Stone boxes of the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture
The stone boxes of Walternienburg-Bernburg Culture designated U. Fischer (1956) as a plate graves. In the 1980s, 14 stone boxes were known from this cultural area. Six of them belong to the Walternienburger and five to the Bernburg culture . Stone boxes have been used since the Baalberg culture (4100-3400 BC) in the Neolithic of the Middle Elbe-Saale region. The carriers of the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture continued this tradition and formed the bridge to the end-Neolithic cultures, in which the construction of stone boxes came to full fruition.
description
Only the box Nordhausen 1 comes from Thuringia, in the Nordhausen district , while stone boxes are otherwise (excluding the Havelland ) spread over the distribution area of the culture (s).
Only the box in Baalberge, Bernburg district was north-south oriented. All boxes have a rectangular floor plan, are made of stone slabs and have no access structure. Their length is on average two meters. Exceptions • are Schraplau, in the Saalekreis , which seems to be a corded ceramic box, because its orientation and a vessel also connect it to this culture, as well as Stedten 2, in the district of Mansfelder Land , where the cup that comes with it can be a relic . Stedten 2 reaches megalithic dimensions with a length of five meters and shows the flowing transitions between the types.
A box in the Schneiderberg of Baalberge was divided by a transversely placed plate with a door hole . This is the only division of a box in the region. In Preußlitz / Plömnitz, in the Salzlandkreis , the burial was on a broken stone, in Nordhausen 1 on a stone pavement. In Baalberge the floor was made from a single plate. The boxes are mostly sunk into the floor. Only those of Baalberge and Stedten 2 were listed on the ground floor. Overlying burial mounds are occupied for four stone boxes. U. Fischer suspects that all of the boxes originally owned these mounds. The series of individual burials observed in six boxes begins with the Middle Neolithic boxes. Several individuals were deposited in four facilities (at least two in Nordhausen and Baalberge, several in "Polleben 3" and three in Lüttchendorf / Wormsleben, both in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz ). The dead were laid down in a crouched position three times . For Baalberge and Nordhausen 1, there is evidence of skeletal material that is no longer anatomically related, as it is primarily known from the funnel beaker cultures. The inventory of extras is generally sparse. Usually there are one or two vessels.
Chimeras
A group of three systems in the area around Merseburg and Weißenfels can be connected to these stone boxes . In Geusa / Zscherben, a sunken structure made of dry masonry was found that was covered with stone slabs. It contained Walternienburg ceramics. The chamber of Oebles-Schlechtewitz resembles the Zscherbener. In the paved interior lay skeletal remains of an individual without any additions. The Weißenfels example was built at ground level from stone slabs and masonry. Skeletal remains of at least 16 individuals were found here, together with Bernburg ceramics. Hills have been identified for Oebles-Schlechtewitz and Weißenfels. In Weißenfels the chamber was also surrounded by a mud-sealed quarry stone mantle. The length of these systems is around four meters between the dimensions for boxes and megalithic systems. The use of quarry stone shows relationships with the wall chambers , while the covering with stone slabs indicates stone boxes and megalithic structures. The individual burial without gifts stands opposite a richly decorated collective grave.
Rock grave
One of its kind tombs is located in the Mansfelder Land. At Seeburg 2 , an irregular, paved and stone-built chamber has been created under a large natural rock slab. The entrance was probably in the west. Here the grave area emerges from under the rock and was closed from above with a removable rock plate. Skeletal remains of about eight people were found, most of which were confused. The additions belong to the Walternienburg and Salzmünder cultures . U. Fischer speaks of a rock-tomb-like appearance.
Other stone boxes
From Frohndorf, in Sömmerda , Niedereichstädt im Saalekreis and Sittichenbach, a district of Lutherstadt Eisleben , there are boxes with additions to the spherical amphora culture (KAK). Structural details can, however, be combined with the Walternienburg-Bernburger boxes. The facility in Niedereichstädt with a length of 3.5 m and an anteroom can be counted among the ramp boxes. U. Fischer therefore suspects subsequent burials of the spherical amphora culture in the facilities that were built by the carriers of the Walternienburg and Bernburg culture. The assumption is supported by the findings from Baalberge, Kr. Bernburg. It is possible that half of the Walternienburger box was cleared out here and used by the Kugelamphoren people for a subsequent burial. In this context, the occurrence of ceramics from the spherical amphora culture in the wall chamber tombs of Gotha 2 and Wandersleben is to be mentioned. The Zörbig megalithic complex in the Anhalt-Bitterfeld district also contained inventory from the KAK. Subsequent uses of this culture are not uncommon in northern large stone graves. But it will not always be possible to address the findings as subsequent burials. The frequent joint occurrence of Bernburger and ball amphora ceramics (including in Pevestorf, Lüchow-Dannenberg district ) suggests that the plant may be laid down at the same time or that the ball amphora culture has taken over. The appearance of Bernburg ceramics in the KAK facilities (in Schönebeck and Börtewitz) shows the close connection between cultures.
See also
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Beier : The grave and burial customs of the Walternienburg and Bernburg culture. Scientific contributions 1984/30 (L19) of the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg ISSN 0440-1298