Great stone grave in Gleesen

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Great stone grave in Gleesen
Great stone grave Gleesen (Lower Saxony)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 52 ° 27 '6.5 "  N , 7 ° 20' 38.8"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 27 '6.5 "  N , 7 ° 20' 38.8"  E
place Emsbüren , Lower Saxony , Germany
Emergence 3500 to 2800 BC Chr.
Sprockhoff no. 877

The large stone grave Gleesen was a megalithic burial complex of the Neolithic funnel cup culture near Gleesen , a district of Emsbüren in the Emsland district ( Lower Saxony ). It was destroyed in 1893 when the Dortmund-Ems Canal was being built , but was previously archaeologically examined by Eduard Krause on behalf of the Royal Museum of Ethnology in Berlin . Another, unspecified excavation was carried out around 1840 by Pastor Deitering from Emsbüren. The grave bears the Sprockhoff no. 877. The passage grave is a form of Neolithic megalithic systems , which consists of a chamber and a structurally separated, lateral passage. This form is primarily found in Denmark, Germany and Scandinavia, as well as occasionally in France and the Netherlands.

location

The grave was originally 1 km northeast of Gleesen on a natural elevation west of the Great Aa . This location is now directly in the Dortmund-Ems Canal, not far northwest of the point where Bramscher Strasse crosses the canal. The Hesselte stone grave was located 3.1 km south-southeast .

description

According to Johannes Heinrich Müller and Jacobus Reimers, the complex originally had a stone enclosure, but it was completely destroyed before 1870. In 1893 only a 0.5 m high oval mound was left and the burial chamber located in it, oriented east-northeast-west-southwest . The chamber was 16.9 m long and 3.85 m wide. It had a slightly oval floor plan and, according to older reports, had twelve wall stones (probably not counting the end stones on the narrow sides). During his excavation, however, Krause found that there were probably originally 24, of which he was able to determine 15 complete and four blown up. Six of the original seven cap stones were still preserved. The four to the east were complete, but slipped to the west. The easternmost stone had slipped completely off the wall stones and was standing vertically in the chamber at the time of the examination. The two western capstones that were preserved had been blown up, their fragments were still in the chamber. The seventh, westernmost stone was completely missing. According to a local resident, a few decades before the excavation, all capstones had been placed on the wall stones in their original position. A report by Pastor Deitering from 1828 also mentions seven cap stones. Probably at some point in the 1830s, the chamber suffered major damage, because Johann Karl Wächter described it in 1841 in a similar condition as in 1893.

The entrance to the chamber was in the middle of the southern long side. There were two wall stones on which the largest capstone rested, two gang stones in front. The complex was therefore a passage grave of the Emsland Chamber subtype .

During his investigation, Krause found that all exposed areas of the chamber had been ransacked as early as 1840. Nevertheless, he could still make out clear remains of a pavement. This consisted of quarry stone and was about 15 cm thick. 60 cm below it, he found a dam made of two to three layers of larger stones with diameters of 15 cm and more on the sandy soil. The bottom layer also contained larger, flat stones up to 35 cm long, 25 cm wide and 15 cm thick. A layer of humus lay between the dam and the rubble stones .

Krause could not find any skeletal remains. He found numerous ceramic shards and flint fragments in the humus layer . The shards were mostly decorated and often had white incrustations . Ceramic shards and cut stones were also found in the mound, but Krause could not determine with certainty whether they were originally brought here or only later moved here. After the excavations were completed, further fragments and a stone ax were discovered when the facility was demolished .

literature

  • Detering: About the giant stones and burial mounds in the former Gogerichts district of Emsbüren, along with the old German tools found in and around them. In: Archive for the history and antiquity of Westphalia (Wigands archive). Volume 2, 1828, p. 323 ( online )
  • Robert Engelhard : The stone grave to Thuine together with contributions to the prehistoric antiquities of the Lingen district (Prov. Hanover). Acken, Lingen 1896, pp. 10-12 ( online ).
  • Johannes Heinrich Müller , Jacobus Reimers : Pre and early historical antiquities of the province of Hanover. Schulze, Hannover 1893, pp. 252–253 ( PDF; 25.0 MB ).
  • Ludwig Schriever : History of the Lingen district. Acken, Lingen 1905, p. 21 ( online ).
  • Ernst Sprockhoff : Atlas of the megalithic tombs of Germany. Part 3: Lower Saxony - Westphalia. Rudolf-Habelt Verlag, Bonn 1975, ISBN 3-7749-1326-9 , pp. 109-110.
  • Johann Karl Wächter : Statistics of the pagan monuments existing in the kingdom of Hanover. Historical Association for Lower Saxony, Hanover 1841, pp. 123–124 ( online ).

Web links