Blocksberg

The Blocksberg is a burial mound in Kühlungsborn, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, dating from 3500 BCE to 500 BCE by typological estimate. It lies in the southern part of the Kühlungsborn town forest and stands 2.5 metres high with a diameter of 13 metres.

Children playing on the mound discovered pottery sherds and a clay vessel in the 1950s. Excavations took place in 1957 and 1958, with heritage officers checking the finds. They revealed a Bronze Age burial complex from between 1800 and 600 BCE, consisting of a main grave and two later burials, all built as stone settings and found largely empty. A burnt area connected with funerary practices was also identified, and the mound was once surrounded by a stone circle.

The name Blocksberg reflects a local belief that the mound was a place where witches danced at night under the rule of the devil in the form of a he-goat.

Across Germany, burial mounds range from the northern plain to the south. Middle Bronze Age mounds gave the Tumulus culture its name; this culture was dominant in Central Europe from about 1600 to 1300 BCE and descended from the Unetice culture. The graves show evidence of a warrior society. The Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture that followed preferred cremation, while the Early Iron Age Hallstatt culture revived large mounds for chieftains.

Blocksberg is a megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones) in Kühlungsborn, Germany. A typological estimate: 3500 BCE to 500 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the German article "Blocksberg (Kühlungsborn)", shown in the original language.