6,000 years ago, hundreds of people gathered in Tinkinswood to place a gargantuan 40-tonne stone slab atop a stone chamber.

1,000 years before Stonehenge was built, it remains one of the most spectacular feats of prehistoric engineering ever accomplished by humanity.

THREAD https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten">
Tinkinswood, or to give it its full name, Tinkinswood Burial Chamber, is a Cotswold-Severn chambered tomb in the Vale of Glamorgan.

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿" title="Flagge von Wales" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Wales"> Its Welsh name is Siambr Gladdu Tinkinswood, but it is also known as:
• Castell Carreg
• Llech-y-Filiast
• Maes-y-Filiast
• Gwal-y-Filiast
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚨" title="Polizeiautos mit drehendem Licht" aria-label="Emoji: Polizeiautos mit drehendem Licht"> A quick "Cotswold-Severn" explainer! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚨" title="Polizeiautos mit drehendem Licht" aria-label="Emoji: Polizeiautos mit drehendem Licht">
• Tombs made to a common design throughout the Cotswolds and around the Severn Estuary
• Often taking the form of mounds
• Wider end points eastwards and opens to a forecourt
• Internal chambers are accessed by short passages
Tinkinswood is dominated by an entrance chamber topped by an enormous mudstone capstone, the largest ever found in Britain.

Measuring a staggering 7.4m x 4.5m (24ft x 15ft), it weighs as much as an articulated lorry.

How Stone Age builders achieved this mindboggling feat is https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤷" title="Person shrugging" aria-label="Emoji: Person shrugging">
Archeologists excavated the site in 1914, finding human skeletons and teeth, flints and pottery.
It& #39;s believed that 50 men, women and children had been interred there.

It& #39;s likely the corpses of the dead were left exposed before being moved into the chamber.
It& #39;s an immensely impressive site, rich in spiritual meaning and pagan tradition. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✨" title="Funken" aria-label="Emoji: Funken">

Tinkinswood is managed by @cadwwales.

More https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👉" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach rechts">

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🏰" title="Europäisches Schloss" aria-label="Emoji: Europäisches Schloss"> https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/tinkinswood-burial-chamber
https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/pla... class="Emoji" style="height:16px;" src=" https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⚒" title="Hammer und Spitzhacke" aria-label="Emoji: Hammer und Spitzhacke"> https://www.visitthevale.com/en/Be-Inspired/History-and-Mystery/Tinkinswood-Burial-Chamber.aspx
https://www.visitthevale.com/en/Be-Ins... class="Emoji" style="height:16px;" src=" https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌿" title="Kräuter" aria-label="Emoji: Kräuter"> https://museum.wales/articles/2007-05-14/The-Stone-Age-tombs-of-south-east-Wales/
https://museum.wales/articles/... class="Emoji" style="height:16px;" src=" https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌳" title="Laubbaum" aria-label="Emoji: Laubbaum"> https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2018/10/06/tinkinswood-burial-chamber-st-nicholas-south-glamorgan-wales/

Diolch">https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2018/10/0... @caws_llyffant for the help!
And if you liked that, I’ve got a LOT more tales of Wales’ surprising history and geography to share https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👉" title="RĂźckhand Zeigefinger nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: RĂźckhand Zeigefinger nach rechts"> http://bit.ly/SecretsOfWales ">https://bit.ly/SecretsOf...
I decided to bring my three-year-old to feel the weight of history!

Tinkinswood is a quiet, eerie place.

And that capstone is gobsmackingly massive...
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