Stone setting
In archeology, stone setting is understood as a frame arrangement of several larger stones (usually megaliths ) but also stone pavements that were created in various regions of Europe as grave markings or grave superstructures from the Neolithic to the Iron Age .
Stone setting occurs in the most varied of forms. As geometric shapes ( circles and squares and rectangles), as U-shaped settlements like Achavanich , as Treuddar (triangular) or ship settlements, representing patterns that form their own genres.
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Demarcation
Individual menhirs , monoliths or erratic boulders , such as the Tirslundstein near Brørup in Jutland , are not stone settlements. No stone setting - in this sense - are hill enclosures or buildings of a similar kind that are not an end in themselves. Their size should not drop below head size (as with wheel graves ). Low stones draw z. B. the stone circles of Beaghmore in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland . They are at the lower end of the scale. The stones must not be layered like a wall.
Stone setting at graves
Stones are the most common grave structures in Scandinavian prehistoric times. It occurs from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age and consists of stone packings in a few layers. It is characterized by a flat profile. The pavement is often surrounded by a chain of edges consisting of dense, often slightly protruding stones. There are also unfilled stone settings with only one edge chain. So far, the graves at Mälaren have been evaluated . They were different for women and men. Only round stone settings were used for women's graves; there were many variations, triangles and rectangles for men. How widespread this custom was has not yet been researched. But the Norwegian Østfold dererlei differences were also noted. In the graves of the older Iron Age , from 300 to 150 BC Often found empty stone settings, which are interpreted as cenotaphs or children's graves.
Stone setting in megalithic systems
The necropolis of Bougon includes not only a group of tumuli but also linear settlements, the oldest parts of which date back to 4700 BC. To be dated. It is located in the Deux-Sèvres department , near Poitiers in west-central France. The combination of a large stone grave and stone setting (row of stones) is used in the Hekese plant in Germany .
literature
- Agneta Lagerlöf: Gravskicksförändringar = religious förändringar = samhällsförändringar ? (Change in funeral customs = religious changes = social changes?) In: Nordisk hedendom. Et symposium. Odense 1991. pp. 207-215.
