Julliberrie's Grave, also known as The Giant's Grave or The Grave, is an unchambered long barrow located near to the village of Chilham in the south-eastern English county of Kent. Probably constructed in the fourth millennium BCE, during Britain's Early Neolithic period, today it survives only in a state of ruin.
Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe. Although representing part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe, Julliberrie's Grave belongs to a localised regional variant of barrows produced in the vicinity of the River Stour. Of these, it lies on the eastern side of the river, alongside the Shrub's Wood Long Barrow, while the third known example in this barrow group, Jacket's Field Long Barrow, is located on the western side.
Julliberrie's Grave is long, high, and at its widest. It was originally larger, with the northern end having been destroyed. Unlike many other long barrows, no evidence for any Early Neolithic human remains have been found at the site; it is possible that its builders never placed human remains within it, or that such burials were included in the barrow's (since lost) northern end. A broken polished stone axe was included in the centre of the monument, which archaeologists believe was likely placed there as part of a ritual act of deposition. A rectangular pit was dug into the western side of the barrow shortly after its completion, likely containing a ritual deposit of organic material, before being refilled.
In the Iron Age, a hearth was established in the ditch circling the barrow; in the Romano-British period, human remains and a coin hoard were buried around its perimeter. Ensuing millennia witnessed local folklore grow up around the site, associating it with the burial of either a giant or an army and their horses. The ruin attracted the interest of antiquarians in the 17th century, although was heavily damaged by chalk quarrying around the 18th. During the 18th and 19th century, antiquarians dug into the barrow at least twice, while cautious archaeological excavation took place in the 1930s. A Scheduled Ancient Monument, it is accessible to visitors all year around.
Location and status
Julliberrie's Grave is located on a shoulder of downland that flanks the eastern side of the River Stour. It is located just over half-a-mile southeast of St Mary's Church, Chilham, and can be inspected from an adjacent public path. It is recognised as a Scheduled Ancient Monument under British law.
Context
The Early Neolithic was a revolutionary period of British history. Between 4500 and 3800 BCE, it saw a widespread change in lifestyle as the communities living in the British Isles adopted agriculture as their primary form of subsistence, abandoning the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that had characterised the preceding Mesolithic period. This came about through contact with continental societies, although it is unclear to what extent this can be attributed to an influx of migrants or to indigenous Mesolithic Britons adopting agricultural technologies from the continent. The region of modern Kent would have been a key area for the arrival of continental European settlers and visitors, because of its position on the estuary of the River Thames and its proximity to the continent.
Britain was largely forested in this period; widespread forest clearance did not occur in Kent until the Late Bronze Age (c.1000 to 700 BCE). Throughout most of Britain, there is little evidence of cereal or permanent dwellings from this period, leading archaeologists to believe that the Early Neolithic economy on the island was largely pastoral, relying on herding cattle, with people living a nomadic or semi-nomadic life. It is apparent that although a common material culture was shared throughout most of the British Isles in this period, there was great regional variation regarding the nature and distribution of settlement, architectural styles, and the use of natural resources.
The Stour Long Barrows
Across Western Europe, the Early Neolithic marked the first period in which humans built monumental structures in the landscape. These were tombs that held the physical remains of the dead, and though sometimes constructed out of timber, many were built using large stones, now known as "megaliths". Individuals were rarely buried alone in the Early Neolithic, instead being interred in collective burials with other members of their community. The construction of these collective burial monumental tombs, both wooden and megalithic, began in continental Europe before being adopted in Britain in the first half of the fourth millennium BCE.
The Early Neolithic people of Britain placed far greater emphasis on the ritualised burial of the dead than their Mesolithic forebears had done. Many archaeologists have suggested that this is because Early Neolithic people adhered to an ancestor cult that venerated the spirits of the dead, believing that they could intercede with the forces of nature for the benefit of their living descendants. Given that other rites may have taken place around these monuments, historian Ronald Hutton termed them "tomb-shrines" to reflect their dual purpose.
In Britain, these tombs were typically located on prominent hills and slopes overlooking the surrounding landscape, perhaps at the junction between different territories. Archaeologist Caroline Malone noted that the tombs would have served as one of a variety of markers in the landscape that conveyed information on "territory, political allegiance, ownership, and ancestors." Many archaeologists have subscribed to the idea that these tomb-shrines served as territorial markers between different tribal groups, although others have argued that such markers would be of little use to a nomadic herding society. Instead it has been suggested that they represent markers along herding pathways. Many archaeologists have suggested that the construction of such monuments reflects an attempt to stamp control and ownership over the land, thus representing a change in mindset brought about by Neolithicisation. Others have suggested that these monuments were built on sites already deemed sacred by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
Archaeologists have differentiated these Early Neolithic tombs into a variety of different architectural styles, each typically associated with a different region within the British Isles. Passage graves, characterised by their narrow passage made of large stones and one or multiple burial chambers covered in earth or stone, were predominantly located in northern Britain and southern and central Ireland. Alternately, across northern Ireland and central Britain long chambered mounds predominated, while in the east and south-east of Britain, earthen long barrows represented the dominant architectural trend. These earthen long barrows were typically constructed of timber because building stone was scarce in southern Britain; archaeologist Aubrey Burl argued that these timber tombs might have been "even more eye-catching" than their stone counterparts, perhaps consisting of "towering carved poles, flamboyantly painted", but that evidence of such sculptures has not survived.
Archaeologists are aware of around twelve Neolithic long barrows that are located in Kent. The best known of these are the Medway Megaliths, all of which are found in the vicinity of the River Medway and each of which contains a stone burial chamber. This use of stone as a building material sets these Medway Megaliths apart from Julliberrie's Grave and the Stour long barrows. The decision by the builders of the Stour long barrows to not use stone was likely deliberate, for sarsens are naturally present in the local area and could have been obtained had they wanted them. Archaeologists recognise the Stour long barrows as a distinct regional grouping of this form of monument. The archaeologist Paul Ashbee thought that there was a typological link between Julliberrie's Grave and the long barrows on the chalk downlands of Sussex, despite the fact that they are over fifty miles apart from each other. The three tumuli are located within eight kilometres of each other, high up on the North Downs between Canterbury and Ashford. As of 1998, Julliberrie's Grave is the only one of the trio to have been archaeologically excavated.
Design and construction
Trapezoidal in shape, Julliberrie's Grave is oriented on a north-northwest to south-southeast orientation. As of the mid-1930s, the barrow measured 43.9 metres (144 feet) in length, with a width of 14.6 metres (48 feet) at its northern end and 12.8 metres (42 feet) at its southern end. The tumulus measured 2.1 metres (7 feet) at its highest point. The long barrow was once larger than this; a letter written by an antiquarian in 1703 reported that the barrow was over 54.8 metres (180 feet) in length and over 12.1 metres (40 feet) in width at its widest section. A ditch encircled the southern end and sides of the tumulus and was not broken by any causeways. Whether this ditch also encircled the barrow's northern end is unknown due to the damage to that end of the monument. The inclusion of an encircling ditch without breaks in it is also seen in some of the long barrows found along Britain's southern coast, in Hampshire and Dorset.
No primary burials of human remains have been found in the barrow. This tumulus might therefore have been an example of a long barrow that did not contain a burial; several other empty examples are known. Conversely, it could have been that human remains were located in the northern end of the mound, which was later destroyed — likely by chalk quarrying — prior to any archaeological excavation. It is possible that the barrow's purpose was not funerary, perhaps instead serving as a territorial marker.
Julliberrie's Grave has not been firmly dated, and an understanding of its age relies upon circumstantial evidence. However, both its U-shaped plan and its lack of burials are representative of a later form in the European long barrow tradition. On the typological basis of a polished axe-head found within the barrow, the archaeologist Stuart Piggott suggested that the monument had been constructed at a late date within the Early Neolithic.
Deposits
Located well into the original turf-core of the southern end of the barrow was a broken polished stone-axe, discovered during the 1937 excavation of the site. Given both the high status prestige of such an item and its location deep inside the barrow, various archaeologists have deemed it likely that it had been deliberately deposited into the barrow as part of a ritual act. The inclusion of an axe within the monument is not unique to Julliberrie's Grave; elsewhere in Britain, axes have been found deposited inside other Early Neolithic monuments, including both long barrows and causewayed enclosures. Piggott highlighted that such polished axes have also been found in the long barrows of the Netherlands, furthermore highlighting that the style of the axe found within Julliberrie's Grave was akin to that found in the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Scandinavia, thereby suggesting a link between this part of Kent and those regions during the Early Neolithic. Ashbee suggested that the location of this axe reflects the existence of an axe cult that was present in both Kent and elsewhere during this period.