4,000-year-old burial cairn found next to Neolithic passage tomb
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have discovered a 4,000-year-old ancient monument in Wales.
Over the last four years scientists have been exploring the area surrounding the Neolithic passage tomb of Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey.
Bryn Celli Ddu, or the “Mound in the Dark Grove” is a 5,000-year-old burial chamber, and on the longest day of the year a ray of sunshine shoots down its main passage and lights up the entire chamber.
Now scientists have discovered just how huge the complex of monuments was in the area with the discovery of a 4,000-year-old ancient monument right next door.
Radiocarbon dating, a method of determining the age of an object containing organic material, has been used on new excavations on a Bronze Age burial cairn and a circle of pits.
Together with recent results from the passage tomb, evidence shows people continuously occupied the site for 1,000 years.
One of the monuments excavated has the nickname Newell’s Cairn.
Dr Ben Edwards, senior lecturer in archaeology and heritage at Manchester Metropolitan University, is part of the team working on the project.
He said: “The big thing is that it shows 1,000 years of continuous human occupation on the site.
“The carbon dating of the cairn is around 1800 BC but I suspect it dates back to a few hundred years older than that.
“It is known as Newell’s Cairn as a chap called Newell came here in the 1920s, had a poke around, and then left.”