Gallery tomb Calden I
The gallery grave Calden I (also known as the Calden Stone Box ) is a megalithic complex of the gallery grave type . It dates from the Neolithic and is located near Calden in the Kassel district ( Hesse ), between the distribution centers of the Wartberg culture near Fritzlar in North Hesse and Warburg in East Westphalia .
The degree of destruction and the apparently unspecific ceramic finds meant that the facility initially played no role in the scientific discussion. After a large boulder had apparently been plowed in 1947, a first investigation was carried out in 1948 by Otto Uenze (1905–1962). In 1988 new excavations began as part of the Calden project. The discovered cover plates of the stone box were reconstructed on the southern outskirts of Calden.
Find history
Near the source of the Calde, a teacher first reported the assumption of an archaeological find to the Hessian State Museum. A trial cut was then made, which met an imperial settlement . After the stone find was salvaged in the field in 1948, the responsible monument conservationist examined the site. It was discovered skulls and other human bones , which justified a further archaeological investigation. The office for soil antiquities in Marburg excavated the facility. From the footprints of the wall panels, one could deduce a length of 12 m and a width of 2 m if one includes the small antechamber.
A gap between the wall panels was dry masonry of limestone filled. The bottom of the grave is stamped like clay. The system is sunk into the ground. Overall, the state of preservation was poor. Therefore, the few remaining quartzites , including two rare cover plates, were erected opposite the Calden Comprehensive School. The capstones owe their preservation to the fact that they were probably dug much deeper in the 3rd century AD so as not to disrupt agriculture .
location
The gallery grave is located south of the village in a small valley, in the immediate vicinity of two springs.
description
Only two of the wall stones were still in situ , two more had been tipped into the interior. With the help of the foundation trenches of the wall stones and the stones that have been preserved, the floor plan of the complex, which was disrupted during the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages, could be reconstructed. In front of the south-east oriented access, two cap stones were found in the area of a large fault.
The complex consisted of about 20 wall stones made of tertiary quartzite; and about 10 capstones. The length was 12.6 m, the width 3 m. The keystone at one end of the complex was set back by approx. 1.2 m, between the ante . This corresponds to the construction scheme of the gallery graves of the Züschen type and indicates an entrance in the form of a soul hole . The traces of the keystone at the other end have not been preserved. The clear height of the interior can be estimated at 1.0 to 1.5 m.
In its dimensions Calden I corresponds to about one kilometer away Calden II , only the lengths appear to differ. In view of the different dimensions in the Warburg necropolis , there seems to be a dogmatic building tradition here.
Burials
Despite the disturbance, parts of the burial shift were intact. The excavator estimates the number of burials at 40 to 80. At least 40 skulls were found. The anthropologist Czarnetzki had the remains of at least 30 individuals in the 1960s. According to Otto Uenze's description from 1951, the remains of 40 dead were found in the grave, while in 1956 he wrote of 80 dead. The human bones were both scattered and in a bandage. Although no complete skeletons were found, skeletal elements in the anatomical context allow a reconstruction of the position. At some sites it could be understood that the buried were buried in several side-by-side transverse rows, with their heads facing the entrance, in up to four layers on top of each other. This corresponds to the findings in the gallery graves Altendorf, Calden II and Wewelsburg I. The skull and body were often separated from one another. The skulls were lined up on the walls. Czarnetzki assumes that of the 26 more precisely identifiable skulls, two are from children between the ages of 7 and 14, 19 from adults between the ages of 20 and 40 and five from adults between the ages of 40 and 60. Based on bone finds, four young people between the ages of 15 and 20 can still be identified. The average age of death of those uncovered in Calden was 30 years. From an anthropological point of view, the body size was remarkably small. In men it was only 1.62 to 1.65 m and in female finds between 1.50 and 1.59 m. In addition, the remarkable length of the skull and the width of the nose are striking. The teeth are badly worn. Every 9th tooth is carious. Dental diseases of the roots and tartar must be documented.
Due to the brevity of the investigation and the degree of destruction, it is assumed that the original burials were incomplete. The total number is carefully estimated at 100 to 200.
Grave goods
Ceramics
No pottery was found in the chamber itself. The finds come from the area of the imperial disturbance in the entrance area. Calden II points out that the pottery of the Wartberg culture, unlike in other contemporary cultures, remained in front of the chamber.
Only a small funnel cup with inner eyelets could be completely reconstructed. Comparable vessels can be found in the north - west German deep-engraving ceramics and the Baalberg culture . The remaining vessel remains mostly come from funnel rim vessels, which sometimes show a row of fine punctures accompanying the rim. It is unclear whether a fragment of the arcade edge is related to the complex. In view of the typochronological references of the eyelet cup, however, this cannot be ruled out.
Additions
The dead were buried with jewelry and equipment. These include pierced animal teeth (brown bear, dog, cattle, red deer, pig, more rarely wild cat), lower jaw halves of animals (fox, in one case deer), flint blades and a large number of arrow reinforcements made of flint and slate, which cover the contemporary spectrum of shapes. The special features include an ax-shaped , pierced amber bead and a fragment of red iron stone . Traces of green patina on the bottom of the chamber indicate the presence of copper objects among the additions. The finds are kept in the Hessian State Museum in Kassel.
Dating
Two 14C dates on human bones give the 34th century as the earliest possible date. v. For these burials. This corresponds to the results from the Warburg necropolis. The beginning of the occupancy should be around 3400 BC at the latest. Have begun. The lack of forms, as they are in the main use phase B of the nearby earthworks and in the Calden II plant, indicates that the use had already come to an end by this time (around 3200).
Menhir near the grave
During the excavation, a large stone was reported that had been recovered about 40 years earlier 34 m northeast of the complex. The dimensions were given as 4.0 × 0.6 × 0.6 m. In 1948 a hollow in the field was still visible at the extraction point. The whereabouts of the stone could not be determined. In view of the dimensions, the interpretation as a menhir is worth considering, especially since similar findings are now known from a number of roughly simultaneous galleries (Grossenrode I and II, Odagsen, Muschenheim and Gudensberg ). The grave and the menhir in question could, in connection with their location in the source area, be interpreted as part of a small religious district.
See also
literature
- Jörg Lindenthal: Cultural Discoveries. Archaeological monuments in Hessen. Jenior, Kassel 2004, p. 47f., ISBN 3-934377-73-4 .
- Dirk Raetzel-Fabian: Calden. Earthworks and burial places of the early Neolithic. Architecture - ritual - chronology. With contributions by Gerd Nottbohm, Kerstin Pasda, Gesine Weber and Jaco Weinstock. University research on prehistoric archeology 70. Bonn (Habelt) 2000, ISBN 3-7749-3022-8 .
- Albrecht Jockenhövel in: Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann , Albrecht Jockenhövel: The prehistory of Hesse. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-8062-0458-6 , p. 337.
- Irene Kappel: Stone chamber graves and menhirs in Northern Hesse. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel 1978, pp. 35–39 ( Guide to North Hessian Prehistory and Early History 5).
- Waldtraut Schrickel : Western European elements in the Neolithic grave construction of Central Germany and the gallery graves of West Germany and their inventories. Catalog of the Central European graves with Western European elements and the gallery graves of Western Germany. Contributions to the prehistoric and early historical archeology of the Mediterranean cultural area 4–5. Bonn 1966.
- Winrich Schwellnus: Wartberg group and Hessian megalithic. A contribution to the late Neolithic of the Hessian mountainous region. Materials on the prehistory and early history of Hesse 4. Wiesbaden 1979.
- Otto Uenze: The stone chamber grave of Calden, Kr. Hofgeismar. In: Stone Age excavations and finds (Ed. Otto Uenze). Electoral Hessian soil antiquities 1. Marburg 1951, 22–31.
Web links
- The gallery tomb Calden I
- Location map
- The gallery grave Calden 1 on Grosssteingraeber.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ We only encounter a select group of people in the body graves of the band ceramics. Since we are dealing with a selection, palaeodemographic analyzes - e.g. B. the average life expectancy - should be viewed with the greatest caution. (see also grave field ). Norbert Nieszery : Linear ceramic grave fields in Bavaria by VML Verlag Marie Leidorf 1995 ISBN 3-924734-34-8
Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 11.2 " N , 9 ° 23 ′ 57.8" E