Bryn Celli Ddu Chambered Tomb

Bryn Celli Ddu developed from a ceremonial enclosure into a burial monument. Its earlier phase was a henge containing a stone circle, with a ditch approximately twenty-one metres across. Later in the Neolithic, a passage tomb replaced this arrangement. A narrow passage leads into a polygonal chamber, where the dead were commemorated beneath a mound. Human bones, both burnt and unburnt, were found alongside a small group of objects including flint arrowheads, a stone bead and quartz. Investigations began in the nineteenth century, followed by extensive excavation in 1928–29. A decorated stone discovered near a pit behind the chamber is represented at the site by a replica. The passage is aligned with the rising sun at the summer solstice, when light reaches the interior. Parts of the entrance and mound have been restored, so the visible monument combines ancient surviving elements with reconstructed features. Period: Neolithic; earlier henge followed by a passage tomb Grid reference: SH5076170185 Protection: Source: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (Coflein), https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/93827 (Open Government Licence). This site data is from the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW), produced by RCAHMW. © Crown Database Right: RCAHMW, licensed under the Open Government Licence 3.0. Banner photo: "BrynCelliDdu3" by No machine-readable author provided. Rhion assumed (based on copyright claims), via Wikimedia Commons, licensed Public domain.