Bryn Celli Ddu
Coordinates: 53 ° 12 '28.1 " N , 4 ° 14' 5.2" W.
Bryn Celli Ddu (Welsh; German "the burial mound in the dark forest" ) is a Neolithic passage grave on the Welsh island of Anglesey near Llanddaniel Fab . The building was archaeologically examined between 1928 and 1929. Visitors can enter the Passage Tombs chamber through a narrow corridor . It is a protected monument maintained by the Welsh Heritage Conservation Agency , Cadw .
The burial mound
Bryn Celli Ddu is commonly referred to as the finest passage grave in Wales. In contrast to many other megalithic complexes , there is not only a complete entrance passage and a roughly round chamber, but these are also located under a mound of earth that was rebuilt after the excavations of 1929.
The entrance passage is about 8.4 m long. The first 3.4 m uncovered begin with a pair of portal stones. The corridor then runs between vertical stone walls that support a row of horizontal stones. The burial mound is much smaller than it was originally, it no longer completely covers the burial chamber, so a hole in the back wall lets in some daylight.
In the chamber there is a free-standing smooth stone post that is about 2.0 m high and has a round cross-section. Stones in this shape are very rare. As an explanation, Rupert Soskin and Michael Bott suggested that it was a fossilized tree trunk.
Behind the chamber, in a place that was once inside the hill, there is a replica of the snake stone that was buried in the hill and placed where it is believed to have stood when the place was a henge. The stone carries a snake that coils around both sides. The authenticity of another similarly decorated stone in the burial chamber is questioned.
Curbs show the original size of the hill and also follow the dig of the original hanging system. Three stones visible in the burial mound are said to come from the original stone circle.
The entrance passage is roughly oriented towards the sun at the time of the summer solstice, so light falls on the back wall of the chamber for a few weeks around this time.
Surroundings
Two other burial mounds have been identified immediately to the south of the complex, and to the west of them is a stone. There is also a rock ledge into which a depression and ring marks are incorporated.
Original usage
The oldest remains of the complex are five post holes, which were previously believed to date from the time of the grave. Radiocarbon analysis of charcoal from two of the holes in 2006 showed that they were from around 4000 BC. Come from BC. The holes thus come from the end of the Mesolithic and are around 1000 years older than the next known usage phase of the facility. The purpose of the posts is unknown.
Henge
Around 3000 BC A henge was built, which consisted of a round wall and a ditch 21 m in diameter. Inside this circle was an oval stone circle. Burned human bones were buried at the base of some of these stones, suggesting a central "altar". During this time, a hole was dug into which a single human ear bone was placed and covered with a flat stone slab. The snake pattern stone was found lying nearby, the decoration on both sides suggesting that it was standing there upright.
The grave
About 1000 years after the henge was built, the place was radically redesigned. All but one of the standing stones were willfully damaged and some were knocked over, six were broken with heavy stones. The grave was erected at this point. The grave was much larger than it is now, 26 meters in diameter, and will have had a full row of curbs that followed the course of the old henge and formed a boundary wall. The burial chamber was then completely under the hill and not, as now, with a rear wall visible from the outside. Human bones, both burned and unburned, were found in the chamber and corridor, suggesting a number of different burial rituals. In any case, the old remains were cleared away, while the grave itself was used again and again. At the end of this time the grave was closed by placing a large stone in front of the entrance between the two portal stones.
Standing stone
About 150 meters southwest of Bryn Celli Ddu stands a stone about 1.2 m high and 18 cm thick. It is roughly round and has a hole about two inches deep. The packing stones around the stone are clearly visible. It has been polished smooth by generations of animals. The stone is in the same line as Bryn Celli Ddu's corridor and has the same orientation and must certainly be an important part of the prehistoric landscape.
Archaeological research
The oldest archaeological investigations took place around 1800. In 1796 the complex was included in a list of Cromlechs on Anglesey. In 1802 John Skinner described the system in "Ten Days' Tour Through the Isle of Anglesea" , a report that he himself no longer published and that appeared in a supplement to the Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1908 . When Skinner visited the facility, he was told that it had been discovered a generation ago when a farmer was looking for usable stones. The placement of the pillar stone initially worried Skinner, but the prospect of a treasure trove eventually caused him to knock the stone over.
After the complex had lost several stones, Wilfrid James Hemp undertook an excavation of the complex. He discovered a lot about the building history of the facility and found the snake pattern stone. The stone is now in the National Museum of Wales . A replica stands on the back wall of the burial chamber near the place where the stone was found. The pillar in the burial chamber was erected again and the mound was backfilled, albeit with significantly less material than before. Concrete supports were later installed to support the ceiling.
Norman Lockyer was the first scientist to submit a systematic study of the astronomy of megalithic structures. He claimed that Bryn Celli Ddu marked the summer solstice. The claim was ridiculed at the time, but Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas showed in 1997/98 that this thesis is correct. Knight and Lomas have also made the claim that the facility could be used as a calendar for farming. Steve Burrow from the National Museum of Wales endorsed the summer solstice focus thesis. This connects Bryn Celli Ddu with, among others, Maes Howe in Orkney and Newgrange in Ireland, which are, however, geared towards the winter solstice . The lighting of the burial chamber could be based on that of Newgrange.
media
The snake motif and the burial mound play an important role in the short animated film "Songs from Stones". The film shows some of Anglesey's outstanding archaeological sites and works of art and was produced as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
gallery
Southwest side. Replica of the snake stone
Entrance, portal stones and curbs on the east side
Walk inside the hill
Walk inside the hill
Pillar in the chamber
Original of the snake stone in the National Museum of Wales.
literature
- Frances Lynch: The megalithic tombs of north Wales In: Thomas GE Powell , John XWP Corcoran, Frances Lynch, Jack G. Scott: Megalithic Inquiries in the West of Britain. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 1969, pp. 107-148.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Wales No. 93827, accessed June 20, 2014
- ^ A b Bryn Celli Ddu Gwynedd Archaeological Trust . accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ a b c d e f g www.photographers-resource.co.uk accessed June 10, 2014
- ↑ http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/bryncelliddu.htm
- ↑ a b c M.J. Yates, David Longley: Anglesey: A Guide to Ancient Monuments on the Isle of Anglesey. Third edition . Cadw, Cardiff 2001, ISBN 978-1-85760-142-8 .
- ↑ a b c Mike Pitts: Sensational new discoveries at Bryn Celli Ddu Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: British Archeology . 89, No. July / August, 2006. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
- ↑ Royal Commission of the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales Monument No. 408570
- ↑ Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales Monument No. 302503
- ^ Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales Monument No. 415847
- ^ The burial tombs of Stone Age Wales . May 14, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
- ↑ Skinner, Rev John, Ten Days' Tour Through the Isle of Anglesea, December 1802. Archaeologia Cambrensis Supplement, 1908, Reprinted by Coastline Publications, 2007.
- ^ Wilfrid James Hemp 1930. The Chambered Cairn of Bryn Celli Ddu. Archaeologia (Second Series) 80, 179-214.
- ↑ Knight, Christopher, Lomas, Robert: Uriel's Machine. Century 1999
- ↑ Songs from Stones ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Sean Harris, 2012, accessed June 13, 2014
