Lübbensteine
| Lübbensteine | |||
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 Fully reconstructed north grave (# 816 B) |
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| Coordinates | 52 ° 13 '51 " N , 10 ° 59' 12.8" E | ||
| place | Helmstedt , Lower Saxony , Germany | ||
| Emergence | 3500 BC Chr. | ||
| Sprockhoff no. | 816, 815 | ||
The Lübbensteine are two megalithic complexes from the Neolithic near the Lower Saxony district town of Helmstedt in Germany , whose origins date back to around 3500 BC. Can be dated BC. They are passage graves , a form of Neolithic megalithic systems, which 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.
location
The two stone graves are located west of Helmstedt on St. Annenberg. The site is located on Bundesstraße 1 in the direction of Königslutter , a little away on an elevated plateau with a parking lot.
Great stone graves
The Lübbensteine are the southernmost large stone tombs of the Neolithic in Northern Germany . Since such building materials were lacking in the adjoining low mountain ranges, comparable systems made of stone walls and / or wood were built. The Lübbensteine came into the interest of science early on, which can be traced back to their material (local brown coal - quartzite ) and their exposed location above the city of Helmstedt .
Protection and finds
The first description by Hermann Conring (1606–1681) comes from 1665. It is thanks to the intervention of professors from the former Helmstedt University (until 1810) that a stone grave escaped the fate of many megalithic structures. Scholars like Fritz Grabowski encouraged the early investigations and prevented the stones from being used as building material. The first quasi-archaeological excavation of the tomb took place around 1700. The first scientific investigation was carried out in 1935/1936. Bones could not be found in the burial chambers, as all traces were removed during excavations in earlier centuries.
layout
The northern complex was easy to reconstruct as 40 of the original 45 stones were still there. It is a seven-meter-long and 1.8-meter-wide passage grave , consisting of twelve bearing stones and five cap stones, which is located in a rectangular enclosure made of originally 26 curb stones. A pair of gangue stones (without a capstone) connects the chamber with the gap in the 14 meter long and five meter wide enclosure.
At the time of the investigation, more than half of the stones were already missing from the southern grave. Of the 20 stones found, at most seven could be assigned to the chamber. Overall, it seems to have corresponded to the north grave in all dimensions. In 2001 the facility was renovated again.
The question remains whether there wasn't a third system. A settlement site that probably belonged to the facility could be made out around 700 meters away on a silted-up lake.
See also
literature
- Monika Bernatzky: Monuments of the Stone Age. Large stone graves between Dorm, Elm and Lappwald. The Lübbensteine near Helmstedt, educational trail 'construction site Großsteingrab' in Groß Steinum, Großsteinum, Großsteinum between Marienborn and Groß Steinum . District of Helmstedt, Helmstedt 2006, ISBN 978-3-937733-20-3 .
- Monika Bernatzky: Megalithic graves: The Lübbensteine near Helmstedt. In: Fritz J. Krüger (Ed.): Walks in the history of the earth, Volume 19, Braunschweiger Land . Publishing house Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-89937-066-X , pp. 106-109.
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The Lübbensteine near Helmstedt. In: If stones could talk. Volume I, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1989, ISBN 3-7842-0397-3 , pp. 39-40.
- Hans-Jürgen Häßler: The Lübbensteine near Helmstedt In: Heinz Schirnig (Hrsg.): Large stone graves in Lower Saxony. Lax, Hildesheim 1979, ISBN 3-7848-1224-4 .
- 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. 87-88.
Web links
- The Lübbensteine in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas with a drone flight over the Lübbensteine
- Lübbensteine near megalithic portal (English)
- helmstedt.de - The Lübbensteine near Helmstedt
- Description at Braunschweigische Landschaft