I threatened you guys with a local history post and now I'm going to do it!

This peaceful little place is Coldrum Longbarrow.

Dating to 3985-3855 BC, this Neolithic burial chamber is over 1000 years older than Stonehenge! Built by farmers who'd migrated from Anatolia (modern Turkey), these people had almost completely replaced Britain's original Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Mad to think the people who built this were genetically closer to modern Turks than today's white Brit... that might upset some folk.

Around 2500 BC, the neolithic humans themselves were largely replaced by Bronze Age migrants from the eastern European steppes. Over 90% of their Neolithic ancestry was wiped out by these newcomers, who brought Indo-European languages and are the primary ancestors of modern Europeans.

Archeologists have dug it up before and have found the remains of 22 bodies. Men, women, children from newborn to elderly (there elderly was probably around my age😅) . All family, spanning generations. Their burial ritual would probably be frowned upon now. Bodies were first left on platforms to naturally decompose before the bones were gathered and laid to rest here. A profound reverence for ancestors that involved the whole community in death's transformation.

People still come here on solstice days and stuff. I'm not going to pretend I know why but I keep fretting to come one day and find out.

There's a smoothed out flat on a rock that I seeked out where it is thought that they sharpens their tools. It's strange to think that someone was standing there 6000 years ago, makes me wonder what they would have thought about.

Oh one more cool thing, the entrance is built facing east to west. Which I like to think it's so it's the first thing the sun touches as it rises.

#Kent #Neolithic #History #historidon #SilentSunday