Großsteingrab Qualitz
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
Photo Stefan Ahlswede · CC BY 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The passage grave of Qualitz (Ganggrab von Qualitz; Großsteingrab Qualitz) is a megalithic tomb at Baumgarten-Qualitz near Bützow, in the district of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It lies in a round mound of cobbles, is oriented north to south, and was built between 3500 and 2800 BCE as a megalithic monument of the Funnel Beaker culture. It is catalogued as Sprockhoff no. 371.
Its chamber, about 11.5 m long, is the longest excavated chamber in Mecklenburg. The monument was excavated and reconstructed in 1966 by Ewald Schuldt.
Read on Wikipedia2 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 Qualitz
The tomb stands in a field, under a tree, north of the track between the places Katelbogen and Qualitz.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb stands in a field, under a tree, north of the track between the places Katelbogen and Qualitz. About 130 m further to the north-east, in a conspicuous group of trees, lies the megalithic tomb of Katelbogen.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
The chamber is about 11.5 m long, 1.4 m high and 2.5 m wide. Of its construction, all of the roughly 20 supporting stones and six capstones are preserved. All the stones of the passage are missing; the passage joined the chamber on the east side, laterally at the centre of the long side.
Two of the capstones carry cup marks, five on one and 122 on the other.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb was excavated and reconstructed in 1966 by Ewald Schuldt. The archaeological investigation showed that the monument had been reused by the bearers of the Single Grave culture and of the Globular Amphora culture.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
Besides charcoal, human bones and 38 potsherds, the excavation produced seven blades, six transverse arrowheads, three amber beads, two flat axes, two bowls, one wide-mouthed vessel, a sandstone disc, a tall pot, a funnel bowl, a Single Grave beaker and a thick-butted axe.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
The megalithic tombs of northern Germany and the Netherlands were built by the Funnel Beaker culture (about 4100 to 2800 BCE). The style, called Nordic megalith architecture, emerged between 3500 and 2800 BCE.
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.
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
- 2800 BCE
371. Die Anlage entstand zwischen 3500 und 2800 v. Chr. als Megalithanlage der Trichterbecherkultur (TBK).
Source - 1966
Das Ganggrab von Qualitz ist ein nord-süd orientiertes, 1966 von Ewald Schuldt ausgegrabenes und rekonstruiertes Ganggrab in einem runden Rollsteinhügel. mit der Sprockhoff-Nr.
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
4 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
- 53°50′10″ N, 11°51′04″ EFor a GPS or map app: 53.83610, 11.85100
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.
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1112701wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Großsteingrab Qualitz p2.jpgStefan AhlswedeCC BY 4.0
- Großsteingrab Qualitz p1.jpgStefan AhlswedeCC BY 4.0
- Großsteingrab Qualitz p3.jpgStefan AhlswedeCC BY 4.0
- Großsteingrab Qualitz p4.jpgStefan AhlswedeCC BY 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Großsteingrab Katelbogen0.2 km NE
- Großsteingrab Mankmoos 14.4 km SW
- Großsteingrab Mankmoos 24.5 km SW
- Großsteingrab Mankmoos 34.5 km SW
- Großsteingrab Rothenmoor 25.8 km SW
- Großsteingrab Rothenmoor 35.8 km SW
- Großsteingrab Rothenmoor 15.9 km SW
- Großsteingrab Groß Labenz 16.4 km SW
- Großsteingrab Zernin 36.9 km SE
- Megalithic tombs of Zernin7.0 km SE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ganggrab von Qualitz" (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): Ganggrab von QualitzCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1112701CC0