page_title: Long barrow
section_title: Regional variation
hierarchical_section_title: Long barrow / Distribution and chronology / Regional variation
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Jacket's Field Long Barrow in Kent, taken from the north-western end of the monument looking toward the south-eastern end.
context_page_description: Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material represent the oldest widespread tradition of stone construction in the world. Around 40,000 long barrows survive today.
  The structures have a long earthen tumulus, or "barrow", that is flanked on two sides with linear ditches. These typically stretch for between 20 and 70 metres in length, although some exceptional examples are either longer or shorter than this. Some examples have a timber or stone chamber in one end of the tumulus. These monuments often contained human remains interred within their chambers, and as a result, are often interpreted as tombs, although there are some examples where this appears not to be the case. The choice of timber or stone may have arisen from the availability of local materials rather than cultural differences. Those that contained chambers inside of them are often termed chambered long barrows while those which lack chambers are instead called unchambered long barrows or earthen long barrows.
context_section_description: In the area of southern Spain, Portugal, southwestern France, and Brittany, the long barrows typically include large stone chambers.
  In Britain, earthen long barrows predominate across much of the southern and eastern parts of the island.
  Around 300 earthen long barrows are known from across the eastern side of Britain, from Aberdeenshire in the north down to the South Downs in the south, with two projections westward into Dorset and Galloway. Excavation has suggested that these earthen long barrows were likely constructed between 3800 and 3000 BCE.
  Another prominent regional tradition in Britain is the Cotswold-Severn Group found in the west of the island. These are typically chambered long barrows, and contained human bone in comparatively large quantities, averaging between 40 and 50 people in each.
  The long barrows found in the Netherlands and northern Germany also used stone in their construction where it was available.
  The examples of long barrows found in parts of Poland are also typically earthen rather than megalithic.
  Further north, in Denmark and southern Sweden, the long barrows typically used stone in their construction.
caption: Jacket's Field Long Barrow, one of the earthen long barrows that are clustered around the River Stour in Kent.
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