Bowl barrows have been investigated and studied for over two centuries and must be among the most written-about classes of monument known in England. Landmarks in the development of barrow studies include John Thurnam's paper "On ancient British barrows" published in Archaeologia volume 43 (1871), Leslie Grinsell's book The ancient burial mounds of England published in 1936, his paper on "The round barrows of Wessex" published in the proceedings of the Prehistoric Society volume 7 (1941) and his subsequent numerous surveys of barrows in the counties of southern England, Paul Ashbee's book The Bronze Age round barrow in Britain published in 1960, and most recently Ian Kinnes' review of Round barrows and ring ditches in the British Neolithic published in 1979. Although much early work focused on the bowl barrows of Wessex, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire many recent studies have directed attention to other areas, especially the uplands of northern and western Britain. Since about 1960, investigations have tended to include the examination of whole barrows rather than just cuttings through them. Thus present-day knowledge of bowl barrows as a class is based not just on a long history of fieldwork and recording but also on the results of the widespread, systematic, and complete examination of numerous examples.
The most prominent feature of a bowl barrows is its mound (colloquially known as a cairn in some areas when made entirely of stone). These range in size from about 3m up to over 65m in diameter and from about 0.5m up to over 6m in height. Most are roughly round in plan, but few are strictly circular. The more precisely set-out examples are those of early Bronze Age date (beaker, food vessel and collared urn associations) when a rope tied to a central peg may sometimes have been used to circumscribe the edge of the mound.
Local geology influenced the manner in which mounds were constructed. On the soft bedrocks of eastern England gravel and/or turves are commonly used, while on the limestone and chalk downs of central and southern England soil and rubble gathered up from around about or dug from quarry ditches (see below) was the norm. In western England clitter or boulders collected from surface outcrops supplemented by turf and soil was used. In very stoney areas earthfast boulders (grounders) sometimes form part of the basal courses of a mound. In all areas, well preserved examples show that most mounds had a core of topsoil and/or turf over which was an envelope of unaltered parent material (bedrock or stones from surface outcrops).
When first built, most bowl barrows probably had a surface of exposed stone but unless they were regularly maintained soil and vegetation would establish itself fairly quickly.
The mounds of some bowl barrows are edged with a kerb either of stones (peristalith) or wooden posts (peristazule). Internal divisions are also present in some bowl barrows, usually either as concentric rings of posts (sometimes linked with hurdlework), low stone walls, or rings of upright stone slabs. Such bowl barrows are said to have "structured" mounds. It is important when defining these to include only examples with proper internal divisions rather than just kerbs, edge-revettments, or fenced/walled enclosures around the central burial which were removed before the mound was raised (see below). Structured mounds with rings of wooden stakes are among the most difficult to identify because careful excavation is required to locate the stakeholes and check for traces of hurdlework between; anything up to four concentric rings might be represented. Present evidence suggests that structured bowl barrows mostly date to the early second millennium RCYBC and as such represent a chronologically restricted technique of construction.
Ditches are a feature of some bowl barrows, especially in Wessex and where the natural bedrock is relatively soft. Size varies considerably, presumably in direct relation to the required size of the mound, but they are typically between 2m and 5m in width and up to 3m deep. Most are steep-sided and of U-shaped profile but all are set very close to the edge of the mound with no appreciable berm between. The majority are continuous all around the mound, but penannular and segmented examples are also known. Multiple ditches are either caused by there being some form of enclosure round the burial area before the barrow was built (see below) or the result of the barrow being extended and enlarged.
Hollows in the top of mounds are a common feature visible as surface evidence. In some cases they undoubtedly result from investigations by previous generations of antiquaries and archaeologists but such evidence might also be produced by the collapse of the centre of the mound after the decay of timber chambers, coffins, or containers associated with the burial deposits (see below).
Taking the various combinations of mound construction and ditch form as distinctive morphological features of bowl barrows, a series of 12 main types can be proposed as follows:
- Kerbless/ditchless barrows (eg. Shrewton 23, Wiltshire)
- Kerbless with continuous ditch (eg. Bishops Cannings 81,Wiltshire)
- Kerbless with penannular ditch (eg. Dorchester 6, Dorset)
- Kerbless with segmented ditch (eg. Ravenstone, Buckinghamshire)
- Kerbed/ditchless (eg. Colliford CRIVA, Cornwall)
- Kerbed with continuous ditch (eg. Tregulland, Cornwall)
- Kerbed with pennanular ditch (eg. Tyning's Farm T4, Cheddar Somerset)
- Kerbed with segmented ditch
- Structured/ditchless (eg. Tallington phase II/III, Lincolnshire)
- Structured with continuous ditch (eg. Amesbury G71 phase II/III, Wiltshire)
- Structured with penannular ditch (eg. Poole, Dorset)
- Structured with segmented ditch (eg. Chippenham, Cambridgeshire
A series of diagrammatic plans and profiles representing each of these is given as Figure 1. In addition, however, there are two other traits that allow further minor types to be identified. These are: the presence of a ditch that encircles more than one barrow (examples of two, three and four barrows surrounded by a single ditch are known) and the presence of a low bank around the outer lip of the ditch. Rather than defining these as separate types they are best seen as variations within the main types already listed.
The burial deposits encountered within and beneath bowl barrows vary greatly in form, extent, complexity, and arrangement, presumably reflecting chronological, social, regional and ideological preferrences for particular styles of burial and accompanying rituals. Various terminology has been adopted to describe the burials, and this may be summarized as follows: the primary burial is the first or focal burial within any barrow (or phase of a barrow in the case of multi-phase barrows), often located at the centre of the mound and involving the remains of one or more individuals. Satellite burials are those which lie around the primary burial and which were deposited either at the same time or later than the primary burial (but not earlier) either on the ground surface before the barrow was built or within the mound as it was being piled-up. Intrusive burials (also sometimes called secondary burials) are those dug into the top of a barrow after the mound has been completed.
On a national scale, and taking into account the availability of barrow-building materials, localized preferences for inhumation and cremation, and the long period over which bowl barrows were built, a total of six main kinds of burial deposit can be recognized: linear zone deposits; pyres; cists; closed chambers; pit graves; and shaft graves.
Linear zones are mostly of early and middle Neolithic date. They are found singly under bowl barrows as repositories for the primary burials; linear zones never occur as satellite or intrusive burials. Each comprises a long rectangular burial area, typically about 1m wide and up to 10m long, defined by a shallow trench, or a pair of parallel banks or walls, or a low platform of stone slabs. In some cases a large D-shaped post is found at either end of the burial area suggesting that some kind of wooden covering was once present. Burials either by inhumation and/or cremation are represented within the defined burial area, cremations being mostly confined to northern England while inhumations were more common in the south. Anything from 1 to 10 individuals may be represented. Grave goods include pottery, and flint tools and weapons. Some linear zones, like Aldwincle, Northamptonshire and Callis Wold, Humberside, were surrounded by ditched enclosures suggesting that burials accumulated for some time before the barrow was built.
Pyres are of Neolithic and Bronze Age date and are exclusively found singly under bowl barrows as primary burials. In general, pyres comprise a roughly circular or square-shaped area up to 6m across in which one or more bodies were cremated and the resulting ashes simply left to cool before the barrow was erected over the top. In some cases, as at Swale's Tumulus, Suffolk, the pyre area was defined by a slight hollow, but in others the fire was lit directly on the ground surface. Quantities of pottery, flintwork and animal bones may be present in the pyre and the covering mound.
Cists are distinctive in that they comprise pits dug into the old ground surface which were lined with stone slabs (some of which may be decorated with cup-and-ring marks or other motifs) or timbers before the burial deposits were inserted. In areas of soft bedrock the top of most cists would be flush with, or a little below the pre-barrow land surface, but where the bedrock is very hard the upper part of most cists projects above the level of the old ground surface. Generally cists are square, rectangular, polygonal, or boat-shaped in plan. As primary burials, cists may occur singly, in which case they usually occupy the centre of the barrow, or in groups, in which case they are usually spread about within the area covered by the barrow. Cists also occur as satellite and intrusive burials, in some cases being used as late as Saxon times in southern and eastern England. Stone cists were also sometimes inserted into partly silted ditches in late prehistoric and post-prehistoric times. Cists may contain cremations or inhumations, either single individuals or multiple burials. In some cases a post or standing stone may have marked the position of a cist which had been sealed-up before the barrow was constructed. Grave goods, where present, are usually pots, flint tools and weapons, personal ornaments and dress fittings.
Closed chambers are mostly of Neolithic date, although a few Bronze Age examples are known. They differ from cists in that they are wholly or mainly above-ground structures rather than set within holes in the ground, and are generally slightly larger, typically being between 2m and 4m across. Wooden examples are known, as at Whiteleaf Barrow, Buckinghamshire, as well as the more familiar stone varieties. Square, rectangular and polygonal shaped closed chambers are represented, mostly as single structures forming the repository for the primary burial(s). A few instances of multiple chambers under a single barrow are known, as for example at Hedon Howe North Yorkshire. Occasionally, closed chambers contain single burials as for example in the "rotunda grave" at Notgrove, Gloucestershire, but more commonly they contain multiple inhumations. Grave goods are generally scarce, often just small amounts of pottery and flintwork.
Pit graves are the most common kind of burial found in bowl barrows. They occur as primary burials, satellite burials, and intrusive burials either single or in groups from early Neolithic times right through to the late Bronze Age. Some lay within an enclosure formed by ditches (eg. Stockbridge Down, Hampshire), or wooden fences, (eg. Amesbury G71, Wiltshire) or low banks/walls (eg. Overton G55, Wiltshire) before the barrow was raised over them. The pits vary in size according to the kinds of burials they were designed to receive, but all are less than about 1.5m deep and some are very shallow indeed. Pit graves to contain inhumations (single or multiple) are usually square or rectangular in outline. The burials were either deposited directly in the pit (either crouched, flexed, or extended) or were contained within a wooden coffin or box which was buried in the pit. Coffins of Bronze Age date were either plank built (composite) or made from a hollowed tree-trunk (monoxylous). It has been suggested that dug-out canoes were sometimes used as coffins. Pits containing cremations tend to be smaller than those for inhumations, and are more often round or oval in outline. The cremated remains (sometimes a token deposit of ashes) may be buried loose in the pit or contained within a pot or a wooden box of some kind. In some cases a fire was lit over the top of the grave after the burial had been deposited but before the barrow was built.
Grave goods accompanying burials in pit graves range from everyday items such as pots and flint tools, through personal objects such as dress fittings and ornaments, and on to what can only be described as luxury or prestige items such as gold cups, fine weapons, and very high quality ornaments. In the case of cremation burials such grave goods were sometimes burnt with the body, on other occasions they must have been added to the burial deposit after cremation.
Shaft graves are elaborate versions of pit graves. They are mostly confined to the later third and early second millennium RCYBC, and almost always appear as repositories for the primary burial(s). The shafts are over 1.5m deep, are either circular or rectangular in plan, up to 3m across, and have roughly vertical sides. The bottom is usually flat with the primary burials lying directly on the bottom or in graves cut into the shaft floor. Satellite burials are common in the filling of the shaft, as at Duggleby Howe, North Yorkshire.
In contrast to the burial deposits already described a few bowl barrows have been found to cover no burials at all. These are throught to be "cenotaphs", but should not be confused with bowl barrows that may have lost their burials because of heavy ploughing or adverse soil chemistry.
To what extent bowl barrows were the burial places of an elite, and if so what qualifications were required for such commemoration, is not known. At almost all periods of their currency bowl barrows were used alongside other classes of burial monuments so it must be assumed that some sort of selection procedures was in operation. All types of bowl barrow appear to include the burials of both males and females of all ages so it was not simply gender or age that determined place of burial.