Non-megalithic Long Barrows, Tumuli, Langhügel

Long barrows are earthen tumuli and were erected in many regions of Northern Europe. The oldest can be found in Brittany, France. Further, they appear in Southern France, England, Scotland, Germany, South-Scandinavia and Poland.

Alternative names include combinations of Long, non-megalithic, un-chambered or earthen AND mound, grave or monument. E.g. un-chambered mount or earthen barrow, etc.

Grand Tumuli

The region of Carnac in Brittany is home of a number of Grand Tumuli. The now biggest surviving is the Tumulus St. Michel, 125 m long, 60 m wide and about 10 m high.

More tumuli were discovered in other areas of France. Recent attention got a group of monuments close to Pᴀssy in the Paris area of France. These monuments predate the monuments in UK and Northern Germany+ Scandinavia and were thought to be built around 4500 BC.

Staint-Michel grand tumuli in Carnac, France. The church was built in Christian times.

Long barrows of the UK

Earthen long barrows have a high density in the South of England, but are also found in the Eastern part of middle and North England, up to the East of Scotland. Typically the tumulus extends East-West with the East side used for complex ritual practices, including wooden burial structures. Also typical are ditches each side of the tumulus. In addition the tumulus might have been enclosed, like the Fussell’s Lodge with wooden posts.

Fussell’s Lodge long barrow in Wiltshire, UK (after Ashbee).

The Longstones Barrow close to Avebury, from South (left) and the East side (right).

The non-megalithic long barrows are older than the megalithic tombs that succeeded them. An example is the chambered tomb Wayland’s Smithy in Oxfordshire which was build exactly on a non-megalithic long barrow.

The chambered Cotswold-Severn Wayland’s Smithy in Oxfordshire, UK (after Saville and Whittle) was build over a non-megalithic long barrow (in the middle).

Non-megalithic monuments of TRB

Like in the UK non-megalithic long barrows were erected in Northern Germany, Southern Scandinavia and Poland. These were built 3800 to 3400 BC and predate megalithic TRB structures like in the UK. Typically the are 40-50 m long and 5-10m wide with an East-West orientation.

Long Barrow at Wiskehärad, in Halland (after Sjöborg).

In the North of Germany about 30 non-megalithic long barrow are known, a detailed account can be found in the work of Kossian [3] (see also [1]).

Many monuments were discovered only in recent years since they were not as obvious to recognize like their megalithic relatives. Moreover, Kossian [3] mentions the fact that only recently it was discovered in some of the German long barrows, that the megalithic chambers were updated or rebuild on older non-megalithic barrows. In [1] the author gives a summary of evidences of megalithic structures added to former non-megalithic long barrows (e.g. Lüdelsen 6). As these aspects were not considered in older excavation it is quite likely that there are many more unrecognized un-chambered long barrows.