Megalith (abstract root)The Copper Age
Reinfeld Steingrab
DatedEst. 3500–2500 BCE
Photo Kasperky · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Reinfeld Steingrab is a megalith in Reinfeld, Germany. It lies at 53.8451° N, 10.4819° E.
Catalogue recordSources and licences
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
Reinfeld Steingrab
ContextSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
In the German north-east, the Funnel Beaker (TRB) people raised up to 5,000 megalith tombs in what is now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. More than 1,000 are preserved and protected by law, and 144 have been excavated since 1945. They were erected between 3500 and 3200 BCE in a short time period of about 200 years, or seven generations, with the oldest dating to phase C of the Early Neolithic and most built at the beginning of the Middle Neolithic. The tombs were made of glacial erratic boulders, with the gaps filled with red sandstone. The regional background, “Großsteingräber of northern Germany”, is given below.
DatingSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
No scientific date has been published for this site. Monuments of this type in Germany are generally dated 3500 BCE to 2500 BCE; the site itself may fall inside or outside that range.
German megaliths (Huengrab) are placed at c. 3500 BC in central and south-west Germany and c. 3400 BC in northern and central Germany.
Setting
2 other recorded monuments lie within 10 km (1 within 1 km, 2 within 5 km). In Reinfeld, Germany, 1 of the 1 recorded monuments are of this type.
The nearest recorded monuments are Großsteingrab Reinfeld (0.0 km north, megalithic tomb); Großsteingrab Dahmsdorf (4.8 km north-east, megalithic tomb); Großsteingrab Kastorf (12.6 km south, megalithic tomb); Großsteingrab Tralau (13.0 km west, dolmen).
ProtectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
No heritage designation is recorded for the site.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Großsteingräber of northern Germany
In the German north-east, the Funnel Beaker (TRB) people raised up to 5,000 megalith tombs in what is now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. More than 1,000 are preserved and protected by law, and 144 have been excavated since 1945. They were erected between 3500 and 3200 BCE in a short time period of about 200 years, or seven generations, with the oldest dating to phase C of the Early Neolithic and most built at the beginning of the Middle Neolithic. The tombs were made of glacial erratic boulders, with the gaps filled with red sandstone.
Many lie in groups, and the Atlas records some clusters under a single name. On Rügen the Lancken-Granitz dolmens are a group of seven tombs used by the Funnelbeaker culture, some of them until the early Bronze Age; three are encircled by rectangles or a stone circle of solitary rocks, and one has a "guardian stone" on its east side. One of them has six compartments, an unusually high number. In 1969 the tombs were assessed archaeologically, and Stone Age and Bronze Age grave goods were retrieved.
The Necropolis of Soderstorf in Lower Saxony shows the long use of such places: the site was used for more than 2,000 years and has a megalithic tomb of 3500 to 2800 BCE, excavated in 1883, with an inner chamber of 6.2 by 1.65 metres still covered by a mound, as well as a tumulus tomb, a stone circle and urn burials.
Folklore: in the region the dolmens are called Hünengräber, "giants' tombs", from the old idea that giants lay in them.
When visiting, look for the clusters of tombs, for the frame of the kerb, and for the placement of the entrance.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Megaliths in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Wikipedia: Lancken-Granitz dolmens, Wikipedia: Necropolis of Soderstorf, Wikipedia: Simple dolmen, Wikipedia: Megalithic entrance · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3500–2500 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megaliths in Germany; this site has not been dated itself. German megaliths (Huengrab) are placed at c. 3500 BC in central and south-west Germany and c. 3400 BC in northern and central Germany.Source for this date
Where it stands
Germany
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 53°50′42″ N, 10°28′55″ EFor a GPS or map app: 53.84510, 10.48190
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 tombGroßsteingrab Reinfeld3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Dahmsdorf3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Kastorf3500–2800 BCE
- DolmenGroßsteingrab Tralau3500–2800 BCE
Großsteingrab Blankensee3500–2800 BCE- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Groß Rönnau3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Grabhügel bei Högersdorf-Rotenhahn3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic tombGroßsteingrab Fahrenkrug3500–2800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q56836278wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Großsteingrab Reinfeld<0.1 km N
- Großsteingrab Dahmsdorf4.8 km NE
- Großsteingrab Kastorf13 km S
- Großsteingrab Tralau13 km W
- Großsteingrab Blankensee16 km SE
- Großsteingrab Groß Rönnau17 km NW
- Grabhügel bei Högersdorf-Rotenhahn18 km NW
- Großsteingrab Fahrenkrug18 km NW
- Großsteingrab Sirksfelde19 km S
- Dolmen von Wittenborn19 km NW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Compiled from open records (Wikidata, CC0; OpenStreetMap, ODbL) and a regional background article based on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Wikidata Q56836278CC0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0