Chamber grave of Gotha

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The chamber grave of Gotha was a megalithic or pseudomegalithic grave complex probably of the Neolithic Bernburg culture in Gotha , Thuringia . A subsequent burial comes from the sphere amphora culture . The grave was found during gravel mining in 1928 and destroyed a little later. Previously could Georg Florschütz conduct another investigation. The finds made in the process are now in the Historical Museum at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha.

location

The grave was in the north of Gotha in the hallway Ostheim.

description

The grave was already partially destroyed when he was examined. It had a 0.4 m deep, northwest-southeast oriented rectangular burial chamber with a length of at least 10 m, a width of over 2 m and a height of about 0.8 m. On the south-eastern narrow side there was a 2.2 m long ramp-like entrance. The chamber was separated from the vestibule by a stone slab placed across. The outer walls of the chamber were only partially preserved and consisted of smaller stones. At a distance of 0.25 m from this, there were probably other inner walls made of wood that had not been preserved. The ceiling could also have been made of wood, on which a layer of limestone slabs was applied, remains of which were still preserved. A pavement made of stone slabs was also found; this reached up to the inner walls of the chamber.

The exact classification of the plant is a bit difficult. Waldtraut Schrickel classified it as a gallery grave . In 1984 Hans-Jürgen Beier first ran it as a "recessed wall chamber grave", but in 1991 as a wall chamber grave (pseudomegalithic) or recessed chamber grave (megalithic). It is true that mainly wood and small-format stones were used here, but the layout of the complex was more similar to the Hessian gallery graves than other Thuringian wall chamber graves.

The grave contained numerous burials, the exact number of which cannot be determined with certainty. Florschütz assumed about 100 individuals, but the number is likely to be overestimated. Schrickel only accepted half, Beier writes from at least 27 people. It is certain that 20 skulls were found. Six skeletons were crouched left and right along the side walls with their heads facing southeast. One skeleton was in a sitting position. Skull nests were found between and on the skeletons . In one case there was possibly a skull burial .

Numerous grave goods were found, but they could only be assigned to specific individuals in two cases. One individual wore a chain made of dog teeth. A completely preserved skeleton directly behind the entrance had a spherical amphora as an addition and could thus be identified as a subsequent burial. The remaining grave goods are a cup and mostly decorated ceramic shards (including a handle vessel and a funnel beaker ), chips made of silica slate , flint tools ( cross-edged and stalked arrowheads and blades), flint chips, two bone chips Awl , a knife-like or awl-like device made from a boar tooth , further perforated dog teeth (108 in total), a perforated bear tooth , half the lower jaw of a dog, a horse tooth and an oval roller made of sheet copper .

Apart from the spherical amphora, the cultural assignment of the rest of the ceramic vessels was not clear. Erich Spießbach thought the grave was an installation of the spherical amphora culture, which here had been strongly influenced by the Bernburg culture. According to Ulrich Fischer , the spherical amphora belonged to a subsequent burial, while the remaining fragments belonged to the original burials and had strong influences from Hesse. Fischer denied belonging to the Bernburg culture. Detlef W. Müller and, following him, Hans-Jürgen Beier, in turn, advocated an assignment to Bernburg culture with a strong Hessian influence.

literature

  • Hans-Jürgen Beier : The grave and burial customs of the Walternienburg and Bernburg culture. Halle (Saale) 1984, pp. 150-151.
  • Hans-Jürgen Beier: The sphere amphora culture in the Middle Elbe-Saale area and in the Altmark (= publications of the State Museum for Prehistory Halle. 41). Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-326-00339-0 , p. 140.
  • 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. 72.
  • Ulrich Fischer : The Stone Age graves in the Saale region. Studies on Neolithic and Early Bronze Age grave and burial forms in Saxony-Thuringia (= prehistoric research. Volume 15). De Gruyter, Berlin 1956, pp. 87-88, 90-91, 98, 103ff., 107, 271.
  • Ulrich Fischer: To the Neolithic collective graves in Hesse and Thuringia. In: Nassau Annals. Volume 79, 1968, p. 20.
  • Georg Florschütz : A mass grave of the spherical amphora culture. In: News sheet for German prehistoric times. Volume 4, 1928, 150-151.
  • Georg Florschütz: The prehistoric collection of the Gotha local history museum. 1934, pp. 15-16.
  • Gerhard Mildenberger : Studies on the Central German Neolithic (= publications of the State Museum for Prehistory Dresden. Volume 2). 1953, pp. 29, 53.
  • Detlef W. Müller : The prehistoric and early historical settlement of the Gothaer Land. Natural conditions and cultural sequence. Catalog. Dissertation, Jena 1975, pp. 79-80.
  • Detlef W. Müller: The prehistoric and early historical settlement of the Gothaer Land. In: Old Thuringia. Volume 17, 1980, pp. 39-41 ( online ).
  • Waldtraut Schrickel : Catalog of the Central German graves with Western European elements and the gallery graves of Western Germany. Bonn 1966, pp. 400-402.
  • Erich Spießbach : A grave complex of the spherical amphora culture, Gotha "Flur Ostheim Kiesgrube Wagner". In: Mannus. Volume 24, 1932, pp. 238ff.