Ekornavallen burial ground

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Domarring (stone circle)

The Ekornavallen cemetery is located north of Falköping between Gudhem ( German  "Götterheim" ) and Varnhem, east of Hornborgasjön on the road from Torbjörntorp to Broddetorp, west of the river, in the Slafsan Valley, in Sweden . It especially preserves monuments from Sweden's Stone and Bronze Ages . However, many Iron Age antiquities were destroyed during the reclamation in the 1890s. The fenced off area of ​​the burial ground , however, still harbors an accumulation of antiquities in Västergötland .

The first burials on Ekornavallen took place around 3,000 BC. By members of the funnel beaker culture (TBK). The place was subsequently used as a burial ground by several cultures for 4,000 years .

Neolithic

From the period between 3000 and 2500 BC The passage graves of the funnel cup culture (TBK) date from the 4th century BC , the largest accumulation in Europe is in the area around Falköping. Of the 375 passage graves in Sweden, 290 are in this area. Four are on the Ekornavallen.

Girommen passage grave aerial view
View of the passage of the passage grave "Girommen" ( German  "Oven of the giantess" )
"Girommen" seen from the side

Girommen

From dominating size that is long ago damaged passage grave "Girommen" (the furnace of the giantess). The name goes back to a local legend. The investigation found only a stone chisel, a few pieces of amber and decorated pottery shards. In contrast, the finds in the nearby passage grave of Rössberga were unusually rich . Not only the size is important, but also that the burial chamber was built exactly in a north-south direction and the entrance is exactly at an angle of 90 degrees. The corridor points to sunrise during the solstices with amazing precision .

Around 2500 BC The successor culture of the TBK passed to the stone box (Swedish: Hällkista ) as the dominant monument form. Access to these rectangular systems was through an opening ( soul hole ) on the narrow side. In Sweden, up to 14 meters (Södra Härene) long megalithic stone boxes , some of which contained separate chambers, were found flint knives , stone spear and arrow heads , amber beads and ceramics . On the Ekornavallen burial ground there is a five-meter-long stone box surrounded by stones.

Bronze age

Small bowl on a passage grave

Characteristic for the second millennium BC There are large stone burial mounds, so-called roes, under which there is a small type of stone box. The Röse on Ekornavallen is almost at the highest point of the rising terrain. It has a diameter of around 20 m and is around two meters high. An outer circle of large, cross-placed stone blocks secure the hill made of stones the size of a head against slipping. In the Bronze Age, many older monuments were given bowls .

Iron age

In the area hardly recognizable Treudd

Less monumental are those between 500 BC. and 500 AD establish different Iron Age estates. These are building stones erected as solitaires , as well as monoliths that are arranged in rows or circles (Domarringar - German  "Richterrings" ) or Treuddar . There are two rather small judges' rings on Ekornavallen. Inside such circles there were usually cremation graves from the period after the turn of the ages. The twelve stones of the alignment were placed almost exactly on a north-south axis. There are also seven stone settings from the Iron Age on Ekornavallen , one of which is triangular and dates from the end of the Iron Age.

middle Ages

Around 1100 the magistrate held meetings and denied justice in a place called "Lincornae Wall (i) um" in 13th century documents. This is widely considered to be the early Ekornavallen spelling. It was customary for important historical sites to serve as meeting places in the centuries up to the late Christianization.

Although some of the facilities have been restored, no significant excavations have been carried out at Ekornavallen so that remains of a village, grave goods or other objects can still be found.

literature

Web links

Commons : Ekornavallen  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 58 ° 16 ′ 5 "  N , 13 ° 35 ′ 27"  E