Tinkinswood

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Coordinates: 51 ° 27'5.1 "  N , 3 ° 18'28.5"  W.

Map: United Kingdom
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Tinkinswood
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United Kingdom
Scheme of the Cotswold Severn plants; Elevations of Tinkinswood, upper left

The megalithic complex of Tinkinswood (also called Castell Carreg, Llech-y-Filiast, Maes-y-Filiast or Gwal-y-Filiast - names associated with the saga of King Arthur ) is a Cotswold Severn type complex . In the Neolithic , around 4000 BC. Built about a kilometer northwest of the dolmen of St. Lythans, in the small valley of Glamorgan in Wales .

Scheme of the Cotswold Severn Tomb
Side view of the capstone and the chamber, on the right part of the herringbone pattern in the masonry

description

The almost rectangular stone mound of 40 m × 18 m has a rectangular chamber in the front, which is drawn in in the middle. The front, known as the “horned forecourt”, lies in the northeast and consists of dry stone masonry , which was partly built in a herringbone pattern and which was partially restored after the excavation in 1914. The sloping masonry is completely different from the vertical one in the nearby Parc Cwm . The enormous, lightweight, sloping capstone of the chamber, measuring 7.4 mx 4.5 m and weighing around 40 tons, is the largest in Great Britain . It lies on preserved and replaced bearing stones. The south side of the chamber was destroyed and the contents of the grave were disturbed .

920 pieces of mostly broken human bones were found in the chamber. They come from around 50 people of both sexes and ages. There is a stone-lined pit in the hill. It is possible that corpses were allowed to rot in it before the remains were deposited in the chamber. A number of parallel rows of upright stones have been found within stone mound, as has a walled pit containing animal bones. Flint chips , bone needles and the shards of red, undecorated Neolithic ceramics and pottery from the bell-cup culture indicate that the facility was used until the Bronze Age .

Say

Tinkinswood has several legends over the years. The best known is that someone who spends a night here on May 1st, St. John's Day (June 23rd), or the day before the winter solstice, either dies, goes mad, or becomes a poet. A group of boulders in the south of the monument are said to be frozen women who met here to dance on the Sabbath.

See also

literature

  • Vicki Cummings, Alasdair Whittle: Places of special virtue. Megaliths in the Neolithic landscapes of Wales. Oxbow, Oxford 2004, ISBN 1-84217-108-9 , p. 180.
  • Homer Sykes: Mysterious Britain - Fact and Folklore George Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd. 1993 ISBN 0-297-83196-8 p. 113

Web links