In the forecourt of the site, excavators found 100 sherds of Windmill Hill ware, representing parts of at least eight bowls. Alexander suggested that these were once placed in the chamber but later removed to allow the deposition of further human remains inside it. Although no visible tumulus survived into the 1950s, the name "Long Warren" suggested that knowledge of such a mound had persisted into the 18th century. Excavation found evidence of the northern and eastern edges of the barrow, but all trace of its western and southern ends had been destroyed by levelling and deep ploughing. The barrow was probably trapezoidal or D-shaped, with a width of about . At its widest, opposite the façade, this may have extended to . It was more difficult to determine the long barrow's length, although Alexander suggested that it may have been about . Meaning and purpose Britain's Early Neolithic communities placed greater emphasis on the ritual burial of the dead than their Mesolithic forebears. Archaeologists have suggested that this is because Early Neolithic Britons adhered to an ancestor cult that venerated the spirits of the dead, believing that they could intercede with the forces of nature for the benefit of their living descendants. The archaeologist Robin Holgate stressed that rather than simply being tombs, the Medway Megaliths were "communal monuments fulfilling a social function for the communities who built and used them". Thus, it has been suggested that Early Neolithic people entered into the tombs—which doubled as temples or shrines—to perform rituals honouring the dead and requesting their assistance. For this reason, the historian Ronald Hutton termed these monuments "tomb-shrines" to reflect their dual purpose. In Britain, these tombs were typically located on prominent hills and slopes overlooking the landscape, perhaps at the junction between different territories. The archaeologist Caroline Malone noted that the tombs would have served as one of various landscape markers that conveyed information on "territory, political allegiance, ownership, and ancestors". Many archaeologists have subscribed to the idea that these tomb-shrines were territorial markers between different tribes; others have argued that such markers would be of little use to a nomadic herding society. Instead it has been suggested that they represent markers along herding pathways. The archaeologist Richard Bradley suggested that the construction of these monuments reflects an attempt to mark control and ownership over the land, thus reflecting a change in mindset brought about by the