Guardian stones
Guardian stones is an archaeological term for large boulders used exclusively in pairs at the corners of rectangular and trapezoidal megalithic beds of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TBK). Individual stones that were set up near Belgian , Breton and Corsican megalithic systems, on the other hand, are called " Menhir indicateur".
Wächtersteine can be found sporadically in Denmark and Scandinavia , but especially in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Lower Saxony ( Salongrab ), Saxony-Anhalt ( Drebenstedt , Leetze , Winterfeld ) and occasionally in Holstein ( Hünen Betten "Alter Hau" ). These are strikingly large blocks that form the cornerstones of a megalithic bed or protrude like an antenna from the phalanx and give the narrow sides of the borders a monumental appearance.
Guardian stones are more typical for trapezoidal giant beds than for rectangular ones. In Germany, the most impressive surviving examples can be found on the trapezoidal structures of Dwasieden , Dummertevitz and Nobbin on the island of Rügen .
- At the large dolmen of Dwasieden there are guard stones 3.3 and 3.5 m high at the wider end and 1.4 and 1.6 m at the narrow end.
- At the wide end of Nobbin's trapezoidal bed there are guard stones, 3.3 and 3.4 m high and weighing 25 t each. At the narrow end, they are 1.5 m high and weigh just under six tons.
On the Mecklenburg mainland only one block reaches the barrow without a chamber of Kritzow a height of 2.5 m. The guard stones of systems in the Altmark reach heights of up to 2.8 m.
In some systems, the guard stones were set up in such a way that the corner stones protrude diagonally from the phalanx. So at the Urdolmen of Frauenmark , Parchim district and the passage grave of Mellen , in the Prignitz district . At the passage grave of Naschendorf , district of Northwest Mecklenburg , all the blocks on the narrow sides are concave so that the corners protrude. This shape also shows the wider narrow side of the trapezoidal bed from Kruckow , old district of Demmin.
Completely detached from the phalanx of the enclosure are the guardian stones on a number of rectangular barren beds. The blocks are set up as an antenna-like extension of the long sides. Other guardian stones do not step out of the surrounds or only a little. Examples are the beds of Grevesmühlen-Barendorf , Northwest Mecklenburg District , Barkvieren , Rostock District and Mankmoos , Northwest Mecklenburg District.
Investigations on the guard stones from Dwasieden, Lancken-Granitz 1 and Nobbin showed that the guard stones were not set up in isolation from the other blocks of the surrounds. Their bases are at the same level as the other stones of the enclosure and there are / have been connections in the form of dry stone walls to the adjoining blocks. Although great importance was attached to particularly high guard stones, mostly only boulders were erected that had a large standing area and thus offered a guarantee of stability (inherent statics). This necessity is shown by a guard stone of the Dwasieden plant, which has no statically favorable base and overturned, as the 40 bowls on the top show.
A variant of the guardian stone idea are those narrow sides of long beds in which all (four or five) stones of almost the same height protrude many times the height of the stones on the long sides, as is the case with the Visbek plants ( Visbek bride and groom ) .
meaning
The area between the guard stones on the Nobbiner Hünenbett, which was uncovered down to the natural ground, did not reveal any particular use of the forecourt. What is striking, however, is that large amounts of flint debris were found on the narrow sides of many megalithic sites , which apparently were produced on the spot, as there were accumulations in which some of the debris came from the same core. Such observations were also made at the “guards” from Dwasieden and Lancken-Granitz. Most impressive are the many tees that came to light in several piles on the stele-like blocks surrounding the enlarged Dolmen 2 of Serrahn , in the Mecklenburg Lake District . They lay together in such a way that their manufacture must have been made at the site without any doubt. However, a large number of cuts were also found on a capstone of passage grave 1 of Gnewitz , Bad Doberan district. None of the markings are retouched, so they represent cutting waste. They only have to do indirectly with the purpose of the guard stones.
See also
literature
- Ewald Schuldt : The Mecklenburg megalithic graves. Research on their architecture and function. In: Ewald Schuldt: Contributions to the prehistory and early history of the districts of Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. Volume 6, VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1972.