Dolmen in Schleswig-Holstein

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Nordic megalithic architecture

The dolmens in Schleswig-Holstein were built between 3500 and 2800 BC. BC as megalithic systems of the northern group of the funnel beaker culture (TBK). There are centers for their distribution, but there are no clear distribution limits, as is the case with the local passage graves . “Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of Neolithic societies. Their origin and function are considered to be the hallmarks of social development ”. It is estimated that the TBK carriers built almost 30,000 barrows. Over 7,000 large stone graves are known in Denmark, of which about 2,800 have been preserved (in Germany there are about 900 of probably 5600). On Sylt alone , 47 megalithic systems have been found, but they have largely run out.

distribution

According to a list by Jürgen Hoika , most of the surviving megalithic systems are in the Schleswig-Flensburg district (430), followed by the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district (193) and the districts of North Friesland (102) and Ostholstein (81). While Lübeck (6), Plön (1) and Steinburg (14) have the fewest. This is also reflected in the figures per km². The proportion and number of indeterminable systems in the Schleswig-Flensburg district is particularly large.

Construction

The chambers are usually carefully built and equipped with elaborate intermediate masonry and floor paving. For the mainland of Schleswig-Holstein, flint fill is characteristic as the only floor covering or as part of a two-layer pavement. The expansion of the megalithic complexes from the Baltic Sea coast to the west can be derived from the mapping of the rectangular dolms , which is accompanied by an increase in the interior space. Long dolmens can be found on the North Frisian Islands. They differ not only in the size and shape of the chamber from the mainland dolmens, but also in the design of structural details.

According to criteria that go back to E. Aner, Ewald Schuldt and Ernst Sprockhoff , the north German dolmens can be divided into four types:

Rectangular dolmen from Hüsby

Urdolmen

Block box

Urdolmen near Grevesmühlen
Examples of forms of access to ancient dolmen
Scheme: longitudinal or parallel lying and transverse lying

Within the northern group of the TBK, the Urdolmen is the archetype of the megalithic complex. The oldest type is the fully enclosed, accessible Urdolmen (also called a block box). According to their size and shape (possibly the location in long beds), closed ancient dolms were intended for single use. E. Schuldt notes that the bearing stones on both long sides of the Urdolmen are on their side (instead of standing on their smallest surface as with the other dolmens).

The widespread distribution of the Urdolmen on the Danish island of Zealand represents the early stage of the Nordic stone burial practice. On North Zealand the Urdolmen are only 0.5 to 0.6 m wide, in Schleswig-Holstein at least 0.8 m. While the chambers in North Zealand are so short that stool burials have to be accepted, the Schleswig-Holstein chambers only start at 1.75 m in length and in some cases reach more than 2.4 m. The small chamber of Dobersdorf , district of Plön , is an exception with 1.8 × 0.5 m. As a rule, a capstone is sufficient to cover the chamber. On the long sides, however, 80% of the time, two bearing stones and, if necessary, intermediate masonry were required. There are five systems in Schleswig-Holstein plus one in question, which Jutte Roß assigns to this form.

In Schleswig-Holstein, Urdolmen are mostly located in long hills, parallel to the longitudinal axis (so-called parallel or longitudinal lying). This arrangement is typical for the northernmost state. To the north of the Eider , but also to the south ( Frestedt , Papenbusch ), around 20% of the facilities were covered by round hills (in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania it was around 60%). The temporal and sometimes also spatial parallelism of round and angular hills, which otherwise does not exist in the Urdolmen in the megalithic space, is a specialty.

Urdolmen with access

When the collective use of facilities required accessible chambers, access became mandatory for the next Urdol generation. Additions prove that these are systems that should or have been reused. The originally girder-high end stone on a narrow side was replaced in Schleswig-Holstein, e.g. B. by a lower "entry stone". The remaining access should have been closed with a small stone slab. The “Urdolmen with access” is 2.2 to 2.6 m long and 1.0 m to 1.8 m wide and larger than the one that is closed on all sides.

Of the only 20 preserved ancient dolms in the country, 12 can be assigned to the all-round closed, five to the open on the narrow side, and two cannot be identified. The Urdolmen of Dobersdorf probably had access from above. The distribution of the type shows a connection between the Urdolmen and the east coast as well as its penetration over the North Schleswig Land Bridge to the North Frisian Islands . In Archsum on Sylt z. B. two Urdolmen in the same giant bed. With the exception of the Dobersdorf complex, the open Urdolmen only occurs in Schleswig-Holstein in the Sachsenwald and on Sylt.

Rectangular or extended dolmens

With around 145 chambers (58 of which have been preserved), the rectangular dolmen in Schleswig-Holstein is at the top of the megalithic stone graves , but this includes passage graves and stone boxes . In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania it is the large dolmen, in Lower Saxony the passage grave and in Sweden the stone box.

The rectangular pole always has two supporting stones on each long side and has two transverse or one longitudinal cap stones. The type that opens on one narrow side except for Hemmelmark 3 is usually located in long hills in Schleswig-Holstein, across the axis (transverse lying). Round hills are less common with this type at 27%. Part of the dolmen is deepened. The further subdivision relates solely to the access structures:

  • with chamber-wide, low (half-height) entry stone (43%),
  • with a high half-stone (threshold stone and possibly a forward corridor 10%)
  • with angled supporting stones (and possibly a forward corridor)
  • There is access from above at facilities in Mecklenburg, the Kampener Dolmen (Spr.-Nr. 2) could have had one.

In Ostenfeld ( Rendsburg-Eckernförde district ) there is a Holstein chamber together with one of the obliquely placed rectangular dolms in the same barn, which is unusually rare in Germany.

Polygonal poles

Scheme of polygonal poles seen from above

The polygonal pole is characterized by a more or less strong angling of the five or more bearing stones. In general, the chamber width corresponds to the length (approximately 2 × 2 m), so that the floor plan resembles an irregular pentagon or hexagon and is approximately round in shape. In Schleswig-Holstein there are also oval polygonal diamonds of around 2.5 × 1.8 m. According to the Danish chambers, access points are characteristic of the type, but in Schleswig-Holstein, unlike the capstone, with its enormous dimensions ( Brutkamp ), it is rarely preserved. The polygonal pole, which is more frequently attested in the round hill, has features, like the transverse position in the long hill, in common with the other types (in Kampen there are three polygonal pole combined in the mound bed). Its distribution becomes weaker south of Central Jutland, so the low number in Schleswig-Holstein is not surprising. With 11 chambers, the polygonal dolmen, which is only sporadically documented in the southern neighboring regions of Schleswig-Holstein, is the least common type of dolmen in Germany. The Schleswig-Holstein sites are located in the east of the country between the Flensburg and Kiel Fjords , in the west on Sylt and in Dithmarschen , where the type apparently reached via the North Frisian Islands.

The oldest additions found in polygonal looms belong to the transition phase from the early to the middle Neolithic. But the finds are too scanty to be able to conclude that the chamber type only appeared at the end of stage C in the north. Rather, the idea is that the polygonal dolmen advancing into the Urdolmen area triggered the transition from individual to collective graves and significantly influenced the shape of the passage grave.

The extent to which rectangular and polygonal dolms were erected in the Middle Neolithic cannot be determined, even if there are additions from this period, but older ones are missing. Since the early phase of megalithics, contrary to earlier thought, the coexistence of dolmens and passage graves can be expected. Dolmens like the chamber of Hemmelmark with the unusual size of 2.8 × 2.25 m and of Süderende, with the separation of floor areas (the chamber) by vertical plates, into so-called quarters, known from passage graves (especially in Mecklenburg and Sweden) can be classified as simultaneous.

Large dolmen

The large dolmen highlighted by E. Sprockhoff and examined in detail by E. Schuldt, with three to four bearing stones on each long side and a corresponding number of (at least three) cap stones reached in the far north, in Wees , Schleswig-Flensburg district (Spr.- No. 16), and Steenodde on Amrum (Spr. No. 12) a length of four meters. It is characteristic of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, especially Rügen . In Schleswig-Holstein the type plays a minor role.

The entrances

In about 20% of the rectangular dolmen, an access 1.0 to 1.5 m long and one or two pairs of stones is placed in front of the chamber opening. It is often so short that it does not reach the top of the hill. It is closed where you would expect a gap for the corridor. Based on similar Danish findings, it seems to have been common practice to allow access, but to provide the border to the area of ​​the dead with obstacles that are difficult to bridge.

The mostly over 2.0 m long and over 0.9 m wide rectangular pole, which can reach 3.8 m length and 1.5 m width, also shows the tendency to enlarge the chamber, E. Aner being one from Zealand to Schleswig-Holstein believes to recognize directed development. The height of the systems, the supporting stones of which are already on their smallest area, vary between 0.8 and a considerable 1.75 m. Rectangular dolmen are more common in the hinterland and in southern Holstein up to near the Elbe. The guy has two cap stones. From the third capstone one speaks of large dolmen. It occurs on the North Frisian Islands and as the first megalithic form in the western part of Schleswig and Holstein. Large parts of the country were apparently only included in the megalithic tomb custom with the advent of the rectangular dolmen.

Topographical location

The excavation reports rarely contain information about the topographical location. According to reports, most of the systems were built on natural heights that are more or less distinct from their surroundings.

Giant beds

Lengths of the megalithic beds in Schleswig-Holstein

About 130 long beds can be dimensioned. 14 to 40 m long are about 62%. More than 70 m long borders can be found mainly in the eastern half of Holstein. Only 4% of the giant beds are longer than 100 m. The dolmen of Putlos near Weißenhäuser Strand , in the Oldenburg-Land department , form an imposing group of giant beds with beds of 115 and 130 m in length. The largest German system is located in the Sachsenwald in Schleswig-Holstein and measures 154 meters. Almost all of the so-called giant beds contain dolmens or are chamberless . Most of the systems are located in giant beds between 14 and 30 m in length. Beds with two and three, in Denmark occasionally with four to six chambers, are rarely longer than 40 m. In long beds with more than one chamber, it is noticeable that they are usually of the same type. In Archsum on Sylt there are two Urdolmen , in Kampen three polygonal dolms and in 21 other cases two or three ( Hünenbett von Waabs-Karlsminde ) transverse rectangular dolmen are united in the Hünenbett.

See also

literature

  • E. Aner: Die Großsteingräber Schleswig-Holstein In: Guide to prehistoric and early historical monuments 9, 1968, pp. 46-69.
  • V. Arnold: Little gravesite of the prehistory part 1 Large stone graves from the peasant days . In: Blätter zur Heimatkunde 1, supplement to the magazine “Ditmarschen” 1977.
  • H.-J. Beier : The megalithic, submegalithic and pseudomegalithic buildings as well as the menhirs between the Baltic Sea and the Thuringian Forest . Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe 1, Wilkau-Haßlau, 1991.
  • E. Schuldt : The Mecklenburg megalithic graves . German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1972.
  • J. Ross: Megalithic graves in Schleswig-Holstein . Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-86064-046-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Müller In: Varia neolithica VI 2009 p. 15
  2. ↑ http://www.jungsteinsite.uni-kiel.de/2011/2011_Rinne_low.pdf
  3. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Beier in 1991 counts these often small systems as "submegalithics"
  4. ↑ "Schleswig-Holstein is" according to Sprockhoff "the classic land of dolmens in Northern Germany".
  5. ↑ For Schleswig-Holstein J. Hoika presents figures, according to which about 12% of the small original and rectangular dolms but less than 2% of the passage graves and polygonal dolms are deepened. The other federal states are likely to produce similar figures.
  6. ↑ Submerged systems largely bring with them those stabilizing elements that above-ground systems receive through stone packings and the like through a hill. You also do not need inward sloping bearing stones, but occasionally have them anyway for other reasons.
  7. ↑ J. Roß p. 56 "In exceptional cases like the Ostfeld dolmen the access is at a corner of the chamber (this form is more common in Sweden)"
  8. ↑ E. Aner's view that he advanced from Western Europe across the Limfjord to North Jutland , where he appears en masse on the Djursland peninsula and from here found his way to the Swedish west coast and the Danish islands, is refuted by Schuldt's more recent investigations.
  9. ↑ A giant bed in Albersdorf (Holstein) with 160 meters is often called the longest in Germany. This error is based on an incorrect statement in Ernst Sprockhoff's Atlas of Megalithic Tombs in Germany - Schleswig-Holstein . The megalithic bed is actually only 60 meters long, and is also recorded as LA53 in the state survey.