Oestringer Steine
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
Photo Sail over · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Oestringer Steine (Östringer Steine) I-III are three megalithic tombs of passage-grave type, mostly heavily damaged, in the Haste district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. They bear the Sprockhoff numbers 911-913 and were built between 3500 and 2800 BCE as megalithic monuments of the Funnel Beaker culture.
In 1987 the monuments were incorporated into the nature reserve Hochufer und Altarm der Nette am Oestringer Esch. All three were surrounded by oval stone kerbs, which survive only in part.
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
Oestringer Steine
Monument III is near the Östringer Mühle, while monuments I and II lie opposite, on the southern side of the road.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC BY-SA 4.0
The stones lie north of Dodesheide, on the road (Östringer Weg) from Rulle to Haste in the Nette valley. Monument III is near the Östringer Mühle, while monuments I and II lie opposite, on the southern side of the road. The Helmichsteine, the Schwedenschanze of Belm and the Wittekindsburg of Rulle are in the vicinity. The monuments are part of the Straße der Megalithkultur.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC BY-SA 4.0
All three were surrounded by oval kerbs of stones, which are now incomplete.
Östringer Steine I (Sprockhoff no. 913) is, according to Ernst Sprockhoff, a chamber sunk into the ground and about 15 metres long, similar in construction to the neighbouring monument II. The remains of nine capstones, some supporting stones and numerous kerbstones can still be seen.
Östringer Steine II (Sprockhoff no. 912) was originally more than 15 metres long and was surrounded by a kerb, of which numerous stones survive. No remains of a mound can be seen. Eight of the original 11 capstones remain, together with fragments of others, while most of the supporting stones are missing. The chamber was probably sunk into the ground. The stones at the eastern end recorded by Sprockhoff have disappeared.
Östringer Steine III (Sprockhoff no. 911) lies west of the farmstead, at the end of a hedge, behind a fence on private property, along a field track that leads north-east. It is heavily damaged. Sprockhoff assumed that the chamber originally had six capstones and measured 9.6 x 2.3 metres.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Earlier investigations found, among other things, an arrowhead, pottery with deep-stitch decoration and bone remains.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC 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.
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
911–913. Sie entstanden zwischen 3500 und 2800 v. Chr. als Megalithanlagen der Trichterbecherkultur (TBK).
Source - 911 CE
911 hinter einem Zaun auf dem Privatgrundstück.
Source - 912 CE
912 war von einer Einfassung umgeben, von der noch zahlreiche Steine erhalten sind.
Source - 913 CE
913 um eine in den Boden eingetiefte etwa 15 Meter lange Kammer, die vom Aufbau her ähnlich wie die benachbarten Steine II war.
Source - 1987
Die Anlagen wurden 1987 in das Naturschutzgebiet „Hochufer und Altarm der Nette am Oestringer Esch“ eingegliedert.
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
3 photographs, each with its author and licence
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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
- 52°18′54″ N, 8°04′53″ EFor a GPS or map app: 52.31500, 8.08139
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 Q2015295wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Oestringer Steine I–III" (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): Oestringer Steine I–IIICC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q2015295CC0