page_title: Tumulus
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Tumulus / Sites / Western and Central Europe / United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: Sutton Hoo burial mound
context_page_description: A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus.
  Tumuli are often categorised according to their external apparent shape. In this respect, a long barrow is a long tumulus, usually constructed on top of several burials, such as passage graves. A round barrow is a round tumulus, also commonly constructed on top of burials. The internal structure and architecture of both long and round barrows has a broad range; the categorization only refers to the external apparent shape.
  The method of inhumation may involve a dolmen, a cist, a mortuary enclosure, a mortuary house, or a chamber tomb. Examples of barrows include Duggleby Howe and Maeshowe.
  The word tumulus is Latin for 'mound' or 'small hill', which is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *teuh₂- with extended zero grade *tum-, 'to bulge, swell' also found in tomb, tumor, tumescent, thumb, thigh, and thousand.
context_section_description: In the United Kingdom, barrows of a wide range of types were in widespread use for burying the dead from the late Neolithic until the end of the Bronze Age, 2900–800 BC. Square barrows were occasionally used in the Iron Age (800 BC-43 AD) in the east of England. The traditional round barrow experienced a brief resurgence following the Anglo-Saxon conquests, with the introduction of northern Germanic burial practices from continental Europe. These later barrows were often built near older Bronze Age barrows. They included a few instances of ship burial. Barrow burial fell out of use during the 7th century as a result of the spread of Christianity.
  Early scholarly investigation of tumuli and theorising as to their origins was undertaken from the 17th century by antiquaries, notably John Aubrey, and William Stukeley. During the 19th century in England the excavation of tumuli was a popular pastime amongst the educated and wealthy upper classes, who became known as "barrow-diggers". This leisure activity played a key role in laying the foundations for the scientific study of the past in Britain but also resulted in untold damage to the sites.
  Notable British barrows include:
  West Kennet Long Barrow – Neolithic long barrow in Wiltshire
  Wayland's Smithy – Neolithic long barrow and chamber tomb in Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire)
  Belas Knap – Neolithic long barrow in Gloucestershire
  Maeshowe – Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave on Mainland, Orkney
  Duggleby Howe – Neolithic round barrow in the East Riding of Yorkshire
  Sutton Hoo – 7th-century East Anglian ship burial with exceptionally rich grave goods in Suffolk
  Devil's Humps – Bronze Age barrow group on Bow Hill in West Sussex
  Devil's Jumps – Bronze Age barrow group on the South Downs of West Sussex
  Seamer Beacon – Bronze Age barrow near Scarborough, North Yorkshire
caption: Part of the burial ground at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk
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