Smythe's Megalith

Smythe's Megalith.
Smythe's Megalith was a chambered long barrow near the village of Aylesford in the south-eastern English county of Kent. Probably constructed in the fourth millennium BCE, during Britain's Early Neolithic period, it was discovered in 1822, at which point it was dismantled. Built out of earth and at least five local sarsen megaliths, the long barrow consisted of a roughly rectangular earthen tumulus with a stone chamber in its eastern end. Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe. Part of an architectural tradition of long barrows that was widespread across Neolithic Europe, Smythe's Megalith belonged to a regional variant produced near the River Medway, now known as the Medway Megaliths. Several of these still survive: Coldrum Long Barrow, Addington Long Barrow, Chestnuts Long Barrow, Kit's Coty House, the Little Kit's Coty House, and the Coffin Stone.