A 'Gallery grave' is a form of
Megalithic tomb where there is no size difference between the burial chamber itself and the entrance passage. Two parallel walls of stone slabs were erected to form a corridor and covered with a line of capstones. The rectangular tomb was covered with a
barrow or a
cairn. Most were built during the fourth millennium BC, though some were still being built in the
Bronze Age.
They are distributed across
Europe and they are usually subdivided by period, region and also into more generic types of
chambered long barrows,
chambered round barrows,
chambered long cairns and
chambered round cairns. Examples are known in
Catalonia,
France, the
Low Countries,
Germany, The
British Isles,
Scandinavia,
Sardinia and southern
Italy.
'Allées couvertes' or allées sepulchrales (German Galleriegräber) are defined as subterranean megalithic structures. The English gallery grave should be translated as tombe à couloir.
Sub-types include:
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Court Cairns
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Giants' graves
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Navetas
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Peak District tomb group
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Severn-Cotswold or Cotswold-Severn tombs
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Seine-Oise-Marne culture allées couvertes
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Transepted gallery graves
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Wedge-shaped gallery graves
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Hessisch-westfälische Steinkisten (Galleriegräber)