Großsteingrab Rastede
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
Photo Einsamer Schütze · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Großsteingrab Rastede, also called Alte Kapelle, is a megalithic tomb of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture near the municipality of Rastede in the district of Ammerland, Lower Saxony, Germany. It bears Sprockhoff number 924 and is dated to 3500–2800 BCE.
It is a passage grave in a poor state of preservation, since most of its stones were removed in the 19th century.
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 Rastede
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab RastedeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab RastedeCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb lies south of Rastede, in the farming district (Bauerschaft) of Wahnbek, west of the Geestrandgraben, in a field.
Two wall stones remain in situ on the northern long side and one on the southern long side, together with the wall stone of the eastern end.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab RastedeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab RastedeCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb is of the passage grave type and is oriented north-west to south-east. The burial chamber lies in a flat mound and is about 4 m long and about 1.6 m wide.
Two wall stones remain in situ on the northern long side and one on the southern long side, together with the wall stone of the eastern end. The western wall stone of the passage, on the south side of the chamber, is also preserved, and a further stone lies at the edge of the mound. All the other stones were used in the 19th century to build the grand-ducal monument at Schloss Rastede.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab RastedeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab RastedeCC 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), and the style, called Nordic megalith architecture, emerged between 3500 and 2800 BCE. After the Funnel Beaker culture ended, such sites were reused by the Single Grave and Bell Beaker cultures in the Early Bronze Age.
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
- 924 CE
Es trägt die Sprockhoff-Nummer 924.
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°12′10″ N, 8°16′03″ EFor a GPS or map app: 53.20267, 8.26761
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.
Megalithic stones of Steinkimmen3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingrab Steenberg3500–2800 BCEPhoto: Travus ( talk ) 10:41, 26 May 2012 (UTC) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Großsteingrab Stenum3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingräber bei Huntlosen3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingrab Meyenburg3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingräber bei Lehnstedt3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingräber bei Heine3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingrab Lehnstedt 23500–2500 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q14568733wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Großsteingrab Rastede 08.JPGEinsamer SchützeCC BY-SA 3.0
- Großsteingrab Rastede 01.JPGEinsamer SchützeCC BY-SA 3.0
- NLD Großsteingrab Rastede 01.jpgKinder, Niedersächsisches Landesamt für DenkmalpflegeCC BY-SA 4.0
- NLD Großsteingrab Rastede 02.jpgKinder, Niedersächsisches Landesamt für DenkmalpflegeCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Megalithic stones of Steinkimmen21 km SE
- Großsteingrab Steenberg23 km S
- Großsteingrab Stenum24 km SE
- Großsteingräber bei Huntlosen25 km S
- Großsteingrab Meyenburg25 km E
- Großsteingräber bei Lehnstedt26 km E
- Großsteingräber bei Heine27 km E
- Großsteingrab Lehnstedt 228 km NE
- Steingrab Egypten28 km S
- Großsteingrab Dötlingen30 km S
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Großsteingrab Rastede" (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): Großsteingrab RastedeCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q14568733CC0