Paul Ashbee , who is known for co-directing the Sutton Hoo digs from 1964 to 1972, noted that the close clustering in the same area was reminiscent of the megalithic tomb-shrine traditions of continental Northern Europe, yet there is little evidence for deposition within the tomb shrines.
Paul Ashbee (23 June 1918  19 August 2009) was a leading British archaeologist, noted for his many excavations of barrows, or burial mounds, and for co-directing the Sutton Hoo digs (with Rupert Bruce-Mitford) from 1964 to 1972; he was perhaps less well known as president of the Just William Society. Paul Ashbee noted that their close clustering in the same area was reminiscent of the megalithic tomb-shrine traditions of continental Northern Europe, and emphasised that the Medway Megaliths were a regional manifestation of a tradition widespread across Early Neolithic Europe. There is little evidence for deposition within the tomb-shrines, largely due to the damage that they have sustained. 
