IDNO

P.85429.BUR

Description

Margaret and Miles Burkitt (on the left) and three other men standing in front of the burial mound at Bryn Celli Ddu during its archaeological excavation, 1927-1931. The man on the extreme right holds a trowel, and in the background is a workman kneeling down. [JD 9/10/2008]

Place

Europe British Isles; United Kingdom; Wales; Isle of Anglesey; Llanddaniel Fab; Bryn Celli Ddu

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Margaret Burkitt; Miles Burkitt

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Date

1 October 1929

Collection Name

Burkitt Collection

Source

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.85420.BUR to P.85430.BUR were found inside envelope now numbered C139/24/5/ which came from negative box now numbered C139/24/ which was found inside wooden box numbered C139/.

Place: This Place field was previously recorded as being “Australia; Victoria; ?Anglesea”, but the image is captioned ‘Bryn Celli Ddu’ which is in Anglesey, Wales. The Place field has been amended accordingly. [JD 9/10/2008]

Context: Bryn Celli Ddu (the mound in a dark grove) is a passage grave in Wales. “It started as a late Neolithic henge or ritual enclosure, with a stone circle surrounded by a bank and internal ditch. A later passage grave was built inside the ditch; the north-east entrance to the burial chamber is retained by a kerb of stones, which with the dry-stone walling of the outer passage, creates an elaborate forecourt. The narrow passage is 8.2m (27ft) long and 0.9m (3ft) wide with a low shelf along its north (right) side. This leads to a higher, polygonal burial chamber, 2.4m (8ft) wide, covered by two capstones. In the chamber is a tall, rounded, free-standing pillar, whose purpose is unknown. ...
The site was visited from 1699, and excavated in 1865 and 1927-31. In the passage and in the chamber excavations revealed both burnt and unburnt human bones, a stone bead, two flint arrowheads, a scraper and mussel shells. Outside the entrance and the ditch, a small, unusual ox burial was found. On the ridge to the north of the site is a tall standing stone.” [Source: www.stonepages.com/wales/bryncelliddu.html, JD 9/10/2008

Context: Recent research by Steve Burrow, curator of Neolithic archaeology at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum of Wales) has proven an earlier theory that Bryn Celli Ddu marked the summer solstice to be true.
A row of five postholes previously thought to have been contemporary with the tomb (c. 3000 BC) have recently been proven to be much earlier. Early results from a radiocarbon programme date pine charcoal from two of the pits to the Mesolithic. [Source: Pitts, M. 2006. Sensational new discoveries at Bryn Celli Ddu. British Archaeology No. 89 (July/August): 6., JD 9/10/2008]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Jocelyne Dudding 9/10/2008]