Barrow

A round or elongated mound of earth or stones used in early times to cover one or more burials; a grave mound. The mound is often surrounded by a ditch, and the burials may be contained within a cist, mortuary enclosure, mortuary house, or chamber tomb. There are two types, the long (elongated) and the round barrow (also known as tumuli). The former were built in the Late Stone Age, the latter in the Bronze Age, though burial under a round mound was occasionally practiced during the Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Viking periods.. The long barrow was a tribal or family burial vault built of stone slabs, some weighing many tons, and covered with earth or stones. The large, round barrows were often communal. They are often found in prehistoric sites in Britain - earthen (or unchambered) long barrows from the Early and Middle Neolithic (Windmill Hill Culture). Other long barrows were constructed over megalithic tombs of gallery grave types. Most of the British round barrows incorporate circles of stakes. Bowl barrows --- simple round mounds, often surrounded by a ditch --- were the most common form, used throughout the Bronze Age and sporadically also in the Iron Age. The Wessex Culture of the southern English Early Bronze Age was characterized by special types of barrows: bell, disk, saucer, and pond barrows. Bell barrows have relatively small mounds and a berm or gap between the mound and the ditch; disk barrows are very small mounds in the center of a circular open space, surrounded by a ditch; saucer barrows are low disk-like mounds occupying the entire space up to the ditch; while the oddly named pond barrows are not mounds at all, but circular dish-shaped enclosures surrounded by an external bank. The related term 'cairn' is used to describe a mound constructed exclusively of stone. Barrow burials occur also in Roman and post-Roman times: one of the most famous of all barrows in Britain is that covering the Anglo-Saxon boat burial at Sutton Hoo.

Mound, usually of earth and rubble, and occurring in a variety of shapes and sizes, which was raised to cover either single or multiple burials. The term ‘tumulus’ is used synonymously with barrow, while the related term ‘cairn’ is used to describe a mound constructed exclusively of stone. The term ‘barrow’ is used widely in European prehistory but most commonly in Britain, where it originated. In Britain most barrows of the Neolithic period were long, either oval or trapezoidal in shape, and usually covered either mortuary houses or other timber structures, or megalithic chambers (see also passage grave, gallery grave). In the Beaker period and subsequent Bronze Age, round barrows became the dominant form and generally covered single burials, rather than the collective inhumations of the Neolithic. Bowl barrows — simple round mounds, often surrounded by a ditch — were the most common form, used throughout the Bronze Age and sporadically also in the Iron Age. The Wessex culture of the southern English Early Bronze Age was characterized by special types of barrows: bell, disc, saucer and pond barrows. Bell barrows have relatively small mounds and a berm or gap between the mound and the ditch; disc barrows are very small mounds in the centre of a circular open space, surrounded by a ditch; saucer barrows are low disc-like mounds occupying the entire space up to the ditch; while the misleadingly named pond barrows are not mounds at all, but circular dish-shaped enclosures surrounded by an external bank. On the continent of Europe both long and round barrows are found in association with megalithic tombs during the Neolithic and Copper Age, while round barrows covering single inhumations or cremations occur in a number of different areas in the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Indeed, barrow burials occur also in Roman and post-Roman times: one of the most famous of all barrows in Britain is that covering the Anglo-Saxon boat burial at Sutton Hoo.