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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BAR-BEC |
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BARROW (from A.S. beorh, a mount or hillock) , a word found occasionally among place-names in England applied to natural eminences, but generally restricted in its modern application to denote an ancient grave-mound. The custom of constructing barrows or mounds of stone or earth over the remains of the dead was a characteristic feature of the sepulchral systems of primitive times. Originating in the common sentiment of humanity, which desires by some visible memorial to honour and perpetuate the memory of the dead, it was practised alike by peoples of high and of low development, and continued through all the stages of culture that preceded the introduction of Christianity. The primary idea of sepulture appears to have been the provision of a habitation for the dead; and thus, in its perfect form, the barrow included a chamber or chambers where the tenant was surrounded with the prized possessions of his previous life. A common feature of the earlier barrows is the enclosing fence, which marked off the site from the surrounding ground. When the barrow was of earth, this was effected by an encircling trench or a low vallum. When the barrow was a stone structure, the enclosure was usually a circle of standing
original
standing
In England the long barrow usually contains a single chamber, entering by a passage underneath the higher and wider end of the mound. In Denmark the chambers are at irregular intervals along the body of the mound, and have no passages leading into them. The long barrows of Great Britain are often from 200 to400 ft. in length by 6o to 8o ft. wide. Their chambers are rudely but strongly built, with dome -shaped roofs, formed by over-lapping the successive courses of the upper part of the side walls. In Scandinavia, on the other hand, such dome -roofed chambers are unknown, and the construction of the chambers as a rule is megalithic, five or six monoliths supporting one or more capstones of enormous size. Such chambers, denuded of the covering mound, or over which no covering mound has been raised, are popularly known in England as " cromlechs " and in France as " dolmens " (see STONE MONUMENTS). The prevailing mode of sepulture in all the different varieties of these structures is by the deposit of the body in a contracted position, accompanied by weapons and implements of stone, occasionally by ornaments of gold, jet or amber. Vessels of clay, more or less ornate in character, which occur with these early interments of unburnt bodies, have been regarded as food-vessels and drinking-cups, differing in character and purpose from the cinerary urns of larger size in which the ashes of the dead were deposited after cremation.The custom of burning the body commenced in the Stone Age, before the long barrow or the dolmen had passed out of use. While cremation is rare in the long barrows of the south of England, it is the rule in those of Yorkshire and the north of Scotland. In Ireland, where the long barrow form is all but unknown, the round barrow or chambered cairn prevailed from the earliest Pagan
In the Iron Age there was less uniformity in the burial customs. In some of the barrows in central France, and in the wolds of Yorkshire, the interments include the arms and accoutrements of a charioteer, with his chariot, harness and horses. In Scandinavia a custom, alluded to in the sagas, of burying the viking in his ship, drawn
buried twelve horses, six dogs and a peacock. An interesting example of the great timber-chambered barrow is that at Jelling in Jutland, known as the barrow of Thyre Danebod, queen of King Gorm the Old, who died about the middle of the loth century. It is a mound about 200 ft. in diameter, and over 50 ft. in height, containing a chamber 23 ft. long, 8 ft. wide and 5 ft. high, formed of massive slabs of oak. Though it had been entered and plundered in the middle ages, a few relics were found when it was reopened, among which were a silver cup,ornamented with the interlacing work characteristic of the time and some personal ornaments. It is highly illustrative of the tenacity with which the ancient sepulchral usages were retained even after the introduction of Christianity that King Harold, son and successor of Gorm the Old, who is said to have christianized all Denmark and Norway, followed the pagan
Comparing the results of the researches in European barrows with such notices of barrow-burial as may be gleaned from early writings, we find them mutually illustrative. The Homeric account of the building of the barrow of Hector (Il. xxiv.) brings vividly before us the scene so often suggested by the examination of the tumuli of prehistoric times. During nine days wood was collected and brought, in carts drawn
Herodotus, describing the funeral customs of the Scythians, states that, on the death of a chief
Scythia
chief
So curiously alike in their general features were the sepulchral usages connected with barrow-burial over the whole of Europe, that we find the Anglo-Saxon Saga of Beowulf describing the chambered tumulus with its gigantic masonry "held fast on props, with vaults of stone," and the passage under the mound haunted by a dragon, the guardian of the treasures of heathen gold which it contained. Beowulf's own burial is minutely described in terms which have a strong resemblance to the parallel passages in the Iliad and Odyssey. There is first the preparation of the pile, which is hung round with helmets, shields and coats of mail. Then the corpse is brought and laid in the midst; the pile is kindled and the roaring flame rises, mingled with weeping, till all is consumed. Then, for ten long days, the warriors labour at the rearing of his mighty mound on the headland, high and broad, to be seen afar by the passers-by on land and sea. The pyramids of Egypt, the mausolea of the Lydian kings, the circular, chambered sepulchres of Mycenae, and the Etruscan tombs at Caere and Volci, are lineally descended from the chambered barrows of prehistoric times, modified in construction according to the advancement of architectural art at the period of their erection. There is no country in Europe destitute of more or less abundant proofs of the almost universal prevalence of barrow-burial in early times. It can also be traced on both sides of the basin of the Mediterranean, and from Asia Minor across the continent to India, China and Japan. In the new world as well as in the old, similar customs prevailed from a very remote period. In the great plains of North America the dead were buried in barrows of enormous magnitude, which occasionally present a remarkable similarity to the barrows of Great Britain. In these mounds cremation appears more frequently than inhumation; and both are accompanied by implements, weapons and ornaments of stone and bone. The pottery accompanying the remains is often elaborately ornamented, and the mound builders were evidently possessed of a higher development of taste and skill than is evinced by any of the modern aboriginal races, by whom the mounds and their contents are regarded as utterly mysterious. It is not to be wondered at that customs so widely spread and so deeply rooted as those connected with barrow-burial should have been difficult to eradicate. In fact, compliance with the Christian practice of inhumation in the cemeteries sanctioned by the church, was only enforced in Europe by capitularies denouncing the punishment of death on those who persisted in burying their dead after the pagan fashion or in the pagan mounds. Yet even in the middle ages kings of Christian countries were buried with their swords and spears, and queens with their spindles and ornaments; the bishop was laid in his grave with his crozier
Records of Explorations among the Cairns of Arran and Bute,' in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vols. 36, 37, 38 (19011903) ; W. C. Borlase, The Dolmens of Ireland (London, 1897) ; Dictionnaire archeologique de la Gaule (Paris, 1875) ; A. P. Madsen, Gravhoie og Gravfund fra Stenalderen i Danmark(Copenhagen, 1900) ; S. Muller, Nordische Altertumskunde aus Danmark and Schleswig (Strassburg, 1897) ; O. Montelius, The Civilization of Sweden in Heathen Times (London, 1888), and Der Orient and Europa (Stockholm, 1899); E. Cartailhac, Les Ages prihistoriques de l'Espagne et du Portugal (Paris, 1886) ; W. Gowland, " The Dolmens and Burial Mounds in Japan," in Archaeologia, vol. 55 (1897) ; C. Thomas, " Report on the Mound Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology " (Twelfth Annual Report for 1890-1891, Washington, 1894,.) (J. AN.) End of Article: BARROW (from A.S. beorh, a mount or hillock) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/BAR_BEC/BARROW_from_AS_beorh_a_mount_o.html"> BARROW (from A.S. beorh, a mount or hillock) </a> |
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