Great stone graves near Alt Stassow
| Great stone graves near Alt Stassow | |||
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| Coordinates | Alt Stassow 1 , Alt Stassow 2 , Alt Stassow 3 , Alt Stassow 4 | ||
| place | Grammow , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Germany | ||
| Emergence | 3500 to 2800 BC Chr. | ||
| Sprockhoff no. | 360-363 | ||
The megalithic graves near Alt Stassow are four megalithic graves of the Neolithic funnel cup culture near Alt Stassow , a district of Grammow in the Rostock district ( Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ). They have the Sprockhoff numbers 360–363. They were archaeologically examined in 1970 under the direction of Ewald Schuldt .
location
The graves are located in a forest east of Alt Stassow, near the municipal boundary to Nustrow . Graves 1–3 form a group running west-northwest-east-southeast. Grave 2 is 100 m away from grave 1, grave 3 another 120 m. Grave 4 is 400 m south of this group. The facilities cannot be reached directly via a path. 300 m south of grave 4 are the large stone graves near Nustrow , 2.3 km north-northeast the large stone grave Schabow , 2.9 km northwest the large stone graves near Liepen .
Research history
Three graves were first described in 1873 by Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch , whose details were later adopted by Friedrich Schlie and Robert Beltz . On April 6, 1933, Ernst Sprockhoff recorded all four graves for the first time for his atlas of Germany's megalithic graves . In November and December 1970, the four facilities were excavated by Ewald Schuldt together with the two large stone graves near Nustrow .
description
Grave 1
There are still five large stones from grave 1, all of which were dragged from their original position and partly blown up. As early as 0.2 m below the present surface, Schuldt came across the remains of two human skeletons, which were likely to have been Slavic reburials. Although no grave goods were discovered directly with the dead, decorated ceramic shards were found in the immediate vicinity.
At a depth of 0.25 m, Schuldt came across the chamber floor, which had a badly damaged pavement made of red sandstone slabs. The burial chamber was oriented northeast-southwest. Their original size could only be roughly estimated at 5 m long and 2 m wide. The grave type was not determined, but because of the size may be only a great dolmen or passage grave have acted. There were no remains from the original funnel-shaped burials. Some unadorned shards, a cross-edged arrowhead made of flint and a fire hammer made from a narrow chisel were found among grave goods .
Grave 2
Grave 2 has a north-west-south-east oriented, rectangular barren bed with a length of 25 m and a width of 6 m. Ten stones each on the long sides, one on the southeast and two on the northwest narrow side of the enclosure have been preserved. There are also two guard stones in front of the northwest side .
The barren bed is heaped up about 1.3 m high with loamy soil. In the northwest there is a single capstone 1.2 m long and 0.8 m wide. Under the stone, Schuldt discovered a paving made of red sandstone slabs. Wall or wedge stones were not found. Since the pavement is only 1.3 m long and 0.7 m wide, the burial chamber should be called an ancient dolmen . There were no remains of the original burial. Only a few ceramic shards of the grave goods were preserved.
Two slavonic reburials were discovered 2 m east of the capstone. These were covered with red sandstone slabs and rolling stones, for which the building fabric of the funnel-shaped burial chamber was apparently used. The floor of the grave was formed by a flat hollow, lined with red sandstone slabs. Limestone in the cover and between the bones promoted the maintenance of the skeleton. An iron knife and some ceramic shards were discovered on grave goods. The latter belong to the Teterow group and date the subsequent burials to the 11th or 12th century.
Grave 3
Grave 3 has an east-west oriented chamber, which is a passage grave. On the northern long side there are still three wall stones, of which the two eastern ones are inclined outwards and the western one inwards. A stone is missing in between. The southern long side still has four wall stones. Seen from the west, the first and third stone are in situ , the two has been displaced and the fourth has been dragged outwards. There was possibly a fifth stone in the southeast corner. The two end stones on the long sides have been preserved, but are no longer in situ. The eastern one is inclined outwards, the western one dragged away. Of the original four cap stones, the two most easterly have been preserved. Both are inside the chamber. One is blown up; the second has wedge holes, but the blast was not carried out. According to Schuldt, the chamber has a length of 7 m and a width of 1.8 m. On the southern long side, the paving of a corridor made of small pieces of red sandstone was discovered during a special excavation.
Grave 4
Grave 4 has a heavily destroyed north-south oriented burial chamber, which is to be addressed as a large dolmen. All three wall stones on the eastern and one on the western long side have been preserved. According to Sprockhoff, two wall stones were still in situ, but Schuldt was unable to confirm this during his excavation. The southern end stone is missing, the northern one is very narrow and thus leaves an entrance free. All three capstones are still there. They are inside the chamber. The middle one is the biggest. It has a length of 2.4 m, a width of 1.6 m and a thickness of 0.9 m. The chamber was about 4.5 m long and 1.6 m wide.
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Beier : The megalithic, submegalithic and pseudomegalithic buildings as well as the menhirs between the Baltic Sea and the Thuringian Forest. Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe 1. Wilkau-Haßlau 1991, p. 4.
- Robert Beltz : The Stone Age sites in Meklenburg. In: Yearbook of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Volume 64, 1899, p. 98 ( online ).
- Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch : megalithic graves of Stassow. In: Yearbook of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Volume 39, 1873, pp. 110-111 ( online ).
- Friedrich Schlie : The art and history monuments of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Volume 1. 2nd ed., Schwerin 1898, p. 453 ( online ).
- Ewald Schuldt : Dolmen and passage graves on the Recknitz. Museum of Prehistory and Early History, Schwerin 1966.
- Ewald Schuldt: Great stone graves from Alt Stassow and Nustrow, Rostock district. In: Ground monument maintenance in Mecklenburg. Yearbook 1972. 1973, pp. 39-44.
- Ewald Schuldt: The Mecklenburg megalithic graves. Research on their architecture and function. VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1972, p. 117.
- Ernst Sprockhoff : Atlas of the megalithic tombs of Germany. Part 2: Mecklenburg - Brandenburg - Pomerania. Rudolf-Habelt Verlag, Bonn 1967, pp. 19-20.