Toftados

The Toftadösen at Gnisvärd is Gotland's only preserved and documented dolmen . The Baltic islands of Sweden are generally poor in Neolithic evidence. Also on Öland only a few dolmens ( Swedish Dös ) are occupied ( Dolmen of Resmo ). The chamber size was approximately 3.0 x 1.5 meters. The chamber is located in an only partially preserved, 7.0 × 5.0 meter enclosure made of limestone slabs .

description

The dozen was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century. It can be found right next to the road that goes through the forest not far from the ship settlement at Gnisvärd and is called Gnisvärdsvägen. The dozen was first excavated in 1912. Only three human lower jaws were found during this excavation. During the follow-up examination of the megalithic complex in 1984, bone fragments and teeth were found outside the chamber, which had been removed from the chamber with the filling material in 1912. It was therefore not possible to draw any conclusions about their original location.

The dating from the architectural context shows a construction period at the transition from the early to the middle Neolithic around 3500 BC. Chr.

The complete skeleton of a woman around 40 years old was also found outside the chamber, but inside the enclosure. It was dated to the late Bronze Age using the radiocarbon method (C14 method) . This is strange, as cremation was already predominant at this time .

See also

• Nordic megalithic architecture
• Dolmen in Sweden

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lars Bägerfeldt: Neolithic på och Gotland.Problem konsekvenser, utifrån undersökningen av en dös och neolitiska lösfynd. 1992 ISBN 91-86742-33-7

literature

• Paul Wallin & Helene Martinsson-Wallin: The story of the only (?) Megalith grave on Gotland Island. Documenta Praehistorica XXXVII, 2010

Web links

• Description and picture
• Toftadösen - entry in the database "Fornsök" des Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish). Retrieved October 9, 2013

Coordinates: 57 ° 30 ′ 31.3 "  N , 18 ° 8 ′ 26.4"  E