A bowl barrow, sometimes referred to as a cairn circle, cairn ring, howe, kerb cairn, turnp or rotunda grave is a type of tumulus first identified by John Thurman .

In the United Kingdom a bowl barrow is an approximately hemispherical mound covering one or more inhumations or cremations. Where the mound is composed entirely of stone, rather than earth, the term cairn replaces the word barrow. The mound may be simply a mass of earth or stone, or it may be structured by concentric rings of posts, low stone walls, or upright stone slabs. In addition, the mound may have a kerb of stones or wooden posts. English Heritage proposed the following classification of British bowl barrows:

• Type 1: Kerbless and ditchless barrows
• Type 2: Kerbless with continuous ditch
• Type 3: Kerbless with penannular ditch
• Type 4: Kerbless with segmented ditch
• Type 5: Kerbed but ditchless
• Type 6: Kerbed with continuous ditch
• Type 7: Kerbed with pennanular ditch
• Type 8: Kerbed with segmented ditch
• Type 9: Structured but ditchless
• Type 10: Structured with continuous ditch
• Type 11: Structured with penannular ditch
• Type 12: Structured with segmented ditch

Bowl barrows were created from the Neolithic through to the Bronze Age in Britain.

External link

• Bowl Barrow monument class description