Great stone graves near Seelvitz
| Great stone graves near Seelvitz Teufelsstein (grave 1), Hüningsbusch (grave 2) | |||
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| Coordinates | Seelvitz 1 , Seelvitz 2 , Seelvitz 3 | ||
| place | Zirkow , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Germany | ||
| Emergence | 3500 to 2800 BC Chr. | ||
| Sprockhoff no. | 493-494 | ||
The megalithic graves near Seelvitz are three megalithic tombs of the Neolithic funnel cup culture near Seelvitz , a district of Zirkow in the district of Vorpommern-Rügen ( Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ). Graves 1 and 2 bear the Sprockhoff numbers 493 and 494. Grave 1 is also known as Teufelsstein and grave 2 as Hüningsbusch . These two graves were archaeologically examined in 1970 .
location
Grave 1 is a good 500 m west of Seelvitz. Grave 2 is located about 300 m northeast of the village and about 930 m from grave 1. Grave 3 is located southeast of the village and about 620 m south of grave 1 and 1.2 km east-southeast of grave 2.
There are numerous other large stone graves in the vicinity. The large stone grave Posewald is 670 m west of grave 1, and the large stone grave near Lonvitz is 2.5 km southwest . 450 m south of grave 3 are the large stone graves at Nadelitz and 3.1 km east the large stone graves at Dummertevitz .
Research history
The existence of the graves was first recorded by hand in the 1820s by Friedrich von Hagenow . His notes were published by Rudolf Baier in 1904 . Von Hagenow only recorded two graves. Ernst Sprockhoff recorded graves 1 and 2 for his atlas of megalithic graves in Germany in 1931 , but overlooked grave 3, although this had already been recorded on a measuring table sheet. In 1957 the facilities were placed under protection. In the spring of 1970, grave 1 under the direction of Adolf Hollnagel and grave 2 under the direction of Erika Beltz were archaeologically examined.
description
Grave 1
Grave 1 has an almost east-west oriented burial chamber . A pile of hills has not been proven. Ernst Sprockhoff's documentation was based on an enlarged dolmen , but Adolf Hollnagel's excavation revealed that it was a large dolmen . The chamber has a length of 3 m, a width of 1.9 m and a height of 1.2 m. All three of the wall stones on the southern long side and the middle and western one on the northern long side are still preserved, as is the end stone on the eastern narrow side. The eastern capstone is shifted to the south; its top has three bowls . The middle capstone had sunk inside the chamber; at its northern end a piece had blown off. In the course of the excavation it was moved to the south side of the chamber. Only two fragments remain from the western capstone.
The access to the chamber was on the northern half of the western narrow side. Here the chamber was preceded by a corridor made of two pairs of wall stones. The height of the corridor was 0.8 m. Only the two northern stones were still preserved; the eastern one was in situ , the western one had overturned outwards. The two capstones of the corridor have been relocated. Between the corridor and the chamber, a sandstone slab with a flat hollow was set vertically into the floor as a threshold stone.
The spaces between the wall stones had been filled with dry brickwork made of red sandstone , which was grouted with clay. Only remains of the chamber floor remained in the corners and under the central capstone. A 5 cm thick layer of gravel was applied to the adjacent sandy soil and a 5 cm thick layer of clay screed was placed on top of this. The chamber was originally divided into quarters by vertical sandstone slabs. Remnants of this have been preserved under the central southern capstone.
Remnants of bones were not preserved. There wasn't much left of the grave goods either. These included some decorated and undecorated pottery shards, two Handmahlsteine and a teardrop-shaped amber - pearl . Furthermore, a shard of a medieval bomb pot was found.
Grave 2
Grave 2 has an east-west oriented trapezoidal barn bed , the ends of which have not been preserved, so that the original length can no longer be determined. Three stones on the south side and five on the north side of the enclosure are still preserved.
The north-south oriented burial chamber placed across the bed is in a poor state of preservation. It is also to be addressed as a large dolmen. In his documentation, Ernst Sprockhoff assumed a chamber made of four pairs of wall stones with a length of about 6 m and a width of about 1.7 m. However, Erika Beltz's excavation revealed that the chamber only had three pairs of wall stones. The length of the chamber is 4 m, the width 1.9 m in the south, 2.5 m in the middle and 2.0 m in the north. The chamber height is 1.2 m. On the western long side all the stones are still preserved, on the eastern the middle and the northern one. The northern end stone and a narrow end stone on the west side of the southern narrow side have also been preserved. The south-east corner of the chamber is disturbed; the third wall stone on the east side and the entire entrance area are missing here. Probably the entrance originally consisted of a vestibule, as is typical for large stone graves on Rügen. Only a fragment of the capstones remains in the southwest part of the complex. The capstone fragment has five bowls. Six more bowls were found on the northern wall stone of the eastern long side. The spaces between the wall stones were filled with dry masonry that had only survived on the western long side.
About three quarters of the chamber floor was damaged and only in the south-west was well preserved. A 10 cm thick layer of clay screed was applied to the sandy soil, on top of which a layer of stone gravel . The chamber was divided into quarters by vertical sandstone slabs. Two quarters with a width of 0.8 m had been preserved in front of the south and middle wall stone on the west side. Several lying sandstone slabs were found in the southern quarter, the exact purpose of which is unclear, as there were finds both above and below. A layer of fire was also found under the panels.
Remnants of bones could only be found in the northern quarter. But they were too poorly preserved for further investigation. The grave goods included five decorated ceramic vessels (four double-conical vessels and a funnel beaker ) and three undecorated bowls. There are also fragments of other vessels. Furthermore, six amber beads, a hand millstone, a flat ax made of flint , 20 cross-edged arrowheads , 20 blades and a scraper made of flint.
Grave 3
Grave 3 has not yet been described in more detail in the literature. It is located in a round hill with a diameter of about 20 m. The chamber consists of several wall stones and probably three cap stones, one of which still rests on the wall stones. Ewald Schuldt led the complex as a large stone grave of an indefinite type, while Erika Beltz and Adolf Hollnagel thought it was a large dolmen. No information is available about the alignment and dimensions of the chamber.
literature
- Rudolf Baier (Ed.): Prehistoric graves on Rügen and in New Western Pomerania. Friedrich von Hagenow's notes from the papers he left behind. Abel, Greifswald 1904, p. 14.
- 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. 12.
- Erika Beltz , Adolf Hollnagel : The large dolmen of Seelvitz, Rügen district. In: Ground monument maintenance in Mecklenburg. Yearbook 1971. 1972, pp. 213-232.
- Ewald Schuldt : The Mecklenburg megalithic graves. Research on their architecture and function. VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1972, p. 123.
- Ernst Sprockhoff : Atlas of the megalithic tombs of Germany. Part 2: Mecklenburg - Brandenburg - Pomerania. Rudolf-Habelt Verlag, Bonn 1967, p. 70.