Disc barrow facts for kids
A disc barrow is a special type of ancient burial mound. It's like a flat, circular platform of earth, often with a small ditch and bank around it. On this platform, you'll find one or more small mounds. These small mounds cover where people were buried a very long time ago, usually in a pit or a stone box called a cist.
It can sometimes be tricky to tell a disc barrow apart from another type of mound called a bell barrow. The main difference is that a disc barrow has a clear, flat platform with a bank and ditch all the way around it.
Disc barrows are quite rare. They were built during the Bronze Age, which was about 4,500 to 2,800 years ago. Most of them are found in an area of southern England called Wessex. Like other burial mounds from that time, disc barrows were likely built for important people. Some experts think they might have been the burial places for important women, but this idea comes from studying only a few burials.
In the 1700s, a historian named William Stukeley called these mounds "druid barrows." Another historian, Richard Colt Hoare, continued using this name in the early 1800s, even though he didn't believe they were actually built by druids.
Famous Disc Barrows in Southern England
Here are some well-known examples of disc barrows you can find in southern England:
- The Flowerdown disc barrow is located near Winchester in Hampshire. It's considered an "exceptionally fine example" of this type of ancient monument.
- On Setley Plain, near Brockenhurst in Hampshire, there are two disc barrows that overlap each other. They are in excellent condition and are one of only two known pairs of overlapping disc barrows in England.
- The Oakley Down Barrow Cemetery near Sixpenny Handley in Dorset has at least five disc barrows. One of them is partly cut by the Ackling Dyke, an old Roman road. This made early historians realize that the barrows were built before the Romans came to Britain.
- The Upwey disc barrow is a very large and impressive example. It's located on the Ridgeway above the area of Upwey in Weymouth, Dorset. It has a very big central mound.
See also
In Spanish: Túmulo en disco para niños
