Großsteingrab Osterode am Fallstein
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
Photo Theodor Voges (1845-1934) · Public domainSource file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Großsteingrab Osterode am Fallstein was a megalithic tomb of the Late Neolithic Bernburg culture near Osterode am Fallstein, a district of Osterwieck in the Landkreis Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was destroyed in the 19th century. The catalogue record gives a typological estimate of 3500 to 2800 BCE.
The tomb was a sunken chamber oriented east to west. According to the miller who helped to uncover it, it contained 20 human skeletons.
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 Osterode am Fallstein
The tomb lay north of the Fallstein between the villages of Osterode and Veltheim am Fallstein, about 200 paces west of the Steinmühle on the slope of the Eulenberg.
SettingSources for this section
Sources for this section
The tomb lay north of the Fallstein between the villages of Osterode and Veltheim am Fallstein, about 200 paces west of the Steinmühle on the slope of the Eulenberg. Not far from its site is a deserted settlement called Steine, Stene or Stenem.
Research historySources for this section
Sources for this section
The tomb, which was sunk into the ground, was discovered in 1867 by a farmer while ploughing. Together with the miller Schmidt, the farmer uncovered it and cleared it away. In the process the burial chamber was ransacked and the skeletons and grave goods were smashed.
Shortly after the clearance the tomb was visited by J. Grote, Reichsfreiherr zu Schauen, who published a report. In the following year it was visited by the Brunswick cathedral preacher Thiele, who found it still partly preserved.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
According to Grote's description, the tomb was an east-west oriented sunken chamber grave 14 paces (Schritt) long and 7 paces wide. It probably had five capstones. Grote found the northern long side still intact; it consisted of seven wall stones, each four feet high, of locally occurring rock. Thiele called it a double grave, which suggests a transverse wall within the chamber.
FindsSources for this section
Sources for this section
According to the miller Schmidt, 20 human skeletons were found in the chamber. They were oriented to the east and lay in groups of three to six individuals. The grave goods comprised several small pottery vessels placed beside the dead, a larger vessel containing ash, and a further ceramic object, probably a spindle whorl. When Grote examined the remains he found only broken human bones, potsherds and a horse's tooth.
The only surviving finds are three small pottery vessels, which allow the tomb to be assigned to the Bernburg culture. The first was rescued by the cantor Walkhof of Osterode and is now in the Harzmuseum in Wernigerode. The second was acquired by Thiele and is now in the Landesmuseum in Braunschweig. It is two-part, with a carination just above the base, a conical neck and two opposed, vertically perforated lugs. Its decoration is executed in furrow stitch and filled with a white material. It consists of a double row of stitches above the base, a zigzag band of three stitches above it, and a zigzag band of six stitches at the level of the lugs, each with two stitches in the upper angles, as well as one horizontal and seven vertical strokes beneath the lugs. Hans-Jürgen Beier also mentions a third vessel.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Megalithic tombs of the North European Plain
Across the plain from the Netherlands to Poland, the Funnel Beaker culture left thousands of megalithic tombs. Nordic megalith architecture emerged in northern Europe mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE. Counts have risen as surveys improved: Schleswig-Holstein now reports 3,212 megalithic monuments and 958 long mounds, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 5,991 megaliths (against 648 in 2010), and Lower Saxony 1,155. Altogether 11,162 megaliths are known in these three regions, and with Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt the figure for northern Germany rises to 11,648. Denmark has 5,001 registered monuments, the Netherlands 101, Sweden 639 and Poland 18. Johannes Müller has suggested that originally more than 75,000 megaliths were built.
Monuments are classed by type: simple dolmens, extended dolmens, passage graves, great dolmens, unchambered long barrows and stone cists. The oldest are the simple dolmens, which appeared around 3500 BCE and are found across almost the whole area of Nordic megalith architecture. Their entrances were built to be reopened. A megalithic entrance had to seal the tomb, yet allow the community to gain access to the interior again, even after a long time, to perform rituals.
In the Netherlands the hunebedden were built between 3470 and 3250 BCE and used until about 2760 BCE; 54 of the original 100 survive, 52 of them in Drenthe. Poland has only 18 registered monuments, and the long barrows in parts of Poland were typically earthen rather than megalithic.
Dating combines radiocarbon dates from bone and pottery. The tombs were used by later cultures too, so a single tomb can hold remains from different periods.
When visiting, look at how the capstones sit on the supporting stones, how the entrance is built, and the frame of kerbstones around the mound.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Nordic megalith architecture, Wikipedia: Megaliths in the Netherlands, Wikipedia: Funnel beaker culture, Wikipedia: Megaliths in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1867
Das in die Erde eingetiefte Grab wurde 1867 von einem Bauern beim Pflügen entdeckt.
Source
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
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 megalithic tombs in Germany; this site has not been dated itself. German stone tombs (Grosssteingraber) 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°02′16″ N, 10°42′03″ EFor a GPS or map app: 52.03766, 10.70076
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.
Meescheberg3500–500 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Menhir von Wasserleben2800–1800 BCE
Tumulus von Evessen3500–500 BCE- DolmenMegalithanlage auf dem Hillah3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic tombKammer von Liebenburg3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic tombSteinkammer im Adamshai3500–2800 BCE
Menhir von Benzingerode2800–1800 BCE
Menhir von Derenburg2800–1800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q22693389wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Voges Großsteingrab Osterode am Fallstein Funde 2.jpgTheodor Voges (1845-1934)Public domain
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Großsteingrab Osterode am Fallstein" (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