Great stone graves near Weste
The large stone graves near Weste were six megalithic graves from the Neolithic funnel cup culture near Weste in the district of Uelzen ( Lower Saxony ). They were destroyed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Three systems were documented in the 1840s by Georg Otto Carl von Estorff . He made floor plans of graves 1 and 3; these facilities bear the Sprockhoff numbers 790 and 791. Three further graves were recorded by Johann Daniel Taube in 1769 and were apparently already completely destroyed when von Erstorff took his picture.
location
Graves 1 and 2 were close together to the northeast of Weste. They were north of the road to Kollendorf . Grave 3 was about 1 km southwest of Weste by a group of burial mounds . Graves 4–6, which were probably destroyed in the 18th century, were located to the east of the village.
description
Grave 1
The complex had an approximately east-west oriented mound bed with a length of about 22 m and a width of 7 m. The enclosure was largely preserved. Von Estorff recorded 13 stones on the northern long side (three of which had overturned), on the southern long side 15 upright stones and on the eastern narrow side three very large stones. The stones on the western narrow side were missing, possibly the barren bed was originally longer than von Estorff assumed. The sloping burial chamber was near the east end of the bed . It was oriented west-southwest-east-northeast. The number of wall stones cannot be clearly seen on von Erstorff's drawing; there were probably five pairs of wall stones on the long sides. The western capstone was already missing, and possibly the eastern one too. Of the three original capstones, only the middle and the eastern one remained; the latter had numerous bowls . The exact grave type can not be clearly determined, but due to the size of the chamber, it must be a great dolmen or passage grave have acted.
Grave 2
Grave 2 was not described in detail by von Estorff. The card signature only shows that it had a huge bed. No information is available on the orientation, dimensions and type of grave.
Grave 3
Grave 3 had a north-east-south-west oriented mound bed with a length of about 24 to 25 m and a width of 8.5 m. The enclosure was only partially preserved. Von Estorff gave eight stones on the northwest long side, seven on the southeast long side, four on the southwest narrow side and two on the northeast narrow side. In the south-western half of the bed was the burial chamber, which was also oriented northeast-southwest. It had a length of 6.5 m and a width of 2 m. Von Estorff recorded seven wall stones on the north-western long side, six on the south-eastern long side and one capping stone each on the narrow sides. In the north-eastern half of the chamber, three capstones were still preserved, the outer one of which was probably still on, while the second had slipped and the third had already completely fallen from the wall stones. The capstones were already missing in the southwestern half. There was a larger gap between the two middle wall stones on the southeast side; However, it is not clear whether this was the original access or whether the bearing stones had been displaced by the fallen capstone. It can therefore not be clearly decided whether the complex was a large dolmen or a passage grave.
Graves 4–6
No details are available about graves 4–6.
literature
- Georg Otto Carl von Estorff : Pagan antiquities of the area of Uelzen in the former Bardengaue (Kingdom of Hanover). Hahn'sche Hof bookstore, Hanover 1846.
- Ernst Sprockhoff : Atlas of the megalithic tombs of Germany. Part 3: Lower Saxony - Westphalia. Rudolf-Habelt Verlag, Bonn 1975, ISBN 3-7749-1326-9 , p. 76.
- Johann Daniel Taube : Contributions to the natural history of the Duchy of Lüneburg. Schulze, Celle 1769, pp. 178-179.
