Harhoog

The Harhoog is a dolmen, a rectangular megalithic tomb of the Funnelbeaker culture, located near Keitum on the island of Sylt in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It was discovered in 1925 and moved to its present site in 1954, when a new airport was developed.

The megalithic Harhoog burial chambers were originally located near the mud-flats between Keitum and Tinnum. The stones were moved to the area near the Tipkenhoog on the coast near Keitum when Sylt Airport was under development. The chambers contain parallel and transverse sections.

The graves at Harhoog are dated to the Neolithic and belonged to ancient settlements of the island's Funnelbeaker culture, probably around 3000 BC. There were once around 600 such graves on the island, but only about half of them still exist. The tombs are built with large, rough stone slabs, one or more, arranged in different patterns.

Under Ernst Sprockhoff's six-category classification, the Harhoog is an extended dolmen; the other five types are simple dolmen, great dolmen, passage grave, long barrow (without a burial chamber) and cist. The monument was discovered in 1925 during earth excavations for the construction of the Hindenburgdamm, but was only inspected archaeologically in 1936.

Further north, long barrows took their own form. In Denmark and southern Sweden they typically used stone, and in the Netherlands and northern Germany they also used stone where it was available. They belong to the Funnel Beaker culture, and the architecture of Scandinavia and northern Germany, called Nordic megalith architecture, appeared mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE. The purpose of early Neolithic long barrows is not known.

The megalithic Harhoog burial chambers were originally located near the mud-flats between Keitum and Tinnum. The stones were moved to the area near the Tipkenhoog on the coast near Keitum in 1954, when Sylt Airport was under development.

The chambers contain parallel and transverse sections.