Frestedt dolmen

Great stone grave of Frestedt

The Frestedt dolmen is a Neolithic rectangular dolmen with the Sprockhoff no. 154. It originated between 3500 and 2800 BC. BC as a megalithic system of the funnel beaker culture (TBK).

location

The large stone grave was in Frestedt in the Dithmarschen district in Schleswig-Holstein . Excavations took place in 1934 (Carl Rothmann) and 1964 (Claus Ahrens 1925–1998). In the mid-1970s, the five bearing stones were brought to Heide and kept there in the museum. After the closure of the local history museum in Heide, the grave was restored on the grounds of the AÖZA in Albersdorf according to the records from 1964. Intermediate masonry, chamber floor and cap stones were replaced with new stones.

description

The facility was originally located in a 0.5 m high, heavily swept round hill with a diameter of about five to eight meters (according to Ahrens even 10 m) on the upper edge of a slope that sloped down towards the south of the valley. According to C. Rothmann, the hill made of sand originally reached under the capstones.

Great stone grave of Frestedt (details)

The chamber

The trapezoid chamber has internal dimensions of 2.1 × 1.1-1.3 m. It has five bearing stones, two on each long side and a keystone in the northwest. In the entrance there is an entry stone that is only 0.3 m lower than the side bearing stones. The smooth side of the bearing stones stood inwards. The long sides were light, the keystone inclined more inward (overhang 20 or 40 cm). The bearing stones were placed in the foundation pits without wedging stones. The bearing stones on the southwest side were about 1.2 m high, those on the northeast side 1.4 and 1.5 m high. In order to achieve a level finish of the upper edges, the higher bearing stones were set deeper in the ground. One of the original two capstones was preserved in fragments. The base of the intermediate masonry was only well preserved at one corner. The carefully layered filling of quartzite plates formed an almost flat surface on the inside of the chamber.

The chamber floor of the sunk facility was 0.3–0.4 m below the old surface. The pavement made of firmly attached pebbles , sometimes up to 0.15 m in diameter, was slightly disturbed in the south. Burnt flint pieces the size of a walnut or finger were scattered over it, which formed a thinner layer in the edge area of the bearing stones. The pavement was removed during the excavation in 1934. C. Ahrens observed a very solid 1–2 cm thick layer of burn on the floor of the chamber - gray with black spots, which was interspersed with burnt pieces of flint up to the size of a thumb. The oval area (1.65 × 1.1 m) did not come close to the bearing stones at any point. The pavement must have been above the layer of fire, which is probably part of the firing of the system.

In the south-east corner of the chamber, a round depression about 0.1 m deep and about 0.25 m in diameter was sunk into the natural ground. It was filled with solid gray earth and small pieces of burned flint. The chamber was carefully sealed from the outside in the area of the intermediate masonry. In front of the spandrels there was a solid pack of clay, which was up to 0.4 m thick at the level of the fire layer and reached about half the height of the bearing stones. The outer area of the clay packing was partially interspersed with broken pieces of flint (up to the size of a fist). Outside the clay layer, a less dense flint packing reached almost to the upper edge of the bearing stone. In the area of the intermediate masonry, outside the clay layer, there was a pack of flaky quartzite slabs (1–7 cm in diameter, up to 40 cm long), in front of which there were individual head-sized field stones. At the north corners, the casing of the chamber reached almost to the top of the bearing stones. The sealing of the long sides was missing except for two plates on the west side (disturbance by excavation C. Rothmann).

Finds

In the north of the chamber, the filling of evenly yellow-brownish sand reaching under the capstone was largely preserved. The south was almost cleared. A flint ax lay about 0.1 m above the pavement between the supporting stones on the eastern long side.

In the east and north, in the area of the foot of the hill, two small fires interspersed with fine charcoal residues were uncovered, which lay just below the old surface. One had been used at least twice. C. Ahrens thinks it is conceivable that a ring of small fire hollows surrounded the facility. Numerous flint chips, some blades, and burned flint were observed in the vicinity of the chamber.

literature

Hans Hingst: Large stone graves in Schleswig-Holstein In: Offa 42 1985 pp. 57–112
Claus Ahrens, 1964, report in the archive of the State Museum
Carl Rothmann, 1934, report in the archives of the State Museum
Ernst Sprockhoff : Atlas of the megalithic tombs of Germany. Part 1: Schleswig-Holstein. Rudolf Habelt Verlag, Bonn 1966, p. 41.