Prehistoric monuments. Causeway 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 nine 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. 

In a masterful attempt at confusion, archeologists have named these enclosures "camps", which they aren't. In only one case out of a score of these camps is there any evidence of even a temporary dwelling within the enclosed space. 

What were they used for, then? Probably as a multi-purpose gathering place, combining the functions of livestock pen, trading center, church, feasting area, and ceremonial arena. Unfortunately, the causewayed camps, most of which have been found in south and west England, are generally unspectacular to visit and have often been appropriated for other uses by future generations, making it difficult to get a sense of their original state. The best-preserved and perhaps the most important camp archeologically, is Windmill Hill, near Avebury in Wiltshire. 

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, called, you guessed it, earthen long barrows, and those made with a chamber of large stones, called megalithic or chambered long barrows. The main thing to remember about long barrows is that they were communal tombs, holding from one to fifty adults and children. 

Not only were they tombs, but centers of religious activity focussed on a cult of the dead and fertility. Often, the bones of the dead were used in ceremonies performed at the recessed entrance to the barrow. Another curious thing about the barrows is that the dead were usually interred after all the flesh had been removed, and occasionally after the bones had then been burned in a form of cremation ceremony. 

Equally curious is that we don’t know how these people disposed of the vast majority of their dead, as only the bones of a very select few were interred in the barrows. Of the other 99.9% of the population, we have no archeological record. 

The long barrows, ranging up to 350 feet in length, were oriented with the large end pointing roughly east, and the tapering small end pointing west. It has been speculated (you run into the word 'speculated' a lot in prehistory) that this orientation had to do with the importance of the rising sun in Neolithic religions. 

The actual burials are always at the large, eastern end of the barrows. Another point to keep in mind is that there were very few grave goods included in long barrows; generally some ritually broken pottery shards and arrowheads, but nothing to indicate the importance or otherwise of the people buried. Some of the more rewarding long barrows to visit are Wayland's Smithy, in Oxfordshire, West Kennet, in Wiltshire, and Belas Knap, in Gloucestershire.