Dating to 1,000 years before the earliest pyramid at Giza, between 3800 BCE and 3500 BCE, the Cotswold-Severn barrows are perhaps the most enigmatic ancient structures left standing in Britain.
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The barrows are a series of Neolithic (New Stone Age) burial tombs, found mostly in the Cotswolds and Severn Estuary. The term Cotswold-Severn barrow was first coined by archaeologist Glyn Daniel (1914–1986) to describe similar distinct characteristics within the tombs of this region.
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Most had trapezoid shaped mounds, tapering at one end. At the wider end, enclosed by small walls or ‘horns’, a forecourt was built where fires were made, and funeral rites may have taken place. Most had a long central passage which led to chambers on either side. Within these chambers, the remains of generations of the same family, numbering between five and 50 individuals were placed.
At the time, people were shifting from a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a settled farming one. With that shift had to come a change in their belief system and no doubt increased superstition, as for the first time they had to rely on the success of their crops for their survival.
Archaeologists found strange practices had occurred within these tombs. The bones of the dead had been stripped of flesh and removed and placed back into the chambers many times over.
We have no way of knowing what these communities believed but it has been hypothesised that they may have been communicating with or honouring their ancestors in some way. Exhuming the bodies may have also been linked with the seasons or a way to honour the dead on their journey to the afterlife. Whatever the purpose of these barrows, it seems their use was fleeting, with only around four to five generations using them before they were completely sealed off.
Almost every farmer in the region had their own tomb and between 150 and 200 remain in a region stretching from Wiltshire and Dorset in the east, through Somerset and Gloucestershire and into Wales in the west. Each was placed in prominent positions, sometimes on high land, so it is possible they were used as territory markers or demonstrations of power as much as they were used for burial.
Many of these monuments have been sympathetically reconstructed using local materials. Some are closed off to the public but a good few remain completely accessible to visitors.
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Top image: West Kennet long barrow near Avebury, Wiltshire. Credit: Getty
