Tipkenhoog

The Tipkenhoog is a burial mound that stands in the immediate vicinity of the Harhoog in Keitum on the island of Sylt, in Germany. The catalogue classes it as a megalithic mound, a tumulus with integral stones, and gives a typological estimate for its date of between 3500 and 500 BCE. Little else is recorded about its structure, and no description of its size or stonework is available.

Local legend holds that the mound was the grave of the guardian of the Sylt Kämpen, the fighting giants. According to the story, this giant fell in battle against Danish invaders and was laid to rest in the Tipkenhoog. Tradition also says that a watchtower of the giant once stood on the spot.

Research excavations were carried out at the mound from 15 to 18 August 1870 by H. Hamelmann, but they produced no significant findings. In the summer of 1940 the hilltop was used as an observation post by the naval anti-aircraft artillery. In April 1982 the mound was restored by the Lions Club Sylt together with the State Office for Prehistory and Early History of Schleswig-Holstein.

Burial mounds are found across Germany, from the northern plain to the south. Those of the Middle Bronze Age give a whole culture its name, the Tumulus culture, which was dominant in Central Europe from about 1600 to 1300 BCE and buried its dead beneath mounds. The Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture that followed preferred cremation, and the Hallstatt culture of the Early Iron Age revived the great mound for chieftains. These facts describe the wider setting of such mounds rather than this particular one, whose builders and burials are not recorded.

Tipkenhoog is a megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones) in Sylt, Germany. A typological estimate: 3500 BCE to 500 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the German article "Tipkenhoog", shown in the original language.