A number of dwellings from the Neolithic period have been found in Wales most notably at Clegyr Boia, Pembrokeshire, which produced the remains of rectangular and circular buildings. An associated midden has been dated to 5500 years ago. Sherds of Neolithic round-bottomed pottery, polished stone axes and animal bones were also discovered.
• Neolithic Monuments
There are several types of megalithic structures: portal tombs/dolmens (single chamber); passage tombs (burial chamber with narrow passage leading to the exterior); gallery tombs (long chamber divided into compartments) and menhirs/orthostats (single upright stone, or group of similar stones). Dolmens and passage tombs are often under round barrows; gallery tombs are often under long barrows.
The Cotswold-Severn Group (4100-3900 BC) are a series of long barrows found mainly in the Cotswolds but there are some in the region of southeastern Wales, e.g. the Parc le Breos Cwm chambered long barrow on the Gower peninsula, Swansea, and the Penywyrlod chambered long cairn, Powys.
Tinkinswood and St Lythans are two dolmens dating from about 4000 BC and stand in separate fields some seven miles (11 km) west of Cardiff. The Tinkinswood capstone is 7.3 m (24 ft) long, 4.3 m (14 ft) wide and about 0.9 m (3.0 ft) thick. Supported by smaller upright stones, it weighs about 40 tons and is thought to be the largest in Europe. It was covered by a mound of soil which has been removed over time. The St Lythans dolmen stands at the eastern end of a flat topped, 27 m (90 ft) long, 11 m (36 ft) wide earthen mound, forming part of a chambered long barrow.
Pentre Ifan dolmen/cromlech (4000 BC) in Pembrokeshire comprises seven principal stones. There are six upright stones, three of which support the capstone. Of the remaining three, two portal stones form an entrance and the third, at an angle, appears to block the doorway.
Bryn Celli Ddu, Isle of Anglesey, is generally considered to be one of the finest passage tombs in Wales. Unlike many stone chambered tombs, it consists of a complete passage and burial chamber under a mound or cairn that was reinstated after the excavation. The chamber itself has been dated to around 2000 BC but the history of the site dates back to around 3000 BC when a henge was built.
Bryn Cader Faner round cairn (late third century BC), Gwynedd, consists of fifteen tall and thin standing stones about two metres in height, leaning outwards from the centre of a Bronze Age burial cairn (pile of stones), to form its famous spiky ‘crown of thorns’.
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