ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the diverse range of mortuary practices that have been documented from the early Neolithic period. It considers different types of monument built in the early Neolithic of Britain and Ireland. This includes a wide variety of monuments from the well-known chambered tombs of the Cotswold-Severn region and the court cairns of Ireland through to causewayed enclosures found mainly in southern Britain. These monuments were built in wood, stone and earth, and some, but not all, involved the treatment and deposition of the dead. The chapter suggests that it was moments of conflict or social negotiation that promoted the construction of different forms of monument. Unlike many parts of mainland Europe in the Neolithic, Britain and Ireland has not produced evidence for inhumation cemeteries. Early Neolithic chambered tombs exhibit some regional variation, but all share several key features in their final form.
