Neolithic

6,000 to 5,200 years ago

During the early neolithic we see the development of large collective monuments for the dead appearing on the coastal fringes of Western Europe. Inland the continental Mesolithic tradition of burial in simple earth graves continued.
Why did this happen on the coastal areas and not in the inland areas? We are not sure but we do know that coastal areas of the UK were, by this time, involved in trade with the continent and thus new ideas could have spread easily.

We tend to find that these communal monuments were constructed in locations that closely correspond to the densely populated regions of the Mesolithic. Were they markers between the old and new population and between ancestral dead and the lands they occupied?

A local example of such a monument is west Kennet long barrow (Wiltshire) which dominates the local skyline.
At West Kennett it appears that each chamber was used for a different section of the community. For example, bones found in the west chamber were predominantly adult males, and those in the south-west were children

During its excavation in 1956, the remains of about 46 individuals were found within the chambers, but the burials spanned a long period of time. This suggests that it may have been the tomb for several generations of one important family. A large quantity of grave goods were also discovered, including tools, beads and pottery fragments which were dated to all periods of the tombs use.

Generally these tombs contain several bodies, with an average in Wessex of six per tomb. In most cases the bodies are disarticulated and incomplete, with some degree of erosion or animal gnawing, suggesting that the bodies were exposed to the elements before burial. This practice is known as excarnation.

There is also some suggestion that the shape of these tombs is related to the shape and type of housing in an area (round, long, trapezoid or irregular). The tombs, houses for the dead, were usually more permanent than those of the living. Was this because the ancestors represent the community? and the tombs were shrines to these supernatural beings? Or was it simply that the people had the understanding that the 'death' state lasted longer than the 'living' state and so the dead needed better buildings?

Either way it shows that the community of the dead was as much part of the society as the community of the living.

Late Neolithic

5,200 to 4,700 years ago

There was a change in burial practices in Yorkshire and other areas around this time. Collective burial continued, but the bodies were undisturbed after burial and survive as intact articulated crouched skeletons. There was also an increase in the use of cremation

Was this a localised change for practical reasons or did it signal a change in the belief structure of these people.

We also see Megalithic passage graves constructed in Ireland, North Wales and northern and western Scotland. The most famous, from each of these regions respectively, are Newgrange, Bryn Celli Ddu and Maes Howe.

The chambers contain stone basins to hold cremation burials, with unburnt grave goods including small decorated pottery bowls, large bone pins and barrel-shaped stone beads. Occasionally inhumations are buried instead. Mural art is a common feature, usually pecked-out curvilinear or geometric patterns, sometimes deliberately hidden.

Astronomical features are often present. For example, a box is situated above the Newgrange entrance for admitting light from mid-winter sunrise, and the Maes Howe passage faced the mid-winter sunset. A possible communal hall at the nearby village of Barnhouse faced the mid-summer sunset, suggesting that this time of year was concerned with the living, whilst the winter solstice concerned the dead.

This change from a simpler belief that the dead moved onto the 'other world' but were still a real part of the community to a more ritualised burial practice as demonstrated by the wall art, spirals and zigzags , and the alignments of the tombs suggests that the beliefs around the dead were developing into a rather complex structure.

However we still see the practice of grave goods being left with the bodies. This practice, common since the Mesolithic, dose show a degree of continuity sugesting an evolution of belief rather than a revolution.

Not only were the Neolithic people segregating land use between the living and the dead but also assigning temporal locations for the two groups. How this integrated with a larger religious philosophy we can only speculate but it does seem reasonable to suggest that the dead, linked to mid winter, also had a part to play in the winter months that put so much survival pressure on the community. This is seen in the Greek stories such as the story of Persephone.