carbon dated showed that the interments were inserted hundreds of years after the megaliths were constructed. It would seem that when the original purpose of the "passage tombs" was abandoned, they were adapted for use as crypts by later generations.

Preservation

In England and Ireland, many Neolithic tombs were unwittingly ruined as a result of excavation by antiquarians in the nineteenth century. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolmen</span> Type of single-chamber megalithic tomb

A dolmen or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance. In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone "skeleton".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maeshowe</span> Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland

Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. It was probably built around 2800 BC. In the archaeology of Scotland, it gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passage grave</span> Type of megalithic tomb

A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menhir</span> Large upright standing stone

A menhir, standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found individually as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Menhirs' size can vary considerably, but they often taper toward the top.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megalith</span> Large stone used to build a structure or monument

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 structures or arrangements in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chamber tomb</span> Communal burial place

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 interred 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Court cairn</span> Type of chamber tomb found in Ireland and Scotland

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallery grave</span> Form of megalithic tomb

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrowmore</span> Megalithic cemetery in County Sligo, Ireland

Carrowmore is a large group of megalithic monuments on the Coolera Peninsula to the west of Sligo, Ireland. They were built in the 4th millennium BC, during the Neolithic. There are thirty surviving tombs, making Carrowmore one of the largest clusters of megalithic tombs in Ireland, and one of the 'big four' along with Carrowkeel, Loughcrew and Brú na Bóinne. Carrowmore is the heart of an ancient ritual landscape which is dominated by the mountain of Knocknarea to the west. It is a protected National Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poulnabrone dolmen</span> Dolmen in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland

Poulnabrone dolmen is a large dolmen located in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. Situated on one of the region's most desolate and highest points, it comprises three standing portal stones supporting a heavy horizontal capstone and dates to the early Neolithic period, with estimates from 4200 BC to 2900 BC. Although not the largest, it is the best known of the approximately 172 dolmens in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnac stones</span> Set of megalithic sites in Brittany, France

The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites near the south coast of Brittany in northwestern France, consisting of stone alignments (rows), dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs. More than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local granite and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany and form the largest such collection in the world. Most of the stones are within the Breton municipality of Carnac, but some to the east are within neighboring La Trinité-sur-Mer. The stones were erected at some stage during the Neolithic period, probably around 3300 BC, but some may date to as early as 4500 BC.

This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jersey dolmens</span> Neolithic sites in Jersey

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”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavrinis</span> French island and megalithic monument

Gavrinis is a small island in the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany, France. It contains the Gavrinis tomb, a Neolithic passage tomb built around 4200–4000 BC, making it one of the world's oldest surviving buildings. Stones inside the passage and chamber are covered in megalithic art. It is likened to other Neolithic passage tombs such as Barnenez in Brittany and Newgrange in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnenez</span> Archaeological site in Plouezoch, France

The Cairn of Barnenez is a Neolithic monument located near Plouezoc'h, on the Kernéléhen peninsula in northern Finistère, Brittany (France). It dates to the early Neolithic, about 4800 BC. Along with the Tumulus of Bougon and Locmariaquer megaliths, also located in Great West France, it is one of the earliest megalithic monuments in Europe and one of the oldest man-made structures in the world. It is also remarkable for the presence of megalithic art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tumulus of Bougon</span> Tumulus in Bougon, France

The Tumulus of Bougon or Necropolis of Bougon is a group of five Neolithic barrows located in Bougon, near La-Mothe-Saint-Héray, between Exoudun and Pamproux in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locmariaquer megaliths</span> Large broken menhir in Locmariaquer, France

The Locmariaquer megaliths are a complex of Neolithic constructions in Locmariaquer, Brittany. They comprise the elaborate Er-Grah tumulus passage grave, a dolmen known as the Table des Marchand and "The Broken Menhir of Er Grah", the largest known single block of stone to have been transported and erected by Neolithic people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parc Cwm long cairn</span> Burial chamber in Wales

Parc Cwm long cairn, also known as Parc le Breos burial chamber, is a partly restored Neolithic chambered tomb, identified in 1937 as a Severn-Cotswold type of chambered long barrow. The cromlech, a megalithic burial chamber, was built around 5,850 years before present (BP), during the early Neolithic. It is about seven 12 miles (12 km) west south–west of Swansea, Wales, in what is now known as Coed y Parc Cwm at Parc le Breos, on the Gower Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creevykeel Court Tomb</span> Megalithic tomb in County Sligo, Ireland

Creevykeel Court Tomb is one of the finest examples of a court tomb remaining in Ireland. The monument is located in the N15 Donegal to Sligo road, 50 meters north of Creevykeel cross-roads close to Cliffoney village in County Sligo. The original name for the Creevykeel monument is Caiseal an Bhaoisgin, the Fort of Bhaoisgin, Tobar an Bhaoisgin being the name of the well near the cairn. A second megalithic monument existed 300 meters to the north, but it was demolished around 1890.

References

  1. Marcus, Richard, ed. (1954). Korean Studies Guide. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 39. LCCN   54007843.
  2. Hutton, Richard (1991). The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy. Oxford, United Kingdom; Cambridge, Massachusetts: B. Blackwell. p. 27. ISBN   9780631172888.