large rounded cobbles covering part of the circumference. The mound is 76
metres (249 ft) across and 12 metres (39 ft) high, and covers 4,500
square metres (1.1 acres) of ground. Within the mound is a chambered
passage, which can be accessed by an entrance on the south-eastern side of the
monument. The passage stretches for 19 metres (60 ft), or about a third of
the way through into the centre of the structure. At the end of the passage are
three small chambers off a larger central chamber, with a high corbelled vault
roof. Each of the smaller chambers has a large flat "basin stone",
which was where the bones of the dead were possibly originally deposited,
although whether it was actually a burial site remains unclear. The walls of
this passage are made up of large stone slabs, twenty-two of which are on the
west side and twenty-one on the east, which average out at 1.5 metres in
height; several are decorated with carvings (as well as graffiti from the
period after the rediscovery). The ceiling shows no evidence of smoke.
Situated around the perimeter of the mound are located a
circle of standing stones, which most archaeologists regard as having been
later, during the Bronze Age, centuries after the original monument had
been abandoned as a tomb.
Art
