barrow". 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 transition from the hunter-gatherer Mesolithic to the pastoralist Early Neolithic. Others have suggested that these monuments were built on sites already deemed sacred by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Subsequent history Iron Age and Romano-British history Archaeologists found evidence for activity at the site during the British Iron Age. In this period, a hearth was established in the barrow's western ditch. The remains of two pots were found alongside this hearth; one was made from "friable reddish-brown ware with large flint grits" and the other from "sandy, brown fabric, smoothed on the inside and with a fine flint tempering". Romano-British finds are commonly located in and around Early Neolithic monuments, and at Julliberries' Grave there is evidence for what the archaeologist Paul Ashbee called "more than [a] casual Romano-British interest". Archaeologists found several Romano-British burials—both inhumations and cremations—just to the south of the long barrow.