Long barrows were ancient communal tombs built as elongated mounds of earth or chalk covering a wooden or stone chamber. Burials took place over 3-4 generations or a decade. Over 300 have been found concentrated in Wessex and the Cotswolds. They were often built on prominent hills away from settlements and may have served as territorial markers and burial chambers. Initial excavations show long barrows were built resembling Neolithic longhouses, with human remains added to and removed from the structures over centuries as part of ancestral rites and fertility ceremonies.

1. Long barrows are ancient, communal tombs. They are elongated mounds, built of earth,
or chalk and earth, covering a wood or stone ‘house’ for the dead.
Recent research shows that burials typically took place over no more than three or four
generations and perhaps as little as a decade.
Over 300 long barrows have been found in Britain, with concentrations on the Wessex
downs and the Cotswolds.
They were often built on a prominent hill, some distance from where people were
living.
Perhaps they served as a territorial marker as well as a burial chamber.

2. "What did barrows look like when first raised?
At Fussell's Lodge long barrow, near Salisbury,
the discovery of post-holes in a lengthy,
trapezoidal structure showed that initially
there had been a structure resembling a
Neolithic long house of the type found widely
on the Continent. Subsequent long barrow
excavations showed that this formula was
widely followed. These surrogate long houses
contained deposits of human bone that were
added to and subtracted from, for more than a
millennium, and rites pertaining to ancestors
and fertility were no doubt performed. Long
barrows, the long houses of the dead, should
be regarded as shrines rather than mausolea."

12. "What did barrows look like when first raised? At Fussell's Lodge long
barrow, near Salisbury, the discovery of post-holes in a lengthy, trapezoidal
structure showed that initially there had been a structure resembling a
Neolithic long house of the type found widely on the Continent. Subsequent
long barrow excavations showed that this formula was widely followed.
These surrogate long houses contained deposits of human bone that were
added to and subtracted from, for more than a millennium, and rites
pertaining to ancestors and fertility were no doubt performed. Long
barrows, the long houses of the dead, should be regarded as shrines rather
than mausolea."

15. Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure
3800 BC
3 concentric segmented ditches
Congregation point associated with seasonal rituals?
Exchange/trading centre (like Mediaeval fairs?)