Passage tomb (passage grave)The Copper Age
Bredagergård
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
Bredagergård is a passage grave of the Neolithic Northern Group of the Funnel Beaker culture, in Krogstrup parish, Frederikssund Municipality, Denmark. It is a protected ancient monument, dated by typological estimate to between 3500 and 2800 BCE.
A round mound about 8 m in diameter covers an oval chamber, about 3.9 m long, of which ten of the original eleven wall stones survive.
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
Bredagergård
Only about 30 m to the north, on the other side of the road, stood the megalithic tomb Onsved Marker 1, which was destroyed in 1872.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab BredagergårdCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab BredagergårdCC BY-SA 4.0
The grave lies east of the farm Bredagergaard, south of the access road. Only about 30 m to the north, on the other side of the road, stood the megalithic tomb Onsved Marker 1, which was destroyed in 1872. There are, or were, numerous other megalithic tombs in the surroundings.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab BredagergårdCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab BredagergårdCC BY-SA 4.0
The mound is round, with a diameter of about 8 m and a height of 1 m. Several stones of the kerb survive.
The chamber is classed as a passage grave. It is oriented north-east to south-west and has an oval plan, about 3.9 m long and about 2.7 m wide. It originally consisted of eleven wall stones, of which ten survive; the stone at the south-western corner is missing. Only one capstone survives, and it lies displaced inside the chamber. The entrance is in the middle of the south-eastern long side, and in front of it lies a passage oriented north-west to south-east, with a width of about 0.5 m.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab BredagergårdCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab BredagergårdCC BY-SA 4.0
Staff of the National Museum of Denmark documented the site in 1873 and 1942, and staff of the Forest and Nature Agency carried out a further documentation in 1989.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab BredagergårdCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Großsteingrab BredagergårdCC BY-SA 4.0
In Denmark and Sweden the passage grave is the grandest form of the Funnel Beaker culture's megalithic tombs. A passage grave has a chamber under a mound, entered by a long passage of large stones. Passage graves are one of the main types of Nordic megalith architecture, which emerged mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Scandinavian passage graves
In Denmark and Sweden the passage grave is the grandest form of the Funnel Beaker culture's megalithic tombs. A passage grave has a chamber under a mound, entered by a long passage of large stones. Nordic megalith architecture, the style of Scandinavia and northern Germany, emerged mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE, and passage graves are one of its main types alongside dolmens, long barrows and stone cists.
Kong Asgers Høj on the Danish island of Møn is one of the best known. Its chamber is 10 metres long and 2 metres wide, with a passage 7.5 metres long. This kind of grave is found primarily in Denmark, Germany and Scandinavia, and only occasionally in France and the Netherlands. The tomb is structurally untouched since ancient times, though it may have been cleared at some time, and it was reused for secondary burial in the Corded Ware period. Passage graves were often used for generations. At Frälsegården in Sweden, genetic analysis of several dozen buried individuals suggests that the dead were largely male descendants of one ancestor, with women who had married in from outside, so such a tomb could belong to an extended family.
The passage grave tradition is thought to have originated in Brittany and been spread to other regions by colonists, a view found in the wider literature but one that remains debated.
Dating of Scandinavian tombs relies on the pottery of the Funnel Beaker culture and on radiocarbon dates from bone.
When visiting, look at the size of the capstones over the chamber, the kerbstones around the mound, and the line of the passage.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Passage grave, Wikipedia: Nordic megalith architecture, Wikipedia: Funnel beaker culture, Wikipedia: Kong Asgers Høj · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1872
Nur etwa 30 m nördlich des Standorts befand sich nördlich des Wegs das 1872 zerstörte Großsteingrab Onsved Marker 1. In der näheren Umgebung gibt bzw. gab es zahlreiche weitere megalithische Grabanlagen.
Source - 1873
In den Jahren 1873 und 1942 führten Mitarbeiter des Dänischen Nationalmuseums Dokumentationen der Fundstelle durch.
Source - 1989
Eine weitere Dokumentation erfolgte 1989 durch Mitarbeiter der Forst- und Naturbehörde.
Source
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 passage tombs in Denmark; this site has not been dated itself. Danish passage graves belong to the Nordic megalith tradition which emerged predominantly between 3500 and 2800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Denmark
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 55°46′48″ N, 11°59′17″ EFor a GPS or map app: 55.77989, 11.98795
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 mound (tumulus with integral stones)Pagterold Hovedgård3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic long barrowOnsved Marker3500–2800 BCE
- Passage tomb (passage grave)Klangdys3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Lakkedysbakke3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Store Høj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Julianehøj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Maglehøj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Klemmehøj3500–500 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q30146918wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Großsteingrab Bredagergård" (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