Großsteingrab Beesewege — Dolmen Beesewege, depicted in Johann Christoph Bekmann, Bernhard Ludwig Bekmann: Historische Beschreibung der Chur und Mark Brandenburg…

DolmenThe Copper Age

Großsteingrab Beesewege

Germany

DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE

Suggest an editAdd a photo

Photo Bekmann_Taf_1.jpg : Johann Christoph Bekmann, Bernhard Ludwig Bekmann · Public domainSource file on Wikimedia Commons

Scroll to read

Overview

About this site

Overview

The Großsteingräber bei Beesewege were originally two megalithic tombs of the Neolithic Tiefstichkeramik culture at Beesewege, a district of Bismark (Altmark) in the district of Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Only one survives, in a poor state. The field name 'bei den Hünensteinen' also hints at a possible third tomb.

The monument is typologically dated to between 3500 and 2800 BCE. Its original form can be reconstructed fairly exactly from a record made in 1751.

Read on Wikipedia3 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.

Est. 3500–2800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical for this type

What this badge meansThe published range for this kind of monument in this region. It is not a date for this site.
Source for this date

Article

Großsteingrab Beesewege

3 min read538 wordsRead on Wikipedia

The destroyed tomb stood about 750 m east of the village, in the plot called 'die langen Stücke' or 'der runde Busch'.

Großsteingräber bei Beesewege

Setting

Sources for this section

The surviving tomb lies 800 m south-east of Beesewege, at the boundary with Kläden. The destroyed tomb stood about 750 m east of the village, in the plot called 'die langen Stücke' or 'der runde Busch'. Other megalithic tombs lie nearby: Bülitz about 1 km north-east of the surviving tomb, Hohenwulsch-Friedrichsfleiß 2.8 km to the north-east and Kläden 2.6 km to the east-south-east.

Description

Sources for this section

The burial mound of the surviving tomb is still recognisable and has a number of depressions in which the supporting stones of the chamber may originally have stood. Only two stones of the chamber survive, and a third, broken stone is the last remnant of the surrounding kerb.

According to Hartmut Bock, Barbara Fritsch and Lothar Mittag, the tomb belonged to the type of great dolmen (Großdolmen); Hans-Jürgen Beier instead classes it as a probable passage grave. It had a trapezoidal, probably east-west oriented enclosure (Hünenbett) 39.0 m long and between 8.2 m and 12.5 m wide. According to the record of 1751, all 15 wall stones were still present along one long side and 11 along the other. All stones remained at one narrow end, while at the other they were missing. The chamber then still had a capstone measuring 3.2 m × 2.2 m, resting on five wall stones, and seven further wall stones stood exposed.

The destroyed tomb had a chamber 6.6 m long and 3.5 m wide. According to Danneil, a large 'Ringstein' on the east side leaned inwards, with another stone leaning against it; it is unclear whether this was a kerb stone or a wall stone. The capstones were already missing when Danneil examined it. The exact type of the tomb can no longer be determined, and nothing is known of finds.