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The Chestnuts Long Barrow is a ruined chambered long barrow located near to the village of Addington in the southeastern English county of Kent. Constructed ''circa'' 4000 BCE, during the Early Neolithic period of British prehistory, the Stones represent part of an architectural tradition that was spread across Western Europe during this era. One of the Medway Megaliths constructed in the vicinity of the River Medway, the Addington Long Barrow is located close to five other surviving chambered long barrows: Coldrum Long Barrow, Addington Long Barrow, Kit's Coty House, the Countless Stones and the Coffin Stone. The tomb was built in an area of extensive earlier Mesolithic activity which had been known from surface spotfinds. When the site was excavated in summer 1957 by its owner, Mr E. Boyle, stratified evidence of Mesolithic settlement was found directly beneath the barrow. Further work was undertaken in 1959 by J Alexander who found sherds of Grimston, Beaker and Peterborough ware as well as flint arrowheads. Twelve large sarsen stones remain visible, although badly eroded and damaged. As at the nearby Coldrum Stones the stones had not been set in socket holes by their builders. In plan the tomb was an oblong chamber, oriented east-west and blocked at both ends. It had a facade of four stones, two on either side of the eastern end. The chamber, covered by two capstones, was about 4m by 3m. and just over 2m tall. It was flanked by two large megaliths which dominate the site No evidence of a kerb has been identified and the capstones have since fallen and rest on the ground nearby. Around 4,800 fragments of burnt bone, representing at least ten adults and one infant, were found in the chamber. The remains of a least three pots (in 50 fragments) also came from the chamber, one with fingernail impression. All were of Neolithic or Early Bronze Age fabric. Sherds of a fourth pot were outside the entrance where the excavators considered it had been ritually smashed were also found. A large barrow once covered the chamber, it has only survived for about a quarter of the perimeter but suggests a total width of around 20m. Information from the excavation indicated that it was in use in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (c. 1800-1400 B.C.). The barrow was still standing in the late 1st-2nd century A.D., when a small Roman settlement stood next to it. Around the twelfth or thirteenth century, the chamber was systematically turned over, perhaps by treasure hunters. Pits were dug under the stones and the barrow was shovelled away. This caused the chamber to collapse, sealing medieval sherds under the stones. Since then the site has been little disturbed. Boyle re-erected the stones as accurately as he could following his excavation. The site, along with the Addington long barrow close by is open for public visits by appointment with the landowner. There is an official website at () which details background, location and access to both the Addington Longbarrow and the nearby Chestnuts burial chamber. ==Context== The Early Neolithic was a revolutionary period of British history. Beginning in the fifth millennium BCE, it saw a widespread change in lifestyle as the communities living in the British Isles adopted agriculture as their primary form of subsistence, abandoning the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that had characterised the preceding Mesolithic period. Archaeologists have been unable to prove whether this adoption of farming was because of a new influx of migrants coming in from continental Europe or because the indigenous Mesolithic Britons came to adopt the agricultural practices of continental societies. Either way, it certainly emerged through contact with continental Europe, probably as a result of centuries of interaction between Mesolithic people living in south-east Britain and Linear Pottery culture (LBK) communities in north-eastern France. The region of modern Kent would have been a key area for the arrival of continental European settlers and visitors, because of its position on the estuary of the River Thames and its proximity to the continent. Between 4500 and 3800 BCE, all of the British Isles came to abandon its former Mesolithic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, to be replaced by the new agricultural subsistence of the Neolithic Age. It is apparent that although a common material culture was shared throughout most of the British Isles in this period, there was great regional variation regarding the nature and distribution of settlement, architectural styles, and the use of natural resources. Throughout most of Britain, there is little evidence of cereal or permanent dwellings from this period, leading archaeologists to believe that the Early Neolithic economy on the island was largely pastoral, relying on herding cattle, with people living a nomadic or semi-nomadic way of life. Archaeologists have no direct proof of gender relations on the island at this time, although most believe that it was probably a male-dominated society, in keeping with all recorded societies that practice large-scale animal husbandry. There is archaeological evidence of violence and warfare in Early Neolithic Britain from such archaeological sites as West Kennet Long Barrow and Hambledon Hill, with some groups constructing fortifications to defend themselves from attackers. Britain was largely forested in this period, although did witness some land clearance. It remains unclear to what extent the Kentish area was deforested in the Early Neolithic, although it appears that widespread forest clearance only took place on the chalklands of south-east Britain much later, in the Late Bronze Age. Environmental data from the area around the White Horse Stone supports the idea that the area was still largely forested in the Early Neolithic, covered by a woodland of oak, ash, hazel/alder and ''Maloideae''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chestnuts Long Barrow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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