Großsteingräber bei Lütjenbrode
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
Photo Anni Alpers · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Großsteingräber bei Lütjenbrode are three megalithic tombs of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture near Lütjenbrode, a part of Großenbrode in the district of Ostholstein, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. They are typologically dated to 3500 to 2800 BCE and carry the Sprockhoff numbers 265–267.
The group comprises a probable great dolmen, a heavily disturbed chamber on a round mound, and a passage grave of the Holsteiner Kammer subtype.
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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
Großsteingräber bei Lütjenbrode
SettingSources for this section
Sources for this section
Grave 1 lies north of Lütjenbrode in a field close to the Baltic Sea shore. Graves 2 and 3 lie 1.6 km east-north-east of it, also close to the shore and directly beside a path. Grave 3 is 60 m east of grave 2. The Großsteingräber bei Großenbrode lie 2.6 km north-east of grave 3.
Adjoining the two eastern wall stones is a pair of smaller stones whose exact function is unclear.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
Grave 1 has an oval mound aligned east to west, 10 m long and 5.5 m wide, with a preserved height of 1.5 m. The chamber, also aligned east to west, is probably a great dolmen about 5.5 m long and 1.3 m wide, with five pairs of wall stones on the long sides. The end stones on the narrow sides and the probably five cover stones are missing. Adjoining the two eastern wall stones is a pair of smaller stones whose exact function is unclear.
Grave 2 has a round mound with a diameter of 10 m and a preserved height of 0.7 m. On it lie seven stones of a heavily disturbed chamber, perhaps aligned east to west. Five of the stones appear to be fragments of blasted cover stones, and two were interpreted by Sprockhoff as possible wall stones. The exact dimensions and type of the chamber cannot be determined without an excavation.
Grave 3 has a slightly oval mound 10 m long and 9 m wide. The chamber, aligned east to west, is a passage grave of the Holsteiner Kammer subtype, 5.5 m long and 1.5 m wide. Four wall stones on the northern long side and five on the southern, the eastern end stone and one stone north-west of the chamber that cannot be precisely identified are preserved. The eastern end stone and the four adjoining wall stones of the south side still stand in situ. The fifth stone of the south side has been blasted and has fallen, the northern wall stones are displaced, and the western end stone is missing.
Of the probably four original cover stones, Sprockhoff in 1933 could identify only a large fragment of the easternmost one, lying outside the chamber; this has since disappeared. The second and third wall stones of the south side are set transversely and form the original entrance, preceded by a passage with one pair of wall stones. No cover stone survives there. The passage is 2 m long and 0.6 m wide.
ContextSources for this section
Sources for this section
Nordic megalith architecture emerged in northern Europe mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE, and the monuments are classed by type as simple dolmens, extended dolmens, passage graves, great dolmens, unchambered long barrows and stone cists.
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
- 1933
Von den ursprünglich wohl vier Decksteinen konnte Sprockhoff 1933 nur noch ein außerhalb der Kammer liegendes großes Bruchstück des östlichsten feststellen.
Source
Photographs
8 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 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
- 54°22′12″ N, 11°02′29″ EFor a GPS or map app: 54.37007, 11.04133
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.
Langbett Krausort3500–2800 BCE
Alversteen3500–2800 BCE
Dolmen of Wulfen3500–2800 BCE- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Siggen3500–2800 BCE
- MegalithGroßsteingrab Siggen3500–2500 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingräber bei Süssau3500–2800 BCE
Eiskellerberg bei Siggeneben3500–2500 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Putlos VIII3500–2800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q65952668wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Großsteingrab bei Lütjenbrode - Grab 2 Ansicht Nordseite 1.jpgAnni AlpersCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingrab bei Lütjenbrode - Grab 2 Ansicht Ostseite.jpgAnni AlpersCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingrab bei Lütjenbrode - Grab 2 Detailansicht 1.jpgAnni AlpersCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingrab bei Lütjenbrode - Grab 2 Detailansicht 2.jpgAnni AlpersCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingrab bei Lütjenbrode - Grab 2 und 3 Ansicht Südostseite.jpgAnni AlpersCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingrab bei Lütjenbrode - Grab 3 Ansicht Nordseite.jpgAnni AlpersCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingräber bei Lütjenbrode - Grab 1 Ansicht auf dem Grabhügel.jpgAnni.alpersCC BY-SA 4.0
- Großsteingräber bei Lütjenbrode - Grab 1 Ansicht Nordseite.jpgAnni.alpersCC BY-SA 4.0
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Großsteingräber bei Lütjenbrode" (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