Trethevy Quoit is one of Cornwall's finest examples of a portal dolmen, dating to the Neolithic period, around 3500 to 2500 BC. Although these monuments are commonly described as tombs, their original purpose is not entirely clear. The presence of human remains at similar sites does not necessarily mean they were built exclusively for the dead. One possibility is that these monuments were places where the living gathered and interacted with their ancestors, perhaps seeing them as mediators between their community and the gods. The distinction between a tomb and a place of worship may not have been as clear to prehistoric people as it is to us today. Trethevy Quoit consists of five standing stones supporting a massive capstone. The structure has changed over time, as one of its supporting stones collapsed and now lies within the chamber. The capstone consequently slopes at a much steeper angle than it probably did originally. There is also a hole near the highest corner of the capstone that has been described as man-made, although its origin and purpose remain uncertain. The monument was probably once covered by a mound or cairn, traces of which remain around the structure. At the entrance, the stones form a kind of antechamber, although it is unclear how people originally accessed the inner chamber through the surrounding mound. The chamber's contents were removed long ago, leaving us with little direct evidence of what was originally placed inside. The considerable effort required to build monuments like this suggests that they held great importance for the communities that created them, whether through their treatment of the dead, ancestral traditions or other practices that we can no longer fully reconstruct. #stonebothering #cornwall