Shrub's Wood Long Barrow

Shrub's Wood Long Barrow is an unchambered long barrow located near to the village of Elmsted in the south-eastern English county of Kent. Constructed during Britain's Early Neolithic period, today it survives only in a ruined state.

Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe. Although representing part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe, Shrub's Wood Long Barrow belongs to a localised regional variant of barrows produced in the vicinity of the River Stour. Of these, it lies on the eastern side of the river, alongside the Julliberrie's Grave, while the third known example in this tumuli group, Jacket's Field Long Barrow, is located on the western side.

Context

The Early Neolithic was a revolutionary period of British history. Between 4500 and 3800 BCE, it saw a widespread change in lifestyle as the communities living in the British Isles adopted agriculture as their primary form of subsistence, abandoning the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that had characterised the preceding Mesolithic period.[1] This came about through contact with continental societies, although it is unclear to what extent this can be attributed to an influx of migrants or to indigenous Mesolithic Britons adopting agricultural technologies from the continent.[2] The region of modern Kent would have been a key area for the arrival of continental European settlers and visitors, because of its position on the estuary of the River Thames and its proximity to the continent.[3]

Britain was largely forested in this period;[4] widespread forest clearance did not occur in Kent until the Late Bronze Age (c.1000 to 700 BCE).[5] Throughout most of Britain, there is little evidence of cereal or permanent dwellings from this period, leading archaeologists to believe that the Early Neolithic economy on the island was largely pastoral, relying on herding cattle, with people living a nomadic or semi-nomadic life.[6] It is apparent that although a common material culture was shared throughout most of the British Isles in this period, there was great regional variation regarding the nature and distribution of settlement, architectural styles, and the use of natural resources.[7]

The Stour Long Barrows

Juliberrie's Grave, one of the other two known Stour long barrows

Across Western Europe, the Early Neolithic marked the first period in which humans built monumental structures in the landscape.[8] These were tombs that held the physical remains of the dead, and though sometimes constructed out of timber, many were built using large stones, now known as "megaliths".[9] Individuals were rarely buried alone in the Early Neolithic, instead being interned in collective burials with other members of their community.[10] The construction of these collective burial monumental tombs, both wooden and megalithic, began in continental Europe before being adopted in Britain in the first half of the fourth millennium BCE.[11]

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Hutton 1991, pp. 16–17.
  2. ↑ Hutton 1991, p. 16; Ashbee 1999, p. 272; Hutton 2013, pp. 34–35.
  3. ↑ Holgate 1981, pp. 230–231.
  4. ↑ Hutton 2013, p. 37.
  5. ↑ Barclay et al. 2006, p. 20.
  6. ↑ Champion 2007, pp. 73–74; Hutton 2013, p. 33.
  7. ↑ Bradley 2007, pp. 29–30.
  8. ↑ Hutton 1991, p. 19; Hutton 2013, p. 37.
  9. ↑ Hutton 1991, p. 19.
  10. ↑ Malone 2001, p. 103.
  11. ↑ Malone 2001, pp. 103–104; Hutton 2013, p. 41.

Bibliography

Ashbee, Paul (2005). Kent in Prehistoric Times. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 978-0752431369.
Parfitt, Keith (1998). "Neolithic Earthen Long-Barrows in East Kent: A Review". Kent Archaeological Review. 131: 15–21.
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