Long beds from Wietrzychowice
| Long beds from Wietrzychowice | |||
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 Grave 1 |
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| Coordinates | 52 ° 24 '33.1 " N , 18 ° 52' 27.8" E | ||
| place | Wietrzychowice , Kuyavian-Pomeranian , Poland | ||
| Emergence | 3500 to 2800 BC Chr. | ||
The long beds of Wietrzychowice are a group of five megalithic tombs of the Neolithic funnel cup culture near Wietrzychowice , a village near Izbica Kujawska in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland . All graves have the shape of an elongated triangular hill , which is typical for Kujawy . The facilities were excavated and reconstructed in 1934–36 and 1967–69 under the direction of Konrad Jażdżewski and Stanisław Madajski .
location
The graves are located about 1 km southeast of Wietrzychowice in a park. They are made accessible to tourists by a signposted nature trail . The systems are located in a line running from southwest to northeast, only a few meters apart. There are several other long beds in the vicinity. 2.7 km west-northwest are the three long beds of Obałki , 6.9 km west-southwest are the two long beds of Wólka Komorowska and 9.3 km west-southwest are the long beds of Gaj .
description
Grave 1
Grave 1 has an elongated, northwest-southeast oriented hill in the form of an irregular triangle. The hill has a length of 76 m and a width of 10 m on the south-eastern face. The mound is bordered with stones, with the seven stones on the front side being significantly larger than those on the long sides. The spaces between the large surrounding stones were filled with smaller stones. A gap in the enclosure was found in the middle of the face. There was probably the entrance to a wooden cult chamber that has not survived. In the south-eastern part of the hill two stone pavements were found, which probably served as burial sites. However, neither remains of bones nor grave goods could be found here. More than 400 finds come from the mound. These are ceramic shards, flint tools, spindle whorls , charcoal , clay and animal bones.
Grave 2
Grave 2 has an elongated, north-west-south-east oriented triangular hill. The hill has a length of 93 m and a width of 9 m on the south-eastern face. The stone enclosure is less well preserved than in grave 1. The complex had a single burial. The dead man was about 50 years old. It was lying directly on the floor along the longitudinal axis of the complex, its head pointing northeast. The grave had neither recognizable fixtures nor additions. More than 200 finds come from the mound, mainly ceramic shards, but also stone and flint tools, charcoal and a bird's bones.
Grave 3
Grave 3 has an elongated, north-west-south-east oriented triangular hill. With a length of 115 m, it is the largest system in Wietrzychowice. The width at the front is 10 m. The stone enclosure is well preserved. At the front there are eight large stones with a height of up to 1.5 m. The spaces between the large surrounding stones were filled with smaller stones. There is a gap in the middle of the face. The entrance to a wooden cult chamber that has not survived was probably located here. The gap and a small area in front have a pavement made of small stones.
There is a grave 2 m behind the entrance. It is rectangular and framed by large stones. A man's skeleton lay in the grave. The dead man was lying on the floor, stretched out on his back, along the longitudinal axis of the grave, with his head facing northwest. The only burial object was a flint knife. The grave was filled with earth and covered with rolling stones.
A second grave was found immediately north of this. It was constructed in a similar way to the first, but a little smaller and less carefully executed. It also featured a burial in the supine position with the head to the northwest. Grave goods could not be found here.
Immediately above the graves, a collection of ceramic shards, flint tools, fragments of human and animal bones, and charcoal were discovered. Other ceramic shards, a spindle whorl and an ax made of rock were found elsewhere on the mound.
Grave 4
Grave 4 is the smallest of the Wietrzychowice facilities. It has a north-west-south-east oriented hill in the form of an irregular triangle. The length can no longer be precisely determined and is estimated to be around 30 m. The width of the front is 6.5 m. The stone enclosure is poorly preserved and is completely missing in the northwest. It can no longer be determined whether the front had a gap with an entrance to a cult chamber. A diamond-shaped grave emerged from the brownish discoloration in the otherwise sandy soil. Only a lower jaw and a skull fragment remained from the burial. The bones belonged to a man about 30 years old. Grave goods were not found. About 40 ceramic shards as well as clay fragments, charcoal and a flint blade come from the mound.
Grave 5
Grave 5 has an elongated, north-west-south-east oriented triangular hill. The hill has a length of 47 m and a width of 7.5 m on the south-eastern face. A stone is missing in the middle of the front. Presumably the entrance to a wooden cult chamber was located here. In the mound there was a 3.75 m long and 3 m wide burial chamber, which was sunk 0.3 m into the ground. Two men, about 35 and about 50 years old, were buried in the chamber. Both were about 1 m apart in a stretched supine position with their heads to the northwest. Both men had healed traces of trepanation on their skulls . There was a piece of limestone on the head of one of the buried . Over 100 ceramic shards, clay fragments and a club head made of granite come from the mound .
literature
- Irena Jaczykowa : Spawozdanie z badań prowadzonych w latach 1967 i 1968 w Wietrzychowicach, w pow. kolskim, na stanowisku 1. In: Prace i Materiały Muzeum Archeologicznego i Ethnograficznego w Łodzi. Seria Archeologiczna. Volume 17, 1970, pp. 125-143.
- Irena Jaczykowa: Spawozdanie z końcowego etapu prac badawczych na neoliticznym cmentarzysku grobowców kujawskich w Wietrzychowicach, pow. Koło. In: Prace i Materiały Muzeum Archeologicznego i Ethnograficznego w Łodzi. Seria Archeologiczna. Volume 18, 1971, pp. 93-103.
- Dobrochna Jankowska : Megalithic and Kujavic tombs. In: Karl W. Beinhauer et al. (Ed.): Studies on megalithics. State of research and ethnoarchaeological perspectives (contributions to prehistory and early history of Central Europe; Vol. 21). Verlag Beier & Beran, Weisbach 1999, pp. 215-226, ISBN 3-930036-36-3 .
- Konrad Jażdżewski : The relationship between Kujavian barrows in Poland and megalithic tombs in northern Germany, Denmark and western European countries . In: Glyn E. Daniel, Poul Kjærum (Ed.): Megalithic Graves and Ritual. Papers presented at the III. Atlantic Colloquium, Moesgård 1969 (Jutland Archaeological Society Publications; Vol. 11). Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen 1973, ISBN 87-00-08861-7 .
- Magdalena S. Midgley : The Origin and Function of the Earthen Long Barrows of Northern Europe (= BAR International Series. Volume 259). BAR, Oxford 1985, ISBN 0-86054-331-5 .
- Piotr Papiernik, Dominik Kacper Płaza: Park Kulturowy. Wietrzychowice na europejskim szlaku megalitów. Muzeum Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne w Łódź, Łódź 2017, ISBN 978-83-932039-7-0 .
Web links
- The Megalithic Portal: Wietrzychowice Long Barrows