Two Traditions of Bronze Age Burial in the Stonehenge Landscape

Abstract

A study of the size of round barrows in relation to their position in the Stonehenge landscape allows us to define two types of mound, here termed 'Conspicuous' and 'Inconspicuous'. Conspicuous barrows are large and prominently located, whilst inconspicuous barrows are smaller and less strikingly placed. Inconspicuous barrows were associated mainly with funerary urns and were constructed throughout the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. Conspicuous barrows contain a wider range of grave goods and were mainly built in the later part of the Early Bronze Age. The Conspicuous barrows were impressive features of the prehistoric landscape and may have been built there because of the long-established significance of some of the local monuments, including Stonehenge itself. They contain exotic grave goods and could have been the burial places of a wider population. By contrast, the Inconspicuous barrows appear to be associated with settlement areas. They contain a range of ceramic grave goods which extend throughout the Early and Middle Bronze Ages and may have been built by the people who were living in the area. The latter tradition is the longer lived and retained its importance into the Middle Bronze Age when more conspicuous mounds were no longer built.

El arte de morir: Una aproximación a las concepciones del deceso humano en el Paleolítico Superior europeo = The Art of Death: Exploring the Conception of Human Demise in the European Upper Palaeolithic

“…Peters (2000) propone que, en esa época, la propiedad de la tierra estaba ligada a la identidad social y, por tanto, los complejos funerarios servían como una expresión de tal relación. Al realizar visitas y rituales en estos sitios, las comunidades habrían reafirmado y justificado su derecho ancestral a la ocupación del territorio.…”