Jordehøj
The passage grave Jordehøj ( German "mound" ; also "Æbelnæs Jættestue", "Storkøbmand Hage gravkammer" or "Sparresminde Jættestuen called"), is one of the best preserved passage graves Denmark . It is located at Neble, southwest of Stege on the island of Møn .
The passage grave was built between 3500 and 2800 BC. Built during the Neolithic Age and belongs to the megalithic systems of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TBK). Passage tombs are a form of Neolithic megalithic systems that consist of a chamber and a structurally separated, lateral passage. The form can be found primarily in Denmark, Germany and Scandinavia, as well as occasionally in France and the Netherlands.
description
The chamber of Jordehøj is unusually large with a length of about 10.0 m and a width of 1.8 m in the middle and 2.5 m at the ends. In the middle of the double trapezoidal chamber there is a corridor about seven meters long, the narrow entrance to which is on the southeast side of the hill. On the second bearing stone of the corridor (from the entrance) there are ten bowls from the Bronze Age . The chamber has 23 bearing stones (ten on the north, nine on the south and 2 each on the narrow sides) and seven cap stones. The corridor has 18 bearing stones and five preserved cap stones, including the transverse double door stops.
The facility is next to Listrup (at least 13 m) on Falster , Græse (12.5 m) on Zealand , Kong Svends Høj (12.3 m) on Lolland , Birkehøj (11 m) on Zealand and Kong Asger Høj on Møn and Mårhøj on Funen (10 m each) one of the largest passage graves in Denmark . There are longer chambers in Swedish Falbygden (e.g. Ragnvald's grave with about 16.0 meters). In Germany ( De hoogen Steener with 28 m) and the Netherlands (e.g. D27 in Borger with 22.5 m) the so-called Emsland chambers are sometimes much longer.
Excavation history
The burial mound was examined in 1836 by Gustav Hage (1808–1863), a merchant from Stege . Little information exists about the excavation. In 1870 his son wrote a short report. He writes that when the chamber was opened: “6-8 large bodies lay there in rows. Remnants of hair from their heads wafted like cobwebs. No amber , but there were many stone tools by the corpses, including some made of bone, and there were clay pots in the corners ”. The National Museum's find protocol from 1837 mentions nine to ten skeletons. Hage, who was in correspondence with the archaeologist Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (1788–1865), left some of the finds to the National Museum. From Jordehøj he received some of the ceramics and stone and bone tools that are in the museum's collection, but were mixed with finds from the passage grave Sognehøj , which was excavated at the same time on Møn . During the excavation, grave robbers invaded Jordehøj and stole most of the bones. This theft is one of the earliest examples of grave robbery during an excavation.
Sognehøj, a passage grave near Jordehøj, was demolished at that time. Large stones were a popular building material. Hage used his influence to preserve the Jordehøj, which after the excavation was in danger of being demolished as well. By making a request to Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, he succeeded in getting the state to pay five Reichstaler annually to the farmer who was supposed to maintain and supervise the barrow.
In 1847 a message was received in Copenhagen that a capstone had partially fallen into the chamber. In 1987 this capstone threatened to collapse completely and so it was decided to undertake a comprehensive restoration of Jordehøj combined with an excavation. It turned out that the capstone had already caused problems for the builders of the grave. Two capstones did not lie on the supporting stones, but seemed to have slipped a little during construction, so that they were on an inserted wedge. During the restoration, the decision was made to lift the capstones to the place where they should have been originally for safety reasons. The investigation also showed that the builders had done a lot to keep the chamber watertight. The spaces between the large capstones had been sealed with crushed flint. Above it was a layer of clay, covered with flint tiles, which were laid on top of each other like roof tiles, so that they formed a steep angle. This drained the water ingress. During the excavation, traces of tillage with a plow were found under the mound .
context
A total of 119 large stone graves from the Neolithic period are known on the only 231 km² islands of Møn and Bogø . 38 of them have been preserved and protected. 21 are passage graves of the TBK. The archaeologists estimate that the preserved large stone graves represent only about 10% of those originally built. On Møn and Bogø, more than 500 large stone graves were originally created over a period of only 700 years.
See also
literature
- Bodil Leth Larsen: Møns prehistoric monuments. Møns Turistforening, Stege 1970.
- Karsten Kjer Michaelsen: Politics bog om Danmarks oldtid. Politics Forlag, Copenhagen 2002, ISBN 87-567-6458-8 p. 215
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 57 '59.2 " N , 12 ° 14' 55.7" E