Severn-Cotswold tomb

The exposed stone burial chambers of Wayland's Smithy long barrow, Oxfordshire, U.K.

A Severn-Cotswold tomb (or Cotswold-Severn tomb) is a type of megalithic chamber tomb built by Neolithic people in Wales and South West England around 3500 BC.

Description

Severn-Cotswold tombs consist of long, precisely built trapezoidal earth mounds covering burial chambers. Because of this they are a type of chambered long barrow. In some examples, pairs of smaller burial chambers lead off from either side of the central rectangular burial chamber, itself connected to an ante-room. In others the entrance is a false entrance, with the burial chambers accessed laterally from directly outside. A third group have merely a single large chamber.

Distribution

Tombs of this type are concentrated in the Cotswolds but extend as far as Gower and Avebury with some isolated examples in North Wales. Tombs of all three types are generally evenly distributed and it has been theorised that the design evolved over time. Severn-Cotswold tombs share certain features with the transepted gallery graves of the Loire and may have been inspired by these, with the lateral chambers and other differences being local variations.

In the 1960s and 1970s Dr John X. W. P. Corcoran and others argued that the group in fact consisted of three contemporary types,^[1] and later excavations have supported this.

Examples

Examples include Wayland's Smithy in Oxfordshire; West Kennet Long Barrow near Avebury, Wiltshire; Hetty Pegler's Tump, near Uley, Gloucestershire; and Belas Knap, near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. In Somerset examples include Stoney Littleton Long Barrow and the Fairy Toot.^[2]

Wayland's Smithy is on the Berkshire Downs and was excavated between 1962 and 1963, at which point it became obvious there were two successive barrows on the site.^[3]

References

↑ Lynch, Frances (2004). Megalithic Tombs and Long Barrows in Britain. Princes Risborough: Shire. p. 54. ISBN 0-7478-0341-2. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
↑ Dunn, Richard (2004). Nempnett Thrubwell:Barrows, Names and Manors. Nempnett Books. pp. 33–62. ISBN 0-9548614-0-X.
↑ Atkinson, R.J.C (1965). "Wayland's Smithy". Antiquity. 34.

Prehistoric technology

Tools

Farming

Food processing

Hunting

Arrow Boomerang throwing stick Bow and arrow history Nets Spear Spear-thrower baton harpoon woomera Schöningen Spears

Projectile points	Arrowhead Bare Island Cascade Clovis Cresswell Cumberland Eden Folsom Lamoka Manis Site Plano Transverse arrowhead

Systems	Game drive system Buffalo jump

Toolmaking

Other tools

Architecture

Ceremonial	Göbekli Tepe Kiva Standing stones megalith row Stonehenge Pyramid

Dwellings	Neolithic architecture British megalith architecture Nordic megalith architecture Burdei Cave Cliff dwelling Dugout Hut Quiggly hole Jacal Longhouse Mud brick Mehrgarh Neolithic long house Pit-house Pueblitos Pueblo Rock shelter Blombos Cave Abri de la Madeleine Sibudu Cave Stone roof Roundhouse Stilt house Alp pile dwellings Wattle and daub

Water management	Check dam Cistern Flush toilet Reservoir Water well

Other architecture	Archaeological features Broch Burnt mound fulacht fiadh Causewayed enclosure Tor enclosure Circular enclosure Goseck Cursus Henge Thornborough Oldest buildings Megalithic architectural elements Midden Timber circle Timber trackway Sweet Track

Arts and culture

Material goods	Baskets Beadwork Beds Chalcolithic Clothing/textiles timeline Cosmetics Glue Hides shoes Ötzi Jewelry amber use Mirrors Pottery Cardium Grooved ware Linear Jōmon Unstan ware Sewing needle Weaving Wine Winery wine press

Prehistoric art	Art of the Upper Paleolithic Art of the Middle Paleolithic Blombos Cave List of Stone Age art Bird stone Bradshaw rock paintings Cairn Carved Stone Balls Cave paintings painting pigment Cup and ring mark Geoglyph Golden hats Guardian stones Megalithic art Petroform Petroglyph Petrosomatoglyph Pictogram Rock art Stone carving Sculpture Statue menhir Stone circle list British Isles and Brittany Venus figurines

Burial	Burial mounds Bowl barrow Round barrow Mound Builders culture U.S. sites Chamber tomb Severn-Cotswold Cist Dartmoor kistvaens Clava cairn Court tomb Cremation Dolmen Great dolmen Funeral pyre Gallery grave transepted wedge-shaped Grave goods Jar burial Long barrow unchambered Grønsalen Megalithic tomb Mummy Passage grave Rectangular dolmen Ring cairn Simple dolmen Stone box grave Tor cairn Tumulus Unchambered long cairn

Other cultural	Astronomy sites lunar calendar Behavioral modernity Origin of language Prehistoric medicine trepanning Evolutionary musicology music archaeology Prehistoric music Alligator drum flutes Divje Babe flute gudi Prehistoric numerals Origin of religion Paleolithic religion Prehistoric religion Spiritual drug use Prehistoric warfare Symbols symbolism

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.