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Coldrum Long Barrow
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===Meaning and purpose=== Britain's Early Neolithic communities placed greater emphasis on the ritual burial of the dead than their Mesolithic forebears.{{sfn|Malone|2001|p=103}} Archaeologists have suggested that this is because Early Neolithic Britons adhered to an [[ancestor cult]] that venerated the spirits of the dead, believing that they could intercede with the forces of nature for the benefit of their living descendants.{{sfnm|1a1=Burl|1y=1981|1p=61|2a1=Malone|2y=2001|2p=103}} The archaeologist Robin Holgate stressed that rather than simply being tombs, the Medway Megaliths were "communal monuments fulfilling a social function for the communities who built and used them".{{sfn|Holgate|1981|p=223}} Thus, it has been suggested that Early Neolithic people entered into the tombs—which doubled as [[temple]]s or [[shrine]]s—to perform rituals honouring the dead and requesting their assistance.{{sfnm|1a1=Burl|1y=1981|1p=61}} For this reason, the historian [[Ronald Hutton]] termed these monuments "tomb-shrines" to reflect their dual purpose.{{sfn|Hutton|2013|p=41}} In Britain, these tombs were typically located on prominent hills and slopes overlooking the landscape, perhaps at the junction between different territories.{{sfn|Malone|2001|pp=106–107}} The archaeologist [[Caroline Malone]] noted that the tombs would have served as one of various landscape markers that conveyed information on "territory, political allegiance, ownership, and ancestors".{{sfn|Malone|2001|p=107}} Many archaeologists have subscribed to the idea that these tomb-shrines were territorial markers between different tribes; others have argued that such markers would be of little use to a nomadic herding society.{{sfn|Hutton|2013|pp=42–43}} Instead it has been suggested that they represent markers along herding pathways.{{sfn|Hutton|2013|p=43}} The archaeologist [[Richard Bradley (archaeologist)|Richard Bradley]] suggested that the construction of these monuments reflects an attempt to mark control and ownership over the land, thus reflecting a change in mindset brought about by the transition from the hunter-gatherer Mesolithic to the pastoralist Early Neolithic.{{sfn|Hutton|2013|p=39}} Others have suggested that these monuments were built on sites already deemed sacred by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.{{sfn|Hutton|2013|pp=39–40}}
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