Grave boxes in Northern Europe
There are two types of stone graves known as Northern European burial boxes . However, they are far apart both in terms of time and space. The older ones are from the Stone Bronze Age and occur mainly in Denmark . The younger ones are early medieval and occur mainly in Sweden .
The older burial boxes
The stone graves built by the string ceramists (formerly known as battle ax people) were made from heavy, easily split blocks, as they were used for the younger dolmens . As with many dolmens, the basic plan is square or pear-shaped. A short, south-facing corridor with a threshold stone begins in the extension of the chamber . This identity led to the fact that the grave boxes, which were influenced by the stone graves of the funnel beaker culture (TBK) in the design of the corridor, the large number of capstones and the burial mound , were seen as the last development of the dolmen. Grave boxes rarely contain multiple burials. They are laid out under the flat ground and date from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages.
Stone boxes appear together in Denmark and southern Sweden in the last period of the Stone Age. In Norway they are known from Mjeltehaugen in western Norway, and from Regehaugene and from the area around the Oslofjord. The size have lengths up to 3.6 m and were used for common burials. The last period with burial boxes in Norway is the 2nd to 5th centuries AD. The burial box at Løvel Vandmølle dates from the Iron Age .
distribution
They were 65 times at the end of the Stone Age, especially in Himmerland but also in the rest of Denmark (grave box from Bjerreby on Tåsinge , grave box in Gadehøj , grave box from Kobberup , Svalhøjgård near Vive , grave box from Vibjerg near Ølsted on Zealand), in southern Sweden and Norway ( Hylligrava ) common. In Norway, most of the 12 grave boxes were found in Mjeltehaugen on Giske in Sunnmøre , in Regehaugene and in Time in Jæren . Most of the others are known from the area around the Oslofjord . Later burial boxes are found in burial mounds from the Early Bronze Age. The size varies from two to six meters.
The large North Jutian grave boxes ( Danish Bøstrup-kisterne ) were often built from thin, split stones. Their spacious chambers, in which up to ten dead were found, often measure three meters in length and 1.5–2.0 m in width. They are covered by three to four stone slabs, while the short corridor measuring about one meter by one is covered with a single capstone. The grave boxes with special access, with frame stones and threshold stone and a large spacious chamber, the ceiling of which is supported by a stone post in a North Jutland box, are reminiscent of houses. Therefore, the thought was expressed that this type of grave has imitated the dwelling of the living, the type called megaron house, which shows the basic plan of ancient Greek temples. The fact that graves made of wood in the same shape were listed at this time makes the relationship with the apartment more likely. The last burial boxes ( burial box in Gadehøj ) and a related form, called stone boxes , date from the Bronze Age period .
The oldest burial boxes were found at Orebygård on Lolland , at Løjt at Apenrader Fjord ( Myrpold ), at Vejle Fjord, in Himmerland and the neighboring areas of Jutland , where they are often known as late types. The fact that only a few grave boxes were erected on the Danish islands is due to the fact that the existing megalithic systems were re- used here on a large scale , as the ceramic settlement of the islands began a little later. The grave boxes of the islands are aisle-free and oriented north-south.
In the oldest grave boxes, the additions consist of axes , amber jewelry and ornate clay vessels. In the younger boxes, the ax is replaced by the flint dagger , arrowheads and undecorated clay cups.
Swedish grave boxes
The Swedish grave box ( Swedish Gravkistan ) is a rare form of burial that occurs from the 6th to 12th century AD and disappears in the older form with Christianization . The monuments were found on Gotland in pagan cemeteries and on the mainland (presumably relocated) in churches.
Demarcation
These grave boxes are not to be confused with the much more common, older and more widespread stone boxes or with rune or picture stones with which they share various components. They are available in the "Central Swedish-Mainland", there as "Vikingastilskista" (Viking style box) and z. B. in Eskilstuna referred to as Eskilstunakistan , and in the "Gotland" form.
Gotland
Similar to the picture stones , they form a typical, but only the lithic component regarding a uniform monument shape. The smoothly worked stones of the grave box have 50 to 85 cm wide front sides and are slightly lower in height. They have straight edges and also a bulged middle section on the long sides and smaller, separated elevations at the corners. Four of them were put together to form a box-like monument and were decorated in various styles (e.g. Urnes style ) or provided with runic inscriptions and the Irish belt .
Complete and damaged specimens were found on Gotland.
- In Ardre , where one of the most beautiful picture stones was found, the burial box is decorated in urn style and dates back to the 11th century. One side of the head shows an ornament of tendrils and snakes, the other two figures above dragons and monsters. The clear traces of color enable the painting to be reconstructed. The runic inscription reads: Sons of Liknat […] a beautiful memorial for Ailika, the good wife, mother. […] For them […] and those who made the monument […] people will see.
- A fragment of a box was found in Barshaldershed.
- Two simply decorated (probably early) stones from burial boxes were found on the Ire burial ground . In addition to marginal knot ornaments, figures with and without divine attributes such as a bow, sword and spear and a deer are shown.
- The box stone from Sanda (called Sanda II because there is also a picture stone) is entirely in the tradition of the Gotland picture stones. It shows a mythological scene composition, most likely comparable to a triptych , and a runic inscription.
Mainland
The mainland crates are either bank-like or at ground level. The actual grave slab is provided with more or less monumental stones on both or on one narrow side, occasionally without a stele. The grave box of Eskilstuna (Swedish: Eskilstunakistorna) in the Swedish province of Södermanland County and the historic province of Södermanland stands out among the mainland . It has very high, stele-like, round-oval ends, rectangular side stones and a cover stone. All sides are extremely richly decorated. In the Rekarne area, named after a river that connects the Mälaren with the Hjälmaren , several monuments of this type are known from churches (Häggesled, Husaby, Skänninge, Vreta kloster), but only a few continental grave boxes are elaborately decorated (two in Husaby) .
The cuboid box from Hammarby in Uppland, measuring 168 × 60 × 35 cm, bears a runic inscription, in the way that they usually carry the rune stones . After her, Kristin had this box made for her son Alle.
Wooden chamber graves
Wooden grave boxes from this period have so far only been recognized in Denmark by two dozen. In North Jutland they have access, outside North Jutland there is no access. These wooden chamber tombs of the single grave culture are varied and were probably before the construction of the stone grave cases and the subsequent use of passage tombs used. A principle of the North Jutian form was the reusability and the associated transition of parts of the culture from the eponymous individual grave to the collective grave of the previous funnel cup culture (TBK), which later took place throughout the culture.
literature
- CJ Becker : En neolitisk gravkiste from Bjerreby på Tåsinge . 1974.
- Klaus Ebbesen: Nordjyske gravkister med indgang. Bøstrup cistern. Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1983 5-65
- PV Glob : prehistoric monuments of Denmark. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1968 p. 96
- Erik Nylén , Jan Peder Lamm: Picture stones on Gotland. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1981, ISBN 3-529-01823-6 (2nd expanded and completed German edition, ibid 1991).
- G. Tegnér: Eskilstunakitor . In: Lena Thunmark-Nylén (Ed.): Vikingatidens ABC . Statens Historia Museum, Borås 1981, ISBN 91-7192-490-6 (Historia i Fickformat) .
Web links
- (PDF file; 2.29 MB) Eskilstunakistorna - Eskilstuna's box grave
- Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque sarcophagi in the Viking style
- With a picture of the burial box from Vibjerg near Ølsted in North Zealand
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Vilhelm Glob prehistoric monuments of Denmark p. 96