Great stone graves near Liesten

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The megalithic graves near Liesten were six megalithic tombs of the Neolithic deep- engraving ceramic culture near Liesten , a district of Salzwedel in the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel , Saxony-Anhalt . All were destroyed in the 19th century.

location

Graves 1–3 were in the direction of Jeggeleben . Grave 1 was right on the way. Graves 2 and 3 were closer to Liesten, not far from the path on the parcel “Die Hufen”. They were only about 25 m apart. In the vicinity of these three graves there was also a burial mound, which has now also been destroyed . The graves 4–6 were located just behind the northeastern exit of Liesten, near the road to Rademin in a north-south running row.

Research history

The facilities were first documented 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 the graves had been completely removed in the meantime as part of the separation .

description

Grave 1

The grave had a stone enclosure with a length of 13.2 m and a width of 7.2 m. The burial chamber was almost as long as the enclosure. It should therefore have been a passage grave. One of the boulders had noticeable, probably naturally formed depressions.

Grave 2

Grave 2 was 6.9 m long and 3.5 m wide. Danneil could only see two capstones of the burial chamber, the wall stones were apparently covered by these. It is no longer possible to determine the type of grave.

Grave 3

Grave 3 had a barren bed with a length of 10 m and a width of 3.5 m. This hid a burial chamber with an apparently inclined corridor on one long side, so that the complex could be referred to as a corridor grave. This finding caused some difficulties for Danneil, who mistakenly interpreted the passage as another, smaller burial chamber. In addition, most of the wall stones had already overturned, so that he could not determine the exact shape of the chamber with certainty. Danneil was able to make out four cap stones for the chamber and two more for the corridor.

Grave 4

The grave was 6.9 m long and 3.5 m wide. Cap stones were no longer present when Danneil was taken. It is no longer possible to determine the type of grave.

Grave 5

Grave 5 had a stone enclosure with a length of 32 m and a width of 7.9 m. The wax stones at the corners of the enclosure were of enormous size. The burial chamber was roughly in the middle of the megalithic bed. The wall stones were still there when Danneil took the picture, but the capstone had already been blown up. Dimensions of the chamber are not available. It is therefore no longer possible to determine the type of grave.

Grave 6

The grave had a perimeter with a length of 13.2 m and a width of 6.6 m. The burial chamber was already badly damaged when Danneil took the picture, so that he apparently erroneously assumed three burial chambers in a barren bed, of which the middle one had two capstones, the two outer ones none. Krause and Schoetensack, however, suspected that it was just a burial chamber with four capstones, the two outer stones of which were tipped inward into the chamber. The complex could therefore be addressed as a large dolmen or as a passage grave.

Finds

According to Krause and Schoetensack, while clearing the graves between Liesten and Jeggeleben in 1869 an ax made of polished gray flint was found. It was 15.7 cm in length, 6.6 cm in width and 1.9 cm in thickness. The find came as a loan from the finder to the Altmark Museum in Stendal .

The graves in regional sagas

After the Danneil told of the striking boulder of grave one forecast that he was encircled by a chain of sunken bride car while the stone would be the bride herself. The grave thus represents an example of the legend of the petrified wedding party, which is more often associated with large stone graves, for example in the case of the Glaner bride , the Visbek bride and the Visbek groom .

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. 57.
  • 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. 134-139 ( 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, pp. No. 181-186 ( PDF; 39.0 MB ).