Great stone graves near Moltzow

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Great stone graves near Moltzow
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Great stone graves near Moltzow (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
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Coordinates Moltzow 1 coordinates: 53 ° 37 ′ 55.8 ″  N , 12 ° 35 ′ 47.9 ″  E , Moltzow 2 , Moltzow 4 , (Moltzow 5?)
place Moltzow , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Germany
Emergence 3500 to 2800 BC Chr.
Sprockhoff no. 422

The megalithic graves near Moltzow were at least four megalithic graves from the Neolithic funnel beaker culture near Moltzow in the Mecklenburg Lake District ( Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ). Of these, only two graves still exist today. Grave 1 bears the Sprockhoff number 422. Two other graves were destroyed in the 19th century. If there are several stone accumulations in the immediate vicinity of the preserved structures, it could be other large stone graves that have not yet been scientifically described .

location

The two preserved graves are located approximately halfway between Moltzow and Rambow in a narrow forest. Grave 2 is located about 500 m south-southeast of grave 1 at the intersection of the paths from Moltzow to Ulrichshusen and from Rothenmoor to Marxhagen . Directly near grave 2, on a sandy hill, was the destroyed grave 4. Grave 3 was located “on the Hermanns-Sahl meadow, [...] where the road from Malchin to Plau touches the meadow and this hill and a stream, Coming from the Schliesee, the country road cuts. ”A stone box , a stone circle and numerous Bronze Age burial mounds are also known from Moltzow .

History of research and destruction

Graves 3 and 4, which are now destroyed, were archaeologically examined in 1840–1841 under the direction of Albrecht von Maltzahn . In 1845 he examined grave 2. The finds that have been preserved are now in the collection of the Archaeological State Museum Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Schwerin . In 1934 Ernst Sprockhoff recorded grave 1, which had not yet been examined, for his atlas of megalithic tombs in Germany . He only mentioned grave 2 briefly, but was unable to examine it further due to heavy vegetation. Ewald Schuldt mistakenly reported this grave as destroyed in 1972, which was taken over by Ingeburg Nilius and Hans-Jürgen Beier .

description

Preserved graves

Grave 1

Grave 1 has an oval mound, tapering towards the northeast, interspersed with rolling stones . It has a length of 18 m and a width of 10 m. Inside there is a north-west-south-east oriented burial chamber , which is a large dolmen . The chamber originally had three pairs of wall stones on the long sides. Of this, the in situ southeast and the shifted middle of the southwest long side and the shifted northwest stone of the northeast long side are still preserved. The northwestern capstone is in situ, the southeastern one is missing. All three capstones have been rolled off, only remains of one are preserved. The chamber has a length of 3 m and a width of 1.4 m.

Grave 2

Schematic representation of the decoration of a vessel from the large stone grave Moltzow 2

Grave 2 is probably a north-west-south-east oriented megalithic bed with a circumference of 27 paces (approx. 20 m) and an ancient dolmen at the north-west end. He originally owned four granite wall stones . The burial chamber has a length of 1.2 m and a width of 0.6 m. During the investigation, a rather complex pavement was found: On the floor next to it, there was initially a layer of ceramic shards, all but three of which were facing upwards. This was followed by a layer of white and red annealed flint , which showed signs of burn in some places. Above that followed bones, clay marl, sand and stones.

Six human skulls were found from the original burials, which is quite a number for such a small grave. The grave goods were also plentiful: a total of 15 ceramic vessels were found. Six of them were small, undecorated vessels. Only one vessel could be reconstructed with certainty. It was an undecorated mug with handle. More shards could have belonged to funnel cups , eyelet cups and funnel neck bowls . Some of the shards had incrustations . A vessel is said to come from “the most recent pagan times” - possibly a subsequent burial from the Slav period ?

Destroyed graves

Grave 3

Grave 3 had an elongated barren bed 90 feet long , 20 feet wide, and 2-3 feet tall . It contained four tomb chambers arranged in a row, which were Urdolmen. They were mostly made of split red sandstones .

The first chamber had already been damaged by rock breakers before 1841. The stones had fallen over and no more burial remains or grave goods could be made out.

The second chamber had a capstone 6 feet (about 1.8 m) long, 3 feet (0.9 m) wide, and 4 feet (1.2 m) thick. Two completely preserved ceramic vessels were found at the eastern end. It was a two-handled amphora with group of lines decoration as well as a wide funnel beaker with vertical grooves.

In the third chamber, in the eastern corner, the fragments of a funnel beaker with line group decoration were found. It may have originally had a handle and had been patched in one place with a shard of a different color.

In the fourth chamber the capstone had already been rolled off. No finds were made.

Grave 4

Grave 4 possibly had a pile of mounds, which could no longer be clearly identified as early as 1841. The burial chamber was oriented northeast-southwest and sunk deep into the ground. It was probably a small dolmen. It had three wall stones each on the long sides, one end stone in the southwest and two cap stones. The northeast narrow side was open. The chamber was 8 feet (about 2.4 m) long and 4 feet (about 1.2 m) wide. The wall bricks were 5 feet high, 3 feet wide, and 2 feet thick. The capstones were 7 feet (about 2.1 m) long and 2-3 feet (about 0.6-0.9 m) thick.

The only find from this grave was the neck of a ceramic vessel, probably a jug with a handle. It had line decorations.

Possible further graves

At at least four other places near Moltzow there are collections of larger stones, which could be other large stone graves. One of them is near grave 1 and right next to a Bronze Age burial mound. A possible giant bed with a length of at least 20 m and a width of about 10 m can be seen. Numerous stones are piled up on the eastern edge.

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. 38.
  • Robert Beltz : The Stone Age sites in Meklenburg. In: Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Volume 64, 1899, p. 88 ( online ).
  • Robert Beltz: The prehistoric antiquities of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Complete list of the finds preserved in the Grand Ducal Museum in Schwerin. Text tape. Reimer, Berlin 1910, p. 113 ( online ).
  • Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch : megalithic grave of Moltzow. In: Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Volume 6, 1841, pp. 134-136 ( online ).
  • Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch: Stone box from Moltzow. In: Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Volume 6, 1841, p. 133 ( online ).
  • Albrecht von Maltzahn , Johann Ritter , Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch: Hünengräber and other old graves at Moltzow (cf. Jahresber. VI, p. 133 and 134). In: Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Volume 10, 1845, pp. 263-267 ( online ).
  • Ingeburg Nilius : The Neolithic in Mecklenburg at the time and with special consideration of the funnel cup culture (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of the districts of Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. Volume 5). Museum of Prehistory and Early History, Schwerin 1971, pp. 100–101.
  • Friedrich Schlie : The art and historical monuments of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Volume V. Köhler, Leipzig 1902, p. 461 ( online ).
  • Ewald Schuldt : The Mecklenburg megalithic graves. Research on their architecture and function. VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1972, p. 139.
  • Ernst Sprockhoff : The Nordic megalithic culture (= manual of the prehistory of Germany. Volume 3). de Gruyter, Berlin / Leipzig 1938, 48, 55.
  • Ernst Sprockhoff : Atlas of the megalithic tombs of Germany. Part 2: Mecklenburg - Brandenburg - Pomerania. Rudolf-Habelt Verlag, Bonn 1967, p. 42.

Web links

Commons : Großsteingrab Moltzow 2  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files