The Neolithic Long Barrows, or Passage Graves are special and distinct from other (mostly later) types of burial mounds, tumuli, or kurgans. At least early on, these latter were the products of nomadic, pastoral peoples. The Long Barrows of the earlier still Atlantic Culture(s) were created by sedentary farming peoples. All these ancient peoples knew their ultimate destiny was to go underground. For the Neolithic farmers, their Long Barrows were a way of commemorating that process in a manner that bonded individuals and their communities of families to each eachother, and to the soil, landscape, and place. As these people approached the barrows for gatherings, rituals, burials, or commemorations, they were rehearsing their own deaths--- practicing for their own entry into The Earth. There was a comfort there... of connectedness, continuity, consecration: each pint in the circle, each perspective, each life, all one> A sacred way life and of being in the world as individualism a community linked to the land. When the Neolithic Farmers finally all went underground as a people and culture (apparently as a result of an epidemic brought by migrating western pastoralists), the newcomers (however contentious some interactions may have been) seemed to have wanted to keep their predecessor's culture and knowledge going. Sadly, there was a near complete replacement of the dominant ethnicity. This momentous epoch still echos down the ages to us in mythology of the "fair folk" or Danone Sidhe: the Tuatha De Dannan. But even before (and after?) all that, the Brownies were still in the hills. But don't just take my word for it. Some say they're still out there.
Could the ditches on the sides be filled with water to serve as a mist seeing that the mound is blocked on all sides except for the stones and the chambers ??
Long barrows have evidently become my obsession this morning. Question: is there any sense that these structures were ever used by subsequent generations as anything other than funerary structures? We’re they ever used as shelters or storage? Further: is there any indication that the long barrows themselves may have been erected on even earlier structures?
Excellent questions, future generations did visit long barrows (it's unclear if they deposited any dead because of poor dating of skeletal samples) however you can find later Neolithic pottery within barrows, particularly barrow entrances (Nympsfield Long Barrow for example). As to earlier structures long barrows can evolve, they can start off as small wooden enclosures or 'shelters for mortuary practices (Haddenham Long barrow had 2 or 3 major changes). I also love the example of Hazleton North long barrow which showed people had been living on that exact same spot, perhaps as a camp for builders or was simply a place that was important to a particular group of people that came back and built a monument later.
This is so informative! It's absolutely amazing to think about all the generations that used some of these.
I am glad you think so! Yes it is so fascinating to think about who was actually buried in these places.
The Neolithic Long Barrows, or Passage Graves are special and distinct from other (mostly later) types of burial mounds, tumuli, or kurgans. At least early on, these latter were the products of nomadic, pastoral peoples. The Long Barrows of the earlier still Atlantic Culture(s) were created by sedentary farming peoples. All these ancient peoples knew their ultimate destiny was to go underground. For the Neolithic farmers, their Long Barrows were a way of commemorating that process in a manner that bonded individuals and their communities of families to each eachother, and to the soil, landscape, and place. As these people approached the barrows for gatherings, rituals, burials, or commemorations, they were rehearsing their own deaths--- practicing for their own entry into The Earth. There was a comfort there... of connectedness, continuity, consecration: each pint in the circle, each perspective, each life, all one> A sacred way life and of being in the world as individualism a community linked to the land. When the Neolithic Farmers finally all went underground as a people and culture (apparently as a result of an epidemic brought by migrating western pastoralists), the newcomers (however contentious some interactions may have been) seemed to have wanted to keep their predecessor's culture and knowledge going. Sadly, there was a near complete replacement of the dominant ethnicity. This momentous epoch still echos down the ages to us in mythology of the "fair folk" or Danone Sidhe: the Tuatha De Dannan. But even before (and after?) all that, the Brownies were still in the hills. But don't just take my word for it. Some say they're still out there.
Could the ditches on the sides be filled with water to serve as a mist seeing that the mound is blocked on all sides except for the stones and the chambers ??
Long barrows have evidently become my obsession this morning. Question: is there any sense that these structures were ever used by subsequent generations as anything other than funerary structures? We’re they ever used as shelters or storage? Further: is there any indication that the long barrows themselves may have been erected on even earlier structures?
Excellent questions, future generations did visit long barrows (it's unclear if they deposited any dead because of poor dating of skeletal samples) however you can find later Neolithic pottery within barrows, particularly barrow entrances (Nympsfield Long Barrow for example). As to earlier structures long barrows can evolve, they can start off as small wooden enclosures or 'shelters for mortuary practices (Haddenham Long barrow had 2 or 3 major changes). I also love the example of Hazleton North long barrow which showed people had been living on that exact same spot, perhaps as a camp for builders or was simply a place that was important to a particular group of people that came back and built a monument later.