Enclosed cremation cemetery is term used by archaeologists to describe a type of cemetery found in north western Europe during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Graves at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York A cemetery is a place (usually an enclosed area of land) in which dead bodies are buried. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... The Neolithic, (Greek neos=new, lithos=stone, or New Stone Age) is traditionally the last part of the stone age. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

They are similar to urnfield burial grounds in that they consist of a concentration of pits containing cremations which have usually also been placed into pottery vessels. However they are also surrounded by a circular or oval bank and outer ditch which gives them their name. The Urnfield culture of central European culture is dated roughly between 1300 BC and 750 BC. The name describes the custom of cremating the dead and placing them in cemeteries. ... The crematorium at Haycombe Cemetery, Bath, England. ...

The most famous example is Stonehenge which functioned as such a cemetery during its early use when it was a simple earthwork enclosure. Stonehenge Stonehenge is a Neolithic and Bronze Age monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Salisbury. ...

They are interpreted as being variations on the ritual and funerary practice of enclosing significant sites of activity during the period, also exhibited by henges and stone circles. A henge is a circular or sub-circular prehistoric enclosure defined by a raised circular bank, and a circular ditch usually running inside the bank. ... Prehistoric stone circles are megalithic monuments found almost exclusively in the British Isles, with two atypical examples known in Brittany. ...

External link

English Heritage monument class description (http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/mpp/mcd/encem.htm)