The megalithic tombs of the Stone Age

In the open, cultivated countryside, the farmers of the Stone Age built barrows or burial mounds. In the oldest barrows the burial chambers were built of wood. Later the chambers were constructed of large granite blocks. The burial mounds were monuments to ancestors and they were built in their thousands. They testify to great engineering skills, and it took the cooperation of many people to build them. In the same well organized way large enclosed gathering places were constructed where the population could forge social relations and perform collective rituals.