Galeriegrab Etteln

Galeriegrab Etteln is a megalithic gallery grave belonging to the late Neolithic Wartbergkultur. It lies northwest of Etteln, a district of Borchen in the Paderborn district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the Lechtenberg among a group of trees between two fields.

The monument is aligned northwest to southeast and measures 22 m in length and 2.6 m in width. Its chamber, built from locally quarried limestone slabs, is 21.5 m long and 2 m wide. The entrance is on the southeastern narrow side through a two-part door-hole stone, with no antechamber. Remains include parts of the mound, three border stones, two roof slabs, and stones from the chamber’s northwest end.

The grave was first examined in 1575 by Bischof Salentin von Isenburg. Excavations followed in 1862, 1865, 1871 and 1969. Human bones, two ceramic sherds, several perforated animal teeth and the lower jaw of a pig were recovered, but all finds are now lost. Radiocarbon dating placed its period of use at 3870±100 BP; 2333±135 calBC.

Gallery graves are megalithic tombs built mainly in the Neolithic, with the main gallery entered directly and no passage or antechamber in front. They are generally understood as community burial places, likely used for members of a family or hamlet. In Germany, the Wartbergkultur existed from about 3600 to 2800, and gallery graves are also found in the Loire valley of France, south-west Great Britain and Ireland.

Galeriegrab Etteln is a gallery grave (allée couverte) in Borchen, Germany. A typological estimate: 3500 BCE to 2500 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the German article "Galeriegrab Etteln", shown in the original language.