
Großsteingrab Beesewege
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
Photo Bekmann_Taf_1.jpg : Johann Christoph Bekmann, Bernhard Ludwig Bekmann · Public domainSource file on Wikimedia Commons
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.
Article
Großsteingrab Beesewege
The destroyed tomb stood about 750 m east of the village, in the plot called 'die langen Stücke' or 'der runde Busch'.
SettingSources for this section
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.
DescriptionSources for this section
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.
Research historySources for this section
Sources for this section
The surviving tomb was first mentioned by Johann Christoph Bekmann in his Historische Beschreibung der Chur und Mark Brandenburg, published in 1751. In 1843 Johann Friedrich Danneil made the first systematic survey of all megalithic tombs of the Altmark; the tomb was then still in good condition, and he also identified a second, already largely destroyed tomb.
Eduard Krause and Otto Schoetensack carried out a new survey in the early 1890s and found that the tomb recorded by Danneil had since been destroyed completely. The surviving tomb was also in a very poor condition, because after 1870 most of its stones had been used in building the underpass of the Bremen to Berlin railway line (the Amerikalinie), where they probably still lie.
In 2003-04 all surviving megalithic tombs of the Altmark were surveyed and measured again, as a joint project of the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, the Johann-Friedrich-Danneil-Museum Salzwedel and the association 'Junge Archäologen der Altmark'.
VisitingSources for this section
Sources for this section
Since September 2020 the surviving tomb has been a station on the archaeological trail 'Hünengräber-Rundweg Bismark'.
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
- 1751
Das erhaltene Grab wurde erstmals von Johann Christoph Bekmann in seiner 1751 erschienenen Historischen Beschreibung der Chur und Mark Brandenburg erwähnt.
Source - 1751
Trotz dieses schlechten Erhaltungszustandes lässt sich das ursprüngliche Aussehen des Grabes dank der Aufzeichnungen von 1751 recht genau rekonstruieren.
Source - 1843
Johann Friedrich Danneil führte im Jahr 1843 eine erste systematische Aufnahme aller Großsteingräber der Altmark durch.
Source - 1870
Auch das existierende Grab befand sich in einem sehr schlechten Zustand, da nach 1870 die meisten Steine beim Bau der Unterführung der Eisenbahnstrecke zwischen Bremen und Berlin (Amerikalinie) verwendet wurden, wo sie wohl noch heute liegen.
Source - 2003
2003–04 erfolgte eine weitere Aufnahme und Vermessung aller noch existierenden Großsteingräber der Altmark als Gemeinschaftsprojekt des Landesamts für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, des Johann-Friedrich-Danneil-Museums Salzwedel und des Vereins „Junge Archäologen der Altmark“.
Source - 2020
Seit September 2020 ist das erhaltene Grab eine Station des archäologischen Wanderwegs „Hünengräber-Rundweg Bismark“.
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.
Photographs
5 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
- 52°39′04″ N, 11°38′03″ EFor a GPS or map app: 52.65100, 11.63410
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.
Großsteingrab Bülitz3500–2800 BCEPhoto: Eduard Krause (1847-1917), Otto Schoetensack (1850-1912) · Public domain
Großsteingräber bei Kläden3500–2800 BCEPhoto: Eduard Krause (1847-1917), Otto Schoetensack (1850-1912) · Public domain
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Hohenwulsch-Friedrichsfleiß3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingrab Steinfeld3500–2800 BCE- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Schernikau3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Späningen3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Lindstedt3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Dolchau3500–2800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1549595wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Bekmann Beesewege Fpl 1.jpgBekmann_Taf_1.jpg : Johann Christoph Bekmann, Bernhard Ludwig BekmannPublic domain
- Beesewege Findlinge 2022 01.jpgRonny UeckermannCC BY-SA 4.0
- Beesewege Findlinge 2022 02.jpgRonny UeckermannCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingrab Beesewege 2022 01.jpgRonny UeckermannCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingrab Beesewege 2022 02.jpgRonny UeckermannCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Großsteingrab Bülitz1.0 km NE
- Großsteingräber bei Kläden2.6 km E
- Großsteingrab Hohenwulsch-Friedrichsfleiß2.7 km NE
- Großsteingrab Steinfeld5.7 km SE
- Großsteingrab Schernikau9.6 km E
- Großsteingrab Späningen10 km N
- Großsteingrab Lindstedt11 km SW
- Großsteingrab Dolchau13 km NW
- Großsteingräber bei Bretsch21 km N
- Large Stone Tombs at Dewitz22 km N
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Großsteingräber bei Beesewege" (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