Gallery tomb of Sorsum
| Gallery tomb of Sorsum | |||
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 View of the gallery grave from the west |
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| Coordinates | 52 ° 8 '12.8 " N , 9 ° 51' 50.3" E | ||
| place | Sorsum , Lower Saxony , Germany | ||
| Emergence | 3500 to 2800 BC Chr. | ||
The gallery grave of Sorsum is located near the Hildesheim district of Sorsum in Lower Saxony . The gallery grave was discovered in 1955 during quarry work on the Halsberg and excavated in 1956–1960 by the prehistorian Martin Claus (1912–1996). The megalithic complex belongs to the Neolithic type, which is also known as the Hessian-Westphalian stone box and here, as in parts of Westphalia, can be assigned to the funnel cup culture (TBK).
description
During the excavation, a south-west-north-east oriented chamber with a length of about 15.5 meters, a width of 2.4 to 2.1 meters and a depth of about 1.2 meters was uncovered , partially sunk into the limestone . Part of the northernmost grave of this type in Germany had already been destroyed. The northern long side was formed by the adjacent rock, into which an approximately 80 centimeter wide, stepped entrance to the chamber was carved. Vertical stone slabs formed the lateral boundaries of this exit. The floor of the chamber was covered with limestone slabs. In the north wall there were carefully worked and lined niches, which can be interpreted as beam bearings for a no longer preserved wooden ceiling.
Finds
The excavator estimates the number of human skeletal remains at around 150; According to A. Czarnetzki, there are at least 105. The bones, which are for the most part no longer in the anatomical association, were partly in layers. Stacked skulls were sometimes found stacked in pyramids, mainly on the rock face. Shattered vessels mainly from deep-engraving ceramics and those from the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture (both groups of the TBK) were recovered from the additions . Predatory jaws , a rock ax, two bone arrowheads , a clay whorl and small flint artifacts were also found .
See also
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Häßler (Ed.): Prehistory and early history in Lower Saxony. Theiss, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-8062-0495-0 , p. 451.
