Monolith grave
Neolithic graves without wall or carrier stones are called monolith graves ( ancient Greek μόνος monos , German 'alone, only' and λίθος lithos , German 'stone' ). In these complexes, the burial is covered by a single large stone. Their dimensions often correspond to those of the capstone of a megalithic complex .
These systems, the planned archaeological exploration of which is still pending, are particularly widespread in Western Pomerania. H.-J. In 1991 Beier still lists 28 plants, while Jörn Jacobs speaks of 56 plants in 1996 in East Mecklenburg.
- In 1938 a boulder was excavated in the Great Warthische Heide . Under the stone was a pavement made of sandstone slabs, three stone axes and the remains of a spherical amphora.
- A monolith grave was found in the grave field of Wartin ( Brandenburg ). The one buried under the stone lay in a crouched position.
- Further examples are the plants in Voigtsdorf in the Strasburg and Hinrichshagen districts , both in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania .
- In Rothenschirmbach (district of Lutherstadt Eisleben in the Mansfelder Land , the first monolith grave of the bell-cup culture (GBK) in Saxony-Anhalt ) was discovered in 2005 . The 1.55 m long and between 34 and 55 cm wide, 400 kg stone lay over a 20-30-year-old man who was buried in a stool position .
- The find of the so-called "dolmen goddess" from Langeneichstädt , Merseburg-Querfurt district is comparable . The menhir on which it was carved comes from a grave complex of the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture and bears a stylized figurative representation.
France
The so-called plate graves of the Malesherbes type ( French Sépultures sous dalle de type Malesherbes ) are a form that occurs in the Paris Basin , but not very common, in which stone blocks weighing around 7 to 20 tons cover the grave.
In Les Fiefs near Orville in the Loiret department , the burial ground consists of a series of individual graves, one under a monolith that is almost 4.0 m long by 2.0 to 2.30 m wide and 1.0 m thick and about 15 tons weighs. The 1.20 m deep pit is for the most part dug into the limestone subsoil and has a relatively flat bottom and sloping walls. The necropolis has delivered the remains of a dozen people, including children. The bodies were oriented east-west, the head to the east and the face to the south, with legs drawn up.
Ireland
In Irish archeology, boulder burials is a type of dolmen in which a massive capstone lies close to the ground on much smaller bearing stones and thus forms a low cavity.
literature
- E. Kirsch: Finds from the Middle Neolithic in the State of Brandenburg Part 1 In: Contributions to the older funnel beaker culture in Brandenburg 1994
- E. Kirsch: Finds of the Middle Neolithic in the State of Brandenburg Part 2 In: Contributions to the older funnel beaker culture in Brandenburg 1995
- Daniel Simonin, Guy Richard, Sylvie Bach: Les sépultures sous dalle de type Malesherbes et la nécropole d'Orville In: La culture de Cerny. Nouvelle économie, nouvelle société au Néolithique. Actes du Colloque International de Nemours 9, 10, 11 1994.
- 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). Beier and Beran, Wilkau-Haßlau 1991, (at the same time: Halle, University, habilitation paper, 1991: The megalithic, submegalithic and pseudomegalithic buildings as well as the menhirs in the five new East German federal states (formerly GDR), an inventory).