Passage grave of Bunsoh

Big stone tomb Bunsoh, view from the north

The passage grave of Bunsoh was uncovered in a round burial mound near Bunsoh in Dithmarschen in Holstein in 1874 and examined more closely in 1908. The passage grave of the funnel cup culture (TBK) is dated 3500–2800 BC. Dated and in the "Atlas of Megalithic Tombs of Germany" under Sprockhoff no. 143 led.

Drawing from 1911, with quarters and found objects

The passage grave of the Holsteiner Kammer type is relatively small with a length of 3.75 m. Its width is 1.55 m and the longitudinal axis is oriented from west to east. The floor of the chamber of the large stone grave was paved with pebbles the size of a head . The spaces between the supporting stones were closed with flat stone slabs. The chamber, which is accessed from the south, was divided into four quarters . Ceramics and appliances made of flint were found as grave goods .

The cup stones

View of the cup stone

Three capstones rest on eight vertical supporting stones, of which the western one is a cup stone known in the professional world with about 300 small bowls, several engraved lines, a wheel cross , stylized human hands and a sole . The latter three are not found in Germany and are rarely found anywhere else. The bowl stone from Bunsoh is one of the most important cult objects from prehistoric times. A replica is located in the Dithmarschen Museum of Archeology and Ecology .

Drawing of the cup stone from 1911

Six more cup stones were discovered in the vicinity of the large stone grave. The local researcher Nikolaus Lorenzen, in 1971, in his chronicle Our Bunsoh , which is only available as a manuscript, pointed to five other bowl stones which, in addition to bowls, are said to have rings as well as depictions of hands and feet, but all but one have been lost. This specimen, which has only survived in fragments, is in the Albersdorf Museum . A little later, north of the place where the passage grave was found, the sixth bowl stone was discovered next to the remains of a large burial mound. This so-called "small bowl stone from Bunsoh" consists of reddish sandstone and measures 1.1 × 0.8 × 0.5 m. It is decorated with five bowls that lie in a row, as well as an oval recess nine centimeters long and four cm wide, and a sixth, very small bowl with two concentric rings with an outer diameter of 19 cm.

literature

Westedt: Stone chamber with cup stone near Bunsoh, Albersdorf parish, Süderdithmarsch district. In: Negotiations of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory. 1884.
Ulf Ickerodt, Rüdiger Kelm: New investigations on the small bowl stone from Bunsoh. In: Archaeological News from Schleswig-Holstein. Volume 17, 2011, ISBN 978-3-529-01433-8 pp. 62-64.
Jutta Roß: Megalithic graves in Schleswig-Holstein. Investigations into the structure of the tombs based on recent excavation findings. Publishing house Dr. Kovač, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-86064-046-1 .
C. Rothmann: The burial chamber with the bowl stone at Bunsoh in Dithmarschen. In: Communications from the Anthropological Association in Schleswig-Holsten. Volume 19, 1911, pp. 20-25.
Ernst Sprockhoff : Atlas of the megalithic tombs of Germany. Part 1: Schleswig-Holstein. Rudolf Habelt Verlag, Bonn 1966, p. 39.
Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .