Great stone graves near Ahlum
The megalithic graves near Ahlum were at least nine megalithic tombs of the Neolithic deep-engraving ceramic culture near Ahlum , a district of Rohrberg in the Altmark district of Salzwedel , Saxony-Anhalt . All were destroyed in the 19th century. Grave 3 was the only known large stone grave in the Altmark with two burial chambers . The former existence of a possible tenth grave is evidenced by the field name "Steinkammerberg" on a historical measuring table sheet.
location
Grave 1 was on the way between Ahlum and Rohrberg, only 30 paces (approx. 23 m) away was grave 2. Grave 3 was west of Ahlum on the Bauernberg. Graves 4 and 5 were 30 paces (approx. 23 m) apart on the border between the places Ahlum and Stöckheim .
Research history
Five of the systems were documented for the first time in the 1830s by Johann Friedrich Danneil . When the large stone graves of the Altmark were taken up again in the 1890s , Eduard Krause and Otto Schoetensack discovered that all five graves had been completely removed in the meantime as part of the separation . The existence of four more destroyed graves is recorded in the files of the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt. However, there is no further information on these graves. A hill near Ahlum is also referred to as Steinkammerberg on a historical measuring table . This could indicate another destroyed grave.
description
Grave 1
Grave 1 had a chamber with a length of 10 m and a width of 2.5 m. When Danneil was taken it was still in good condition and had five cap stones. Presumably it was a passage grave.
Grave 2
Grave 2 had a chamber with a length of 10 m and a width of 1.9 m. It was also well preserved when Danneil was taken and had seven capstones. Presumably it was also a passage grave.
Grave 3
In the 1830s, grave 3 still had a well-preserved east-west oriented enclosure with a length of 34 m and a width of 7.8 m. Danneil could still see all four guard stones at the corners of the enclosure. The grave was special because it was the only large stone grave in the Altmark with two burial chambers. These were located at the ends of the systems near the narrow sides. Both chambers had three dirt stones. One of them was 2.2 m long, 1.9 m wide and 0.6 m thick. Presumably both burial chambers were large dolmen .
Grave 4
Grave 4 was 6.6 m long and 3.5 m wide. It still had a capstone that had already fallen when Danneil was taken. It is not possible to determine the type of grave.
Grave 5
Grave 5 had an enclosure with a length of 11 m and a width of 7.8 m. The burial chamber was still in good condition when Danneil was taken. It had two cap stones. The first had a length of 2.3 m, a width of 2.0 m and a thickness of 0.95 m, the second was 2.2 m long, a width of 1.6 m and a thickness between 0, 6 m and 0.95 m. It was probably an enlarged dolmen .
Finds
Two finds were recovered from the Ahlum graves, but it is not clear from which grave they come. Both are now in the Johann Friedrich Danneil Museum in Salzwedel. The first piece is a perforated hammer made of slate-like gray rock. It was made from the fragment of a larger hammer that was broken at the hole. It has a length of 8.8 cm, a width of 7.5 cm and a thickness of 2.6 cm. The borehole has a diameter between 2.2 cm and 2.8 cm.
The second item is a knife made from light gray flint . It has a length of 8.5 cm, a maximum width of 2.5 cm and a thickness of 0.8 cm.
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Beier : The megalithic, submegalithic and pseudomegalithic buildings and the menhirs between the Baltic Sea and the Thuringian Forest (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Volume 1). Wilkau-Haßlau 1991, p. 52.
- Johann Friedrich Danneil : Special evidence of the barrows in the Altmark. In: Sixth annual report of the Altmark Association for Patriotic History and Industry. 1843, no. 108-112 ( PDF; 5.5 MB ).
- Eduard Krause , Otto Schoetensack : The megalithic graves (stone chamber graves) of Germany. I. Altmark. In: Journal of Ethnology. Volume 25, 1893, No. 148–152 ( PDF; 39.0 MB ).
