D44a
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Großsteingrab Zaalhof (van Giffen number D44a) was a megalithic tomb of the Neolithic western group of the Funnel Beaker culture at Emmen, in the province of Drenthe, the Netherlands. Its remains were examined in 1846, and the site was built over in the early 20th century.
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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
D44a
Until the 19th century the area was largely undeveloped; it now lies between the Kerkhoflaan, Wilhelminastraat, Julianastraat and Molenstraat.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb stood near the Zaalhof (or Saalhof), which no longer exists. Until the 19th century the area was largely undeveloped; it now lies between the Kerkhoflaan, Wilhelminastraat, Julianastraat and Molenstraat. Several surviving megalithic tombs lie nearby: the Großsteingrab Westenesch (D44) to the west-north-west, Emmen-Schimmeres (D43) to the north-north-west and Emmerdennen (D45) to the north-north-east.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument was first mentioned in 1660 by Johan Picardt, who did not recognise it as a tomb and described it only as some large marked blocks of stone. Caspar Reuvens made a drawing of it in 1833. Leonhardt Johannes Friedrich Janssen carried out an excavation in 1846.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument was already largely destroyed at the time of the 19th-century investigations. Reuvens found only two wall stones, one of which bore a row of blasting holes. Janssen's investigation showed that the burial chamber had been about 5.5 m long and about 2 m wide.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
Janssen recovered a few sherds of Funnel Beaker pottery vessels.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
In the Netherlands the megalithic tombs are known as hunebedden. They were 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.
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
- 1660
Die Anlage wurde erstmals 1660 von Johan Picardt erwähnt, der es aber nicht als Grab erkannte, sondern nur als „einige große markierte Steinbrocken“ beschrieb.
Source - 1833
Caspar Reuvens fertigte 1833 eine Zeichnung an.
Source - 1846
Seine Überreste wurden 1846 untersucht.
Source - 1846
Leonhardt Johannes Friedrich Janssen führte 1846 eine Grabung durch.
Source
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.
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
- 52°46′51″ N, 6°53′51″ EFor a GPS or map app: 52.78095, 6.89746
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.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q42328341wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Großsteingrab Zaalhof" (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
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab ZaalhofCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q42328341CC0