Belas Knap

Belas Knap is a megalithic tomb of the Cotswold -Severn type. It is located two miles south of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire in England. Cotswold -Severn tombs are located on both sides of the River Severn and into Wales with the highest concentration in Gloucestershire.

The origin of the name is unclear. Knap is a rounded hill, the name comes from the Scottish.

Excavations

The grave was excavated in 1929 by Sir James Berry.

Classification

A classification of the Cotswold -Severn tombs was made in 1869 by Thurnam. 1922 his plan of O. S. Crawford and 1950 by Glyn Daniel was changed. The main distinguishing feature is all that is made ​​between terminally and laterally chambered hills. For the sub- categorization analysis of the chambers will be used. The group is relative to the chamber form a very heterogeneous. A common feature is the trapezoidal shape of hill and the high quality of the dry masonry lining of the hills, for the Belas Knap is a prime example.

The atrial

Belas Knap has the usual funnel-shaped atrium, with high walls on the façade that border the rest hill in lower form. In the center of the facade is a false entrance, as Trilith with a large door panel. The lower part of the dry masonry and the false door is original. The fall is a modern replacement. Other Cotswold -Severn tombs with side chambers have also incorrect inputs.

Chamber constructions

Four chambers (B, C, D and E ) are present. B, C and D lie in the longitudinal sides, during e emanating from the hill end.

Chamber B

Chamber B has the widespread long rectangular plan and has, above the low orthostat (such as the tumulus of Kercado in Brittany ) Dry masonry on the stones at the rear of the chamber are very small. The one-meter wide chamber narrows from the middle of its length. The difference between the two sections is reinforced by a transverse Asked plate. Chamber B had a flat ceiling, the only access was provided with a corbelled.

Chambers C and D

The opposite chambers C and D on the hill sides are polygonal, about two feet wide and short courses. A polygonal ground plan is practically never used in hills with lateral chambers. The chambers consist of five or six orthostat whose gaps are filled with dry stone walls. This is not to be occupied roof should have been a corbelled, it has however been reconstructed flat. The narrow passages consist of dry stone walls. Probably the shifted side stones in chamber C show hollowed edges. It is possible that they formed the access. Soul hole, additions were with lateral chamber found in other Cotswold -Severn tombs in Rodmarton ( in the North and Südkammer ) and Luckington ( in the chambers A and B).

Chamber E

The shape of the chamber E is unclear, as it has been disturbed during previous excavations. Today's reconstruction as a straight transition from dry masonry with large end stone is wrong. Old drawings show a polygonal chamber of dry masonry. The hills lining sat unabated over the entrance to the chamber.

Cairn structure

The huge, completely reconstructed hill today is about 55 m long, at its widest point, 18.5 m wide and at the northern end about four feet high. The excavations have shown, however, that the hill was originally about 60 m long and 25 m wide. Side ditches next to the plants, which served as a quarry, are a feature of the Cotswold -Severn tombs.

The Cairn was built with great care. He is not just raised, but has an internal structure. It is possible that the Cairns were covered with flat stones, a structure that could be seen in other Cotswold -Severn tombs (eg Rodmarton ). During the excavations of the 1860s, a trench was drawn through the cairn on the longitudinal axis. He started behind the wrong portal and went up to a ditch which was applied across next chambers C and D through the hills. At the junction of the trenches lay a stone circle diameter of 2.2 m. The ground around the stones was impregnated with ashes. In a re-excavation in 1929, however, there was no trace of a circle. Noteworthy was the finding that the chambers initially separated, each built with its own hill before they were integrated into the cairn. Corcoran points out in his report on the Cotswold -Severn Cairns out that the most common form of the chambers of laterally chambered systems Passage tombs can not be distinguished. This also applies to the chambers C and D of Belas Knap before being incorporated into the cairn.

If there was this free-standing units before the construction of the cairn, this could explain some peculiarities of Belas Knap. The majority of the Cotswold -Severn tombs is oriented northeast - southwest, very few are as Belas Knap, facing north. However, if the chambers C, D, possibly B were present, there was only the north as a possibility. The Cairn end is angled about 10 degrees from the axis of Cairns. This distortion may have been required to integrate the existing chamber E in the hills.

Finds

The main findings of Belas Knap were quantities of human bones. The recording from the spring of 1863 describes the raising of a large plate on the southeast corner of the hill. Here were found the remains of four skeletons, including two skull. Those were probably the remains of the chamber B. The attention then turned to the north end and one covered the forecourt and the wrong input on. At the distance of the fall, the remains of five children and an animal were found. Chamber C contained the remains of 12 and chamber D of 14 skeletons. Later excavations präzisierten the image and finally the remains were of 38 people. An interesting result in chamber C was a complete skeleton near the entrance, while the others were mixed in the chamber together. Other Cotswold -Severn tombs showed similar patterns, intact skeletons near the entrance with mixed pile of bones inside. This could be the result of Dekarnation the entrance. Although the exact nature of the funeral will probably never be fully understood, the fact that the bones were manipulated or supplemented within the chambers over a longer period remains. Other finds were sparse. Roman pottery, a bone shovel, a few flints and two small Roman bronze coins from the late 3rd century. Among the finds from Belas Knap especially the adult skull from the wrong input led to discussions.

Thurnams skull mystery

The doctor John Thurnam examined in the 19th century, the skull finds prehistoric grave hill and noticed a sharp distinction between the skulls of round hills and those of long hills. This led him to the sentence: " Long Barrows, long skull, Round Barrows, round skull " He examined 17 skulls of Belas Knap This was the largest number of a long-bed He came across an anomaly that presented his theory in question.. . because one of the skull was round. the detected before the wrong input adult male skull had all the characteristics of the brachycephalic skulls that are usually found only in bell Beaker time round hills. a determination made ​​for discussions. much later the bones from Belas Knap were the radiocarbon method dated. were the results, in agreement with the results from other Cotswold -Severn tombs, in the range 4000-3700 BC the result of the round skull lay in the middle. He was at the same time the long skulls in any case and more than a thousand years younger than the round head of the Bell Beaker culture. Thurnams 1990 statement was comprehensively reviewed and confirmed.