Circular graves of the individual grave culture
The circular graves of the individual grave culture (EGK) , excavated from the 1990s, z. B. von Hejnsvig, Højlyst Pårup and Sjørup, emerged as a result of the somewhat before 2800 BC. Immigration to the north of Jutland took place . The single grave culture belongs to the ceramic groups of the end of the Neolithic and is a different culture in every detail that came from the south to Jutland and was later spread throughout Denmark and beyond. Here it follows the funnel beaker culture (TBK) (around 4200 to 2800 BC)
Along the Karup Å the members of one of their groups were buried under small mounds. Several of the small burial mounds ( Danish småhøje ) have been excavated. The dead were buried in the east-west oriented Cirkelgrave below the grown surface (as sub-graves ) in wooden plank coffins . The bodies lay on their side, facing south, with their legs bent . The men faced west, the women east. A low mound was built over the tomb, which was raised if new burials were added. Then several graves are offset in height in the same hill.
This is the normal way of burial in this culture, but there are also types of graves that differ significantly because they are believed to be centuries younger. One group are the wooden grave boxes ( Danish træbyggede gravkiste ), as they are e.g. B. in Tinghøj and in over 20 other places.
The second group includes the circular graves, one of which was excavated in 1990 in a low hill north of Sejbækken and south of Sjørup. A round pit about 4.0 m in diameter and 1.3 m deep was surrounded by a trench in which a vertical plank wall probably formed a kind of building above the grave, because charcoal residues had got into the backfilling of the circular pit. The building (not necessarily a roofed house) was burned to the ground before the mound was raised over the grave. The grave in the middle was visible as a dark shadow in the light sandy soil. The coffin and the skeletal traces of a man's burial could be seen. This grave shape is rare, but not unique. Similar circular graves with traces of burned buildings have been found under other mounds. The people who experienced such a burial must have had a special place in society.
See also
literature
- Karsten Kjer Michaelsen: Politikens bog om Danmarks oldtid (= Politikens håndbøger. ). Politiken, Copenhagen 2002, ISBN 87-567-6458-8 .