View of the outside of West Kennet Long Barrow

View of the inside of West Kennet Long Barrow

The West Kennet Long Barrow is a Neolithic tomb or barrow, situated on a prominent chalk ridge, near Silbury Hill, one-and-a-half miles south of Avebury in Wiltshire. The site was recorded by John Aubrey in the 17th century and by William Stukeley in the 18th century. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. ... A tumulus (plural tumuli or tumuluses, from the Latin word for mound or small hill) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. ... Silbury Hill, part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet Long Barrow), is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the worlds largest. ... Avebury Village framed by the Stone Circle Avebury (the traditional local pronunciation is Abury) is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire. ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... John Aubrey. ... William Stukeley (November 7, 1687–March 3, 1765) was an English antiquary who pioneered the archaeological investigation of Stonehenge and Avebury. ...

Archaeologists classify it as a chambered long barrow and one of the Severn-Cotswold tombs. It has two pairs of opposing transept chambers and a single terminal chamber used for burial. The stone burial chambers are located at one end of one of the longest barrows in Britain at 100 m: in total it is estimated that 15,700 manhours were expended in its construction. The entrance consists of a concave forecourt with a facade made from large slabs of sarsen stones which were placed to seal entry. 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. ... Chambered long barrows are a type of megalithic burial monument found in the British Isles in the Neolithic. ... Severn-Cotswold (or Cotswold-Severn) is a name given to a type of Megalithic chamber tomb built by Neolithic peoples in Wales and south west England around 3500 BC. They consist of precisely-built, long trapezoid earth mounds covering a burial chamber. ... A tumulus (plural tumuli or tumuluses, from the Latin word for mound or small hill) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. ... In architecture a forecourt is an open area in front of a structures entrance. ... Sarsen stones are sandstone blocks found on Salisbury Plain and elsewhere. ...

The construction of the West Kennet Long Barrow commenced about 3600 BC, which is some 400 years before the first stage of Stonehenge and it was in use until around 2500 BC. The mound has been damaged by indiscriminate digging, but archaeological excavations in 1859 and 1955-56 found at least 46 burials, ranging from babies to elderly persons. The bones were disarticulated with some of the skulls and long bones missing. It has been suggested that the bones were removed periodically for display or transported elsewhere with the blocking facade being removed and replaced each time. For other meanings of Stonehenge, see: Stonehenge (disambiguation) Stonehenge is a henge, a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The latest excavations also revealed that the side chambers occur inside an exact isosceles triangle, whose height is twice the length of its base. Artefacts associated with the burials include Neolithic Grooved ware similar to that found at nearby Windmill Hill. For alternate meanings, such as the musical instrument, see triangle (disambiguation). ... I archaeology, an artifact or artefact is any object made or modified by a human culture, and often one later recovered by some archaeological endeavor. ... Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. ... Windmill Hill is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure in the English county of Wiltshire, situated around 3 miles north of Avebury. ...

It is thought that this tomb was in use for as long as 1,000 years and at the end of this period the passage and chamber were filled to the roof by the Beaker people with earth and stones, among which were found pieces of Grooved ware, Peterborough ware and Beaker pottery, charcoal, bone tools, and beads. Stuart Piggott, who excavated this mixture of secondary material, suggested that it had been collected from a nearby 'mortuary temple' showing that the site had been used for ritual activity long after it was used for burial. The Beaker people (or `Beaker folk) were an archaeological culture present in prehistoric Europe, defined by a pottery style -- a beaker with a distinctive bell-shaped profile -- that many archeologists believe spread across the western part of the Continent during the 3rd millennium BC. The pottery is particularly prevalent in... Peterborough ware is a decorated pottery style of the later British Neolithic. ... Stuart Ernest Piggott (28 May 1910–23 September 1996) CBE, was a British archaeologist most well known for his work on prehistoric Wessex. ... A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ...

Michael Dames (see References) put forward a composite theory of seasonal rituals, in an attempt to explain the Long Barrow and its associated sites (the Avebury henge, Silbury Hill, The Sanctuary and Windmill Hill). Avebury Henge and Village Avebury is the site of a large henge and several stone circles in the English county of Wiltshire at grid reference SU103699, surrounding the village of Avebury (its geographical location is 51°25′43″N, 1°51′15″W). ... Silbury Hill, part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet Long Barrow), is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the worlds largest. ... The Sanctuary is a prehistoric site on Overton Hill located around 5 miles west of Marlborough in the English county of Wiltshire. ... Windmill Hill is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure in the English county of Wiltshire, situated around 3 miles north of Avebury. ...

A local legend tells how this tomb is visited on Midsummer Day by a ghostly priest and a large white hound. Midsummer celebration, Åmmeberg, Sweden Midsummer is the period of time centered upon the summer solstice. ...

Location

The West Kennet Long Barrow is located at Ordnance Survey mapping six-figure grid reference SU 104677. Part of an Ordnance Survey map at 1 inch to the mile scale from 1945 Ordnance Survey (OS) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom government. ...

Gallery

Diagram of the tomb	Entrance to tomb	Final stone in front of entrance (more than 2m high)	Middle aisle
One of the north chambers	One of the south chambers	West chamber	detail of the entrance
"Smaller" stone in the row of stones in front of entrance	entrance to the tomb with final stone	View from WKLB to Silbury Hill	View of the outside of West Kennet Long Barrow
View of the inside of West Kennet Long Barrow

Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 553 pixelsFull resolution (813 × 562 pixel, file size: 50 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Diagramm von West Kenneth Long Barrow, selbst fotografiert von einer öffentlichen Informationstafel, GNU-FDL, File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1704 × 2272 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 578 pixelsFull resolution (952 × 688 pixel, file size: 430 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): West Kennet Long Barrow Metadata This... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1704 × 2272 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1704 × 2272 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 1. ... Silbury Hill, part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet Long Barrow), is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the worlds largest. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

References

• Vatcher, Faith de M & Vatcher, Lance 1976 The Avebury Monuments - Department of the Environment HMSO
• Dames, Michael 1977 The Avebury Cycle Thames & Hudson Ltd, London

External links

• grid reference SU104677
• Article with further detail on the site, including a map
• English Heritage page on the site

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

West Kennet Long Barrow

Coordinates: 51.40823° N 1.85186° W The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...