Overview
About this site
Overview
The Alversteen, also called Großsteingrab Albertsdorf, Alverstein or Alverston, is a megalithic tomb of the Neolithic in the south of the island of Fehmarn, in the district of Ostholstein in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is described as about 5500 years old, and the catalogue gives a typological estimate for its date of between 3500 and 2800 BCE.
A massive capstone and four supporting stones on the two long sides survive. The monument is a registered Kulturdenkmal and has been under heritage protection since 1979.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Alversteen
The preserved parts are one massive capstone and four supporting stones along the two long sides.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
The preserved parts are one massive capstone and four supporting stones along the two long sides. The tomb was originally covered by an earth mound, of which nothing remains.
VisitingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
The Alversteen can be visited at any time. It lies about one kilometre south-west of Albertsdorf, beside the dyke, and is today surrounded by shrubs and trees but is easily accessible.
HistorySources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
There were formerly numerous megalithic graves on Fehmarn. Because their artificially raised mounds were obstacles to farming, almost all were removed and the stones used elsewhere, being welcome building material on an island poor in stone. The Alversteen stands on slightly raised ground almost directly on the beach, on a relatively flat stretch of coast. As it was easy to see from the sea, it served sailors as a landmark when entering the Fehmarnsund until the Strukkamphuk lighthouse was built in 1896, and for that reason it was not allowed to be removed. To make it easier still to recognise from the sea, a white cross had been drawn on the capstone.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
Since 1979 the Alversteen has been under monument protection.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab AlbertsdorfCC BY-SA 4.0
The megalithic tombs of northern Germany and the Netherlands were built by the Funnel Beaker culture (about 4100 to 2800 BCE), and the style, called Nordic megalith architecture, emerged between 3500 and 2800 BCE. After the Funnel Beaker culture ended, such sites were reused by the Single Grave and Bell Beaker cultures in the Early Bronze Age.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
German and Dutch Hünengräber (hunebedden)
The megalithic tombs of northern Germany and the Netherlands were built by the Funnel Beaker culture (about 4100 to 2800 BCE), and the style, called Nordic megalith architecture, emerged between 3500 and 2800 BCE. In the Netherlands the tombs are the hunebedden, built between 3470 and 3250 BCE by the western group of the Funnel Beaker culture and used until about 2760 BCE. Of an estimated 100 original tombs, 54 are preserved, 52 of them in the province of Drenthe and two in Groningen. After the Funnel Beaker culture ended the sites were reused by the Single Grave and Bell Beaker cultures in the Early Bronze Age and, to a lesser extent, into the Middle Ages.
In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern up to 5,000 megalith tombs were erected, and more than 1,000 are preserved and protected by law; they belong to the youngest and easternmost part of the western European tradition. Most are dolmens, often lying inside a circular or trapezoid frame of standing stones. Locally they are known as Hünengräber, "giants' tombs", or Großsteingräber, "large stone tombs"; the trapezoid frame is a Hünenbett, "giants' bed", and the circular one a Bannkreis. Between 1964 and 1974 Ewald Schuldt excavated over a hundred sites there and sorted them into simple dolmens, extended dolmens, passage graves, great dolmens, unchambered long barrows and stone cists.
Folklore: the German and Dutch names, with Hüne meaning "giant", carry the old idea that giants were buried here. This is a tradition; the stones were placed by Neolithic farmers.
When visiting, look for the capstones on their supports and the frame of kerbstones around them.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Megaliths in the Netherlands, Wikipedia: Megaliths in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Wikipedia: Nordic megalith architecture, Wikipedia: Funnel beaker culture, Wikipedia: Dolmen · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Photographs
7 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3500–2800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for dolmens in Germany; this site has not been dated itself. German dolmens (Huengrab) belong to the Nordic megalith tradition which emerged predominantly between 3500 and 2800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Germany
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 54°25′04″ N, 11°05′58″ EFor a GPS or map app: 54.41789, 11.09933
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Langbett Krausort3500–2800 BCE
Dolmen of Wulfen3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingräber bei Lütjenbrode3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingrab Staberdorf3500–2800 BCE
Urdolmen von Katharinenhof3500–2800 BCE- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Siggen3500–2800 BCE
- MegalithGroßsteingrab Siggen3500–2500 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingräber bei Süssau3500–2800 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q448829wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Alversteen 3.jpgTorbenbrinkerCC BY-SA 3.0
- 2017-08-26-Alversteen-4309.jpgSuperbassCC BY-SA 4.0
- 2020-07-20-Alversteen-8761.jpgSuperbassCC BY-SA 4.0
- 2017-08-26-Alversteen-4308.jpgSuperbassCC BY-SA 4.0
- Alversteen 1.jpgTorbenbrinkerCC BY-SA 3.0
- Grosssteingrab Albertsdorf 01.jpgUnukornoCC BY 4.0
- Grosssteingrab Albertsdorf 02.jpgUnukornoCC BY 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Langbett Krausort3.0 km S
- Dolmen of Wulfen4.3 km E
- Großsteingräber bei Lütjenbrode6.5 km SW
- Großsteingrab Staberdorf11 km E
- Urdolmen von Katharinenhof13 km E
- Großsteingrab Siggen15 km S
- Großsteingrab Siggen15 km S
- Großsteingräber bei Süssau15 km S
- Eiskellerberg bei Siggeneben18 km S
- Großsteingrab Putlos VIII19 km SW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Großsteingrab Albertsdorf" (German), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors