The earliest burial mounds found in the Stonehenge landscape are the long barrows of the Neolithic period. These communal burial chambers were built between 4000 - 3000BC.

Most are rectangular in shape and about 30m (99 feet) long with almost vertical walls of chalk. Excavations show that typically the bones of the dead, most likely people of special importance, were deposited in individual side chambers in the long barrow. The bodies were usually laid facing eastwards. Often, bones were taken out, possibly for ancestor worship.