Megalithic Chamber Research Articles

Megalithic Skyscapes in Galicia

We present the results of our analysis of two singular Neolithic monuments and two prominent megalithic groups in Galicia. The two singular monuments are the dolmen of Dombate (Baio, Coruña county), perhaps the largest megalithic chamber in Galicia (or at least the most investigated and well-known) that houses an elaborate decorative program with engravings and paintings, and Forno dos Mouros (Bocelo mountains, Coruña county), also housing paintings and belonging to a bigger group aligned along an historical path following the mountain ridge. Both chambers house interesting illumination effects. The group analysis concerns the Barbanza (Coruña county) and Leboreiro, (Ourense county and borderland with Portugal) necropoleis. There, we find that apart from chamber orientation, location and spatial relations of the monuments within the landscape, the monuments incorporate skyscape associations that complemented and dialogued with that of the chamber orientations. Besides, if the particular directions that we find are related to the movements of the sun and/or moon they may indicate the appropriate ritual time for the dead. Of course, skyscape is not the only or the main factor to explain the location of the mounds within the necropolis but are part of a complex system of relations making those monuments part of a cultural landscape. When taking all factors into consideration a complex picture emerges where we can envisage the ways of construction of social time and space in the megalithic period.

Megalithic Skyscapes in Galicia

We present the results of our analysis of two singular Neolithic monuments and two prominent megalithic groups in Galicia. The two singular monuments are the dolmen of Dombate (Baio, Coruña county), perhaps the largest megalithic chamber in Galicia (or at least the most investigated and well-known) that houses an elaborate decorative program with engravings and paintings, and Forno dos Mouros (Bocelo mountains, Coruña county), also housing paintings and belonging to a bigger group aligned along an historical path following the mountain ridge. Both chambers house interesting illumination effects. The group analysis concerns the Barbanza (Coruña county) and Leboreiro, (Ourense county and borderland with Portugal) necropoleis. There, we find that apart from chamber orientation, location and spatial relations of the monuments within the landscape, the monuments incorporate skyscape associations that complemented and dialogued with that of the chamber orientations. Besides, if the particular directions that we find are related to the movements of the sun and/or moon they may indicate the appropriate ritual time for the dead. Of course, skyscape is not the only or the main factor to explain the location of the mounds within the necropolis but are part of a complex system of relations making those monuments part of a cultural landscape. When taking all factors into consideration a complex picture emerges where we can env

Variscita y ámbar en el Neolítico gallego. Análisis arqueométrico del collar del túmulo 1 de Chousa Nova, Silleda (Pontevedra, España)

The excavation of barrow 1 of Chousa Nova, Silleda, Pontevedra (NW Spain) offered surprising results. This mound, in spite of experiencing a large number and types of anthropic damage, still preserved a great constructive complexity. Within its megalithic chamber, formed by 5 granite orthostats and a large roofing slab of, also in granite, a set of archaeological materials appeared. These were an axe, a chisel and a polishing stone, with a set of 35 beads, most of them of a green stone and the rest of an organic material, with an extremely high degree of alteration, inserted between them. The analytical techniques have been in all cases not-destructives (X-ray diffraction and fluorescence spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, optical microscopy and environmental electronic microscopy, with microanalysis). The archaeometric analysis results show a mineralogical nature of these materials, based in variscite and amber. The textural and compositional features are very homogeneous between each assemblage of beads. The importance of the alteration phenomena and dissolution of the archaeological objects are determined and quantified. This alteration is due to an intense chemical attack during the burial periods. The possible source areas of provenance for these materials are also discussed on the basis of geochemical data obtained in the analysis.

Túmulo 5 de Forno dos Mouros (Ortigueira, A Coruña). Primeiros resultados

This text shows the results of the archaeological excavation of the burial mound identified as the n.5 of the «Fomo dos Mouros» group, in the range of Coriscada (Ortigueira, A Coruna). Despite being one of the most significant mounds of the area, it has been very poorly preserved. The final objective of this project was the gathering of archaeological and historical information about the monument and the preservafion and enhancement of the site in order to make it understandable for the public, as part of a broader plan of cultural and touristic presentation at the regional level. The mound is a large site, showing indicators of lost monumental structures (a megalithic chamber), but it was substantially transformed in the last centuries. Its main singularity is the presence of an earlier burial mound that was later covered and preserved by the construction of the currently visible barrow. The further construction of a major mound over it allowed an exceptional preservation of the burial chamber and gave way to a rather complex stratigraphie sequence that reflects a series of long and richr building processes.

Long Mounds and Megalithic Origins in Western France: Recent Excavations at Prissé-la-Charrière

The ancestry of the long mound has long been a key focus in debates on the origins of monumental and megalithic architectures in western France. Typological schemes and absolute dates have alike been invoked in support of different models of monument development, but with limited success. Recent excavations at Prissé-la-Charrière, a 100-metre long mound in the Poitou-Charentes region, have emphasised the importance of internal structure and the complex process of modification and accretion by which many long mounds achieved their final form and dimensions. Excavations have revealed an early megalithic chamber in a dry-stone rotunda, that was progressively incorporated in a short long mound, then in the 100 m long mound we see today, which contains at least two further chamber tombs. The wide range of monument forms present in western and northern France during the 5th millennium BC suggests that the issue of monument origins must be viewed in a broad inter-regional perspective, within which a number of individual elements could be combined in a variety of different ways. Consideration of seven specific elements, including the shape of the mound, the position and accessibility of the chamber, and the significance of above-ground tomb chambers as opposed to graves or pits leads us to propose a polygenic model for the origins of the long mounds and related monuments of western France.

MegaSound: Sound in Irish megalithic buildings

Stimulated by the studies done by Paul Deveraux and Robert Jahn, research has been conducted on the sound properties of two megalithic chambers is Ireland: Dowth South and Fourknocks I. As reference measurements two normal rooms (bed- and bathroom) have been studied. The following aspects will be covered in the presentation: some theoretical background on acoustical modes (within a passage, a chamber, and a combination of them: Helmholtz resonator); tips for doing sound experiments inside megalithic chambers (like: equipment, measurement software, power provisioning and calibrating); frequency response measurements (between 20 and 200 Hz) for the surveyed chambers/rooms; comparison of the results with other researchers’ results; background on the pitch of the human (male, female, and child) voices in neolithic times and recommendations for future research. The presentation also provides insight in the aeralization (simulation) of sound in a megalithic chamber, covering: software that can do these simulations; issues in finding the basic information, e.g., acoustic absorption coefficients and provide examples of the results. I would like to thank all the people who have provided constructive feedback on my work (http://www.iol.ie/∼geniet/eng/megasound.htm).

Le tumulus C de Péré à Prissé-la-Charrière (Deux-Sèvres)

This article presents the results of six years of excavation at Tumulus C in the megalithic cemetery of Prissé-la-Charrière (Deux- Sèvres). This is a trapezoidal mound 115 metres long, 30 metres wide and 4 metres high, that was constructed in several stages. The earliest stage that has so far been documented consists of a small funerary monument measuring 7.2 metres east-west and 8.8 metres wide. It was built largely of earth, and contained a cist open on one side and enclosed within a circular dry-stone mass. At a later stage, the entrance to the cist was blocked and the monument extended towards the east to form a long mound 23 metres in length. This mound was entirely surrounded by an encircling ditch. Later still, the 100-metre trapezoidal long mound was built, enclosing the earlier long mound within its western terminal. This extended mound contains at least one megalithic chamber of quadrangular plan, accessed by a passage opening from the northern façade approximately 1/3 of the distance from the western terminal. The chamber has yielded Middle Neolithic material. The significance of these discoveries are discussed in relation to existing understanding of the megalithic monuments in this region of France, with particular regard to the question of origins.

The place of megalithic tomb cemeteries in Ireland

The megalithic chamber tombs that are the most striking monuments of the Irish Neolithic have long been divided by the shape of their plans. With the shapes there goes a characteristic pattern of distribution and of spacing in the landscape, and from this arise some puzzling questions of sequence as to how ‘cemeteries’ grew up. A fresh view is taken of this old problem

La prehistoria de Ibiza y Formentera: estado actual de la investigación

The study of the prehistory of Ibiza and Formentera, the two small islands that form the Pityussae sub-group within the Balearic archipelago, began a few years ago as a consequence of the discovery and excavation of the megalithic chamber tomb of a Ca Na Costa on Formentera. Before then, prehistorians were still in doubt as to whether these islands had been occupied before the Phoenician colonisation. Many sites have come to light in the last decade, allowing us to present for the first time a general survey of the prehistoric settlement of the islands. Nevertheless, many problems are still unsolved, and new excavations are needed to establish the apparently complex cultural sequence, which seems to have begun in the first half of the second millennium.

Slate cist graves and megalithic chamber tombs in southwest China: Archaeological, historical, and ethnographical approaches to the identification of early ethnic groups

Slate cist graves and megalithic chamber tombs in southwest China: Archaeological, historical, and ethnographical approaches to the identification of early ethnic groups

July 1878: Lukis and Dryden in Drente

SummaryIn 1878 the Society of Antiquaries, acknowledging the need for the protection of prehistoric monuments, delegated the Revd. W. C. Lukis and Sir Henry Dryden to the Netherlands to document the megalithic chamber tombs, or hunebedden, of Drente. In the face of well-meaning but erratic local ‘restoration’, Lukis and Dryden produced plans, descriptions and drawings of forty tombs and pottery from them. Although these remained unpublished, the copies sent to Assen helped to establish the high standard of A. E. van Giffen's Atlas and description of The Hunebeds in the Netherlands (1925, 1927).

I.—Excavation of the Megalithic Chambered Cairn at Dyffryn Ardudwy, Merioneth, Wales

SummaryThe visible monument comprised two periods of construction. First, a small megalithic chamber, characterized by a pair of projecting portal-stones flanking a high closing slab, had been built, and surrounded by a small oval cairn. The chamber had been rifled, but a pit in front of the portal, and sealed beneath the cairn, contained portions of several Neolithic pottery vessels of a fine, undecorated, ware. The second structure consisted of a large megalithic burial chamber built to the east of the first monument. The cairn of this, eastern, chamber was roughly rectangular in plan, and extended westward so as to incorporate the whole of the earlier monument. Pottery from the eastern chamber, and its forecourt, represented several Neolithic, and Bronze Age, wares. The elaborate system of blocking in this forecourt was found virtually intact.The report is subdivided:I. IntroductionII. TopographyIII. Method of ExcavationIV. Description of the Monument as ExcavatedV. ArtefactsVI. Discussion

BARCLODIAD Y GAWRES: The Excavation of a Megalithic Chamber Tomb in Anglesey, 1952–3. By T. G. E. Powell and G. E. Daniel, with contributions by others. Liverpool University Press, 1956. £1 12s. 6d.

BARCLODIAD Y GAWRES: The Excavation of a Megalithic Chamber Tomb in Anglesey, 1952–3. <i>By</i> T. G. E. Powell <i>and</i> G. E. Daniel, <i>with contributions by others</i>. Liverpool University Press, 1956. £1 12<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>.

The Passage Graves of Antequera, and Maes Howe, Orkney

Antequera, in southern Spain, is in the province of Malaga, a little more than twenty miles north of the city of that name, the nearest point on the coast. The town lies at the foot of the mountains, overlooking a large and fertile plain; while just outside it, near the road to Granada, are three tombs which are notable in several ways. Two of them are less than a kilometre distant, the third lies farther away in the plain itself (pl. liii, I).Perhaps the most striking feature of this comparatively isolated group is their marked dissimilarity from each other in type, one being a good representative of the ' cupola tombs' of Iberia; another, a simple long megalithic chamber and antechamber, built on a large scale; while the third, with its holed stone entrances, recalls the allées couvertes of the Paris region.One feature they share, however, which does not seem to have been satisfactorily recorded, namely that each is contained in a large round barrow. All three barrows are formed of natural hillocks which have been scarped and shaped to form symmetrical circular tumuli.