A communal burial mound built from the Stone Age until Saxon times. Long barrows, up to 100 m long and 20 m wide, were the earlier form, while round barrows were introduced during the Bronze Age; see P. Ashbee (1970 and 1960, respectively).
World History
An earthen mound raised over a grave (if of stone, ‘cairn’ is the usual term). Grave-mounds of this type were characteristic throughout Europe and parts of central and southern Asia during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, and in places much later. They occurred less frequently in other parts of the world.