Prehistoric Britain

Prehistoric earthworks of different sorts can be found on the UK territory:

Here are the major prehistoric types of monuments you are likely to run across: Causewayed camps - These are some of the oldest remains in the English landscape, dating from around 3500 B.C. They consist of a series of from one to four concentric rings of banks and ditches enclosing an area up to 9 hectares. The ditches are bridged by ramps of earth, or causeways, in several places, sometimes with corresponding gaps in the banks to form an obvious place of entry. They were probably used as a multi-purpose gathering place, combining the functions of livestock pen, trading centre, church, feasting area, and ceremonial arena. Long barrows - These are Neolithic (New Stone Age) tombs which are roughly contemporary with the causewayed camps. There are two main types of long barrows: those made entirely of earth, and those made with a chamber of large stones, called megalithic or chambered long barrows. They were communal tombs, holding from one to fifty adults and children. Centres of religious activity centering on a cult of the dead and fertility. Passage Graves - Neolithic tombs begun a few centuries after the barrows, consisting of a central chamber reached by a narrow, low passage, all of stones. Most passage graves are surmounted by a round mound of earth rather than a tapering barrow.

Stone Circles - Beginning as early as 3300 B.C. standing stones, often in the form of a circle or flattened oval. At least 900 of them still exist. The most famous, though not the most moving or impressive, is STONEHENGE in Wiltshire. A lot of pretty outrageous claims have been made for the purpose of these circles, ranging from UFO landing pads observatories for a highly evolved class of astronomer priests. The truth is probably a lot more mundane; Most would have been an evolved form of the earlier henges and causewayed camps, functioning as multi-purpose tribal gathering places for ritual observances having to do with the seasons and the fertility of the earth. Hill figures - Here and there throughout England, usually on the slopes of the chalk hills of the south, are incised figures of huge proportions cut into the earth. Often visible for miles around, these hill figures give off an air of ancient sanctity. The most famous are, unfortunately, of an indeterminate age. The Giant of Cerne Abbas

The White Horse of Uffington

Henges - Basically a simple bank and ditch enclosing an area of land; more likely a form of religious and ceremonial gathering place.

STONEHENGE

Barrow Mounds - These are the most numerous of the prehistoric monuments you are likely to encounter. They are often marked as "tumuli". Barrows were a new form of tomb brought to England by the Beaker People around 2200 B.C. primarily burial places for individuals rather than communal sites like the earlier long barrows. The most common type is a simple round bowl like an upended pudding. Ingenuously, they are called bowl barrows. Later developments in the Bronze Age include bell, disc, saucer, and pond round barrows

 contain elaborate grave goods. In the Iron Age the important individual being buried, man or woman, was arrayed in full dress, with a stash of goods laid by to indicate his or her Hill Forts - hilltop enclosures; date from the Iron Age (approximately 700 B.C. to 50 A.D.) defensive structures enclosing high places with rings of ditches and banks. Often wooden or stone walls atop the banks as a further barrier. In some cases a series of concentric ditches and banks were built. Not permanent settlement, but may have been emergency assembly points for tribes, or the case of the smaller forts, even single families.