Cemetery of Rhede
The cemetery of Rhede , in the Winkelhauser Heide, in the district of Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia has 180 cremations, 41 of them in urns . No container could be made out for the remaining 139; the corpse burn was found at the bottom of pits. However, it was so close that an organic container can be accepted. In three cases a bowl was placed over the corpse burn. The cemetery of Rhede dates from the Bronze Age , some graves belong to the early Iron Age . The graves are attributed to the older Lower Rhine burial mound culture (around 1200–750 BC).
The graves of Rhede are surrounded by two forms of trenches, 99 of which have been wholly or partially preserved. There were 93 round or oval and six rectangular trenches. The round ones have a diameter of one to 15 meters. An individual burial has been deposited in each complex. Repeatedly, small clay vessels with notched decorations have been placed to burn the corpses, which presumably contained food. The vessels were shattered many times during the burial , as evidenced by shards thrown into the grave pit or into the ditch. Metal additions such as arm spirals and finger rings, on the other hand, were rare.
According to Christoph Reichmann (born 1950), the deceased was not furnished with anything intended for the life beyond. Instead, ritual gifts were given to him. The bronze tweezers and razors probably also played a role in the funeral cult. Traces of bronze oxide on the bones show that metal parts ended up on the pyre and in the graves with the dead .
Two adult graves contained small stones of unusual shapes. There were 13 stones in a grave. One resembled a horse's foot, another a crescent moon. A rock crystal was deliberately smashed. In the second grave were four stones that resembled a horse's head, a fish's mouth and a bowl. A fifth was found outside the circular moat under an empty clay pot. Reichmann thinks it is possible that such objects were ascribed a magical power. It is conceivable that they served as oracle stones.
See also
literature
- Ernst Probst : Germany in the Bronze Age farmers, bronze casters and lords of the castle between the North Sea and the Alps. Bertelsmann, Munich 1996/1999, pp. 294-295 ISBN 3-570-02237-4 .
- Christoph Reichmann: The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Kreisgrabenfriedhof in the Winkelhauser Heide near Rhede. In: Hrsg .: Verein für Heimatpflege eV: Our Bocholt . Magazine for culture and homeland care. 31 Volume 3/4 pp. 28–33 Bocholt 1980
- Stephan Deiters: Bronze Age farms from Rhede and Telgte