Editing Coldrum Long Barrow (section)

==Context==

[[File:coldrumeast.jpg|thumb|right|350px|View of the monument from the west of it; the [[peristalith]] is in the foreground and the chamber to the rear|alt=A rural scene. Immediately in front of the image is a timber fence, behind which lie several large grey stone boulders in a field.]]

The Early Neolithic was a revolutionary period of British history. Between 4500 and 3800 BCE, it saw a widespread change in lifestyle as the communities living in the [[British Isles]] adopted [[agriculture]] as their primary form of subsistence, abandoning the [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle that had characterised the preceding [[Mesolithic]] period.{{sfn|Hutton|1991|pp=16–17}} This came about through contact with [[continental Europe]]an societies; it is unclear to what extent this can be attributed to an influx of migrants or to indigenous Mesolithic Britons adopting agricultural technologies from the continent.{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1991|1p=16|2a1=Ashbee|2y=1999|2p=272|3a1=Hutton|3y=2013|3pp=34–35}} The region of modern Kent would have been key for the arrival of continental European settlers and visitors, because of its position on the estuary of the [[River Thames]] and its proximity to the continent.{{sfn|Holgate|1981|pp=230–231}}

Britain was then largely forested;{{sfn|Hutton|2013|p=37}} widespread forest clearance did not occur in Kent until the [[Bronze Age Britain|Late Bronze Age]] (c.1000 to 700 BCE).{{sfnm|1a1=Barclay|1a2=Fitzpatrick|1a3=Hayden|1a4=Stafford|1y=2006|1p=20}} Environmental data from the vicinity of the [[White Horse Stone]], a putatively prehistoric [[monolith]] near the [[River Medway]], supports the idea that the area was still largely forested in the Early Neolithic, covered by a woodland of oak, ash, hazel/alder and [[amygdaloideae]].{{sfnm|1a1=Barclay|1a2=Fitzpatrick|1a3=Hayden|1a4=Stafford|1y=2006|1pp=25–26}} Throughout most of Britain, there is little evidence of cereal or permanent dwellings from this period, leading archaeologists to believe that the island's Early Neolithic economy was largely [[pastoralism|pastoral]], relying on herding cattle, with people living a nomadic or semi-nomadic life.{{sfnm|1a1=Champion|1y=2007|1pp=73–74|2a1=Hutton|2y=2013|2p=33}}

===Medway Megaliths===

[[File:Distribution of long barrows.png|thumb|right|The construction of long barrows and related funerary monuments took place in various parts of Europe during the Early Neolithic (known distribution pictured)|alt=A map of Western Europe with certain areas highlighted in dark green.]]

Across Western Europe, the Early Neolithic marked the first period in which humans built monumental structures in the landscape.{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1991|1p=19|2a1=Hutton|2y=2013|2p=37}} These structures included [[chambered long barrow]]s, rectangular or oval earthen [[tumuli]] which had a chamber built into one end. Some of these chambers were constructed out of timber, while others were built using large stones, now known as "[[megalith]]s".{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1991|1p=19|2a1=Hutton|2y=2013|2p=40}} These long barrows often served as tombs, housing the physical remains of the dead within their chamber.{{sfn|Hutton|1991|p=19}} Individuals were rarely buried alone in the Early Neolithic, instead being interred in collective burials with other members of their community.{{sfn|Malone|2001|p=103}} These chambered tombs were built all along the Western European seaboard during the Early Neolithic, from southeastern Spain up to southern Sweden, taking in most of the British Isles;{{sfn|Hutton|2013|p=40}} the architectural tradition was introduced to Britain from continental Europe in the first half of the fourth millennium BCE.{{sfnm|1a1=Malone|1y=2001|1pp=103–104|2a1=Hutton|2y=2013|2p=41}} Although there are stone buildings—like [[Göbekli Tepe]] in modern Turkey—which predate them, the chambered long barrows constitute humanity's first widespread tradition of construction using stone.{{sfn|Hutton|2013|p=41}}

Although now all in a ruinous state and not retaining their original appearance,{{sfnm|1a1=Holgate|1y=1981|1p=225|2a1=Champion|2y=2007|2p=78}} at the time of construction the Medway Megaliths would have been some of the largest and most visually imposing Early Neolithic funerary monuments in Britain.{{sfn|Champion|2007|p=76}} Grouped along the River Medway as it cuts through the [[North Downs]],{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1p=1}} they constitute the most southeasterly group of megalithic monuments in the British Isles,{{sfn|Garwood|2012|p=1}} and the only megalithic group in eastern England.{{sfn|Holgate|1981|p=221}} The archaeologists Brian Philp and Mike Dutto deemed the Medway Megaliths to be "some of the most interesting and well known" archaeological sites in Kent,{{sfn|Philp|Dutto|2005|p=1}} while the archaeologist [[Paul Ashbee]] described them as "the most grandiose and impressive structures of their kind in southern England".{{sfn|Ashbee|1999|p=269}}

The Medway Megaliths can be divided into two separate clusters: one to the west of the River Medway and the other on [[Blue Bell Hill]] to the east, with the distance between the two clusters measuring at between {{convert|8|km}} and {{convert|10|km}}.{{sfnm|1a1=Ashbee|1y=1993|1pp=60–61|2a1=Champion|2y=2007|2p=78|3a1=Wysocki|3a2=Griffiths|3a3=Hedges|3a4=Bayliss|3y=2013|3p=1}} The western group includes Coldrum Long Barrow, [[Addington Long Barrow]], and the [[Chestnuts Long Barrow]].{{sfnm|1a1=Ashbee|1y=2005|1p=101|2a1=Champion|2y=2007|2pp=76–77}} The eastern group consists of [[Smythe's Megalith]], [[Kit's Coty House]], and [[Little Kit's Coty House]], while various stones on the eastern side of the river, most notably the [[Coffin Stone]] and White Horse Stone, may also have been parts of such structures.{{sfnm|1a1=Ashbee|1y=2005|1p=101|2a1=Champion|2y=2007|2p=78}} It is not known if they were all built at the same time, or whether they were constructed in succession,{{sfn|Holgate|1981|p=223}} while similarly it is not known if they each served the same function or whether there was a hierarchy in their usage.{{sfn|Holgate|1981|pp=223, 225}}

[[File:Map of the Medway Megaliths.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.8|Map of the Medway Megaliths around the River Medway|alt=A map featuring a river moving from the top of the image (north) to the bottom right corner (southeast). Various black dots mark out the location of Medway Megaliths on either side of the river.]]

The Medway long barrows all conformed to the same general design plan,{{sfn|Champion|2007|p=78}} and are all aligned on an east to west axis.{{sfn|Champion|2007|p=78}} Each had a stone chamber at the eastern end of the mound, and they each probably had a stone facade flanking the entrance.{{sfn|Champion|2007|p=78}} They had internal heights of up to {{convert|10|ft|order=flip|abbr=off}}, making them taller than most other chambered long barrows in Britain.{{sfn|Killick|2010|p=339}} The chambers were constructed from [[sarsen]], a dense, hard, and durable stone that occurs naturally throughout Kent, having formed out of sand from the [[Eocene]] epoch.{{sfnm|1a1=Ashbee|1y=1993|1p=58|2a1=Ashbee|2y=2000|2pp=325–326|3a1=Champion|3y=2007|3p=78}} Early Neolithic builders would have selected blocks from the local area, and then transported them to the site of the monument to be erected.{{sfnm|1a1=Ashbee|1y=1993|1p=58|2a1=Ashbee|2y=2000|2pp=325–326|3a1=Champion|3y=2007|3p=78}}

These common architectural features among the Medway Megaliths indicate a strong regional cohesion with no direct parallels elsewhere in the British Isles.{{sfnm|1a1=Holgate|1y=1981|1p=225|2a1=Wysocki|2a2=Griffiths|2a3=Hedges|2a4=Bayliss|2y=2013|2p=3}} Nevertheless, as with other regional groupings of Early Neolithic long barrows—such as the [[Severn-Cotswold tomb|Cotswold-Severn group]] in south-western Britain—there are also various idiosyncrasies in the different monuments, such as Coldrum's rectilinear shape, the Chestnut Long Barrow's facade, and the long, thin mounds at Addington and Kit's Coty.{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1p=3}} These variations might have been caused by the tombs being altered and adapted over the course of their use; in this scenario, the monuments would be composite structures.{{sfn|Ashbee|1993|p=60}}

The people who built these monuments were probably influenced by pre-existing tomb-shrines that they were already aware of.{{sfn|Holgate|1981|p=227}} Whether those people had grown up locally, or moved into the Medway area from elsewhere is not known.{{sfn|Holgate|1981|p=227}} Based on a stylistic analysis of their architectural designs, the archaeologist [[Stuart Piggott]] thought that the plan behind the Medway Megaliths had originated in the area around the [[Low Countries]],{{sfn|Piggott|1935|p=122}} while fellow archaeologist [[Glyn Daniel]] instead believed that the same evidence showed an influence from Scandinavia.{{sfn|Daniel|1950|p=161}} John H. Evans instead suggested an origin in Germany,{{sfn|Evans|1950|pp=77−80}} and Ronald F. Jessup thought that their origins could be seen in the Cotswold-Severn megalithic group.{{sfn|Jessup|1970|p=111}} Ashbee noted that their close clustering in the same area was reminiscent of the megalithic tomb-shrine traditions of continental Northern Europe,{{sfn|Ashbee|1999|p=269}} and emphasised that the Medway Megaliths were a regional manifestation of a tradition widespread across Early Neolithic Europe.{{sfn|Ashbee|1999|p=271}} He nevertheless stressed that a precise place of origin was "impossible to indicate" with the available evidence.{{sfn|Ashbee|1993|p=57}}