Seven stone houses

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Seven stone houses Siebensteinhäuser
Site plan of the "Seven Stone Houses"

Site plan of the "Seven Stone Houses"
Seven stone houses (Lower Saxony)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 52 ° 48 '1.8 "  N , 9 ° 47' 50.5"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 48 '1.8 "  N , 9 ° 47' 50.5"  E
place Bergen Training Area , Lower Saxony , Germany
Emergence 3500 to 2800 BC Chr.
Sprockhoff no. 806-810
Historical map of the Ostheidmark

The Seven stone houses , even seven stone houses , are a group of five megalithic tombs on the NATO - military training camp Bergen-Hohne in the Lueneburg Heath in Lower Saxony . They have the Sprockhoff numbers 806 to 810. The cultural monument placed under protection in 1823 is attributed to the end times of the funnel beaker culture (3500–2800 BC).

location

Seven stone houses - grave D (1839)
Location of the Siebensteinhäuser

The seven stone houses are located roughly in the middle of the Bergen military training area between Bad Fallingbostel in the northwest and Bergen in the east.

The large stone graves are between about 56  m above sea level. NN and 67  m above sea level NN . The "Hohe Bach" flows past the group of graves in a north-south direction, which is a north-eastern tributary of the Meiße in the catchment area of ​​the Aller .

accessibility

The only public access to the tombs begins at a post with a turnpike in Ostenholz , around four kilometers southeast of the Walsrode motorway triangle . The access road leads through 5.4 kilometers of restricted area of the military training area and is regularly cleared of remains of ammunition for visitors . Access is usually available on weekends and public holidays from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., provided that there is no military exercise. Another possibility is during the “Volksradfahren” (people cycling) that takes place every autumn. Large parts of the space are released here. A rest and refreshment point is always set up in the immediate vicinity of the megalithic graves.

history

The seven stone houses tomb was built in the 3rd millennium BC. . BC in the era of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture built by sedentary farmers. The large grave complex D shows similarities with French graves, the other four graves correspond to those of the Elbe-Weser triangle . The first written mention was made in 1720 by the archaeologist and travel writer Johann Georg Keyßler . In 1823, the then Fallingbosteler Oberamtmann Heinrich von Quintus-Icilius achieved the protection of the facility. The local writer, journalist, editor and magazine founder August Freudenthal made sure that the Siebensteinhäuser became well known with his travelogues. Before the military training area was created, these rock structures built from boulders in the Neolithic Age were a popular hiking destination.

It is true that traditionally one speaks of the “seven stone houses”, but in fact there are only five. Since a picture from 1744 only shows five graves, it is now assumed that the “magic number” seven in the figurative sense must be understood for a larger number, for example in the phrase seven things . The local researcher Hans Stuhlmacher, however, wrote in his book Die Heidmark (1939):

“ Of the seven tombs, only five are left. Two were smashed to build bridges and roads. It was high time that the Hanover government placed the graves under state protection in 1823; because they were already at work to blast the capstone of the largest grave, a drill hole in the stone testifies to it.
That is why in 1835 the employers [...] of the Winser workers were called to account. "

description

The graves were of Friesen Jacob Karl Hermann excavated . The long sides of the chamber of the five graves are all aligned almost to the centimeter in a north-easterly direction. Their capstones are not laid as yokes , but almost always in three- and four-point supports. All joints between the stones were closed with dry masonry. Small remains of it are still visible today. The floors of the chambers were made of sand and granite gravel and were used for drainage .

All graves were originally covered by mounds of earth. Over time, the earth eroded so that the stones became visible. Four graves were excavated and restored between 1924 and 1937. The finds recovered are exhibited in the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover. The graves have been in the forest since the mid-19th century, when extensive pine trees were reforested in the area. In the summer of 1936 the area was surrounded by the army administration with a 1.50 meter high wall. In 1937 the first work to restore the stone houses began. In 1958 the graves were surrounded by earth walls several meters high. They protect the seven stone houses from shell impacts, as the facility is located in the middle of the military training area. The original connection between the complex and the landscape was lost as a result.

  • Two stone graves that had partially collapsed in March 2005

  • Grave complex A

  • Grave complex E

  • The Siebensteinhäuser after the renovation

  • Grave complex A

  • Grave complex B

  • Grave complex C

  • Grave complex D

  • Grave complex E

  • The Siebensteinhäuser from above

  • Grave complex C

  • Grave complex D

  • Grave complex E

Appendix A

Annex A consists of four supporting stones on each of the long sides and one end stone on both narrow sides. Three capstones rest on the supporting stones, of which the middle, much narrower one has broken. The clear width of the chamber measures 6.5 m × 2 m. In the middle on the southeast side is the entrance, of which only the supporting stone pair has been preserved.

Appendix B

In Appendix B, too, four bearing stones form the long sides, which, in contrast to Appendix A, also include four cap stones. One is very narrow and therefore interposed like a yoke stone. The clear width of the chamber is 7 m × 2.2 m. Only the southern bearing stone remains of the corridor in the middle. Excavation finds from Annex B can be seen in the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover , “Human Worlds” section.

  • Excavation finds grave B

  • Fragmentary remains of human bones

  • Ceramic disks of a mug

  • Flint artifacts, amber pendants

  • Copper band (one of the earliest metal additions)

Appendix C

The relatively short chamber of Annex C consists of three bearing stones on the southeast and four on the northwest side as well as the two end stones and the three cap stones. Before the restoration, only the north-eastern three-point support, the middle of the three bearing stones on the south-eastern long side and the south-western end stone were in situ . Two capstones had probably collapsed from the weight after manipulating the bearing stones. The clear width of the chamber is 5 m × 2 m. The off-center access appears to have been between the first and middle girders in the south of the south-eastern long side. The facility collapsed in December 2013. The cause of the collapse could not be determined. Erosion is suspected due to heavy rainfall in 2013 ( flood in Central Europe in 2013 ). On the other hand, external influences, such as vibrations from the military training operations, are excluded.

In July and August 2015, the facility was structurally refurbished and restored. The fallen stones were straightened up and stabilized. The stones of the other graves were also secured by stabilization.

Appendix D with edging

Entrance to the grave complex D

Plant D is the oldest grave in the whole group. The supporting stones of the short, almost square chamber consist of one plate on the southwest side and two on the other sides. The chamber is covered by a mighty stone slab measuring 4.6 mx 4.2 m and half a meter thick. The clear width of the compact chamber is about 4 m × 3 m. In the middle of the southeast side is the entrance, the bearing stones of which are original, while the capstone has been added.

A formerly rectangular enclosure belongs to this system. This is a preserved megalithic bed , the border of which has been restored. It is about 7 meters wide and 14 meters long, but breaks off suddenly in the southwest. Since there were no signs of distant stones here, it is assumed that this part of the complex, which was planned for a further 3 to 4 m, could have been used to build another grave as early as the Neolithic.

Interior view of grave complex E

Appendix E

As with Appendix A, the long sides of Appendix E each consist of four beams with three cap stones on top. The bearing stone on the south-western narrow side was added. From the fact that two capstones of the chamber (the southwestern and the middle) are halves of the same boulder, it does not necessarily mean that the stone block was artificially split prehistorically. During the restoration work, the slightly displaced capstones were put back on. The chamber has a clear width of 5.6 m × 2 m. From the entrance in the middle of the south-eastern long side, which consisted of two yokes, only the two outer bearing stones remain.

etymology

The theologian Louis Harms , founder of the Hermannsburg Mission , who is known as the “awakening of the heath” , writes in his book Golden Apples in Silver Bowls , Volume 1, that the granite blocks were sacrificial altars on which people were probably slaughtered . He also writes that Wittekind , " Duke " of the Saxons , took 4,000 prisoners during the Saxon War in the battle of Osnabrück and Detmold , and that some of these prisoners were "slaughtered on the stone houses" . A monk named Landolf who was converted to Christianity by Liudger, the first bishop of Munster, is said to have witnessed such a human sacrifice during his visit to the Seven Stone Houses. Harms refers to the parish archive of Hermannsburg and a Lüneburg chronicle. Hans Stuhlmacher writes in his book Die Heidmark , published in 1939 , that despite intensive research, the above-mentioned traditions were not found.

The legend of the seven stone houses

“According to a legend that is told a lot in Heidmark, the largest stone from the giant from Borg was hurled towards the seven stone houses in a 'Slenken' (sling) from Elferdingen, where it was at the 'Orskarrn'. The two largest bearing stones of the largest grave were put by the giant in the 'pockets' of his coat. So the giant went to the stone graves via Fallingbostel. Since the area was very sandy, the giant soon had his shoes full of sand. He poured it out at Fallingbostel, and that's how Tutberg and Weinberg came into being. "

- Hans Stuhlmacher : The Heidmark

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.steinzeugen.de/sz_falling.htm Steinzeugen.de
  2. ↑ There is different information about the date of the construction of the tomb. Heinz Schirnig states “around 2800 BC. Chr. "
  3. ↑ Hans Stuhlmacher: The Heidmark. CV Engelhard, Hannover 1939 p. 26
  4. ↑ Hans Stuhlmacher: The Heidmark. CV Engelhard, Hannover 1939 p. 661
  5. ↑ Giant graves in the Lüneburg Heath. In: The Bern Week in Words and Images , Vol. 27, 1937, pp. 768–769. (e-periodica )
  6. ↑ Hans Stuhlmacher: Die Heidmark (1939) p. 388
  7. ↑ Lower Saxony: 5000 year old large stone grave near Bergen collapsed Spiegel online 2014
  8. ↑ Megalithic grave collapses like a house of cards in: Hamburger Abendblatt of January 13, 2014
  9. ↑ 5000 year old megalithic stone graves are being restored at: focus.de on August 7, 2015
  10. ↑ Hans Stuhlmacher: The Heidmark. Scheling, Walsrode 1976, reprint of the 1st edition 1939, p. 388.

Web links

Commons : Seven Stone Houses  - Collection of images, videos and audio files