Passage tomb (passage grave)The Copper Age
Drysagerdys
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
The passage grave Drysagerdys (also Rævehøj), south-east of Dalby Huse, is a double passage grave (Danish dobbeltjættestue) in a remnant mound about 1.5 m high, in Hornsherred on the Danish island of Zealand. It was built between 3500 and 2800 BCE as a megalithic monument of the Funnel Beaker culture.
Its north-south oriented chambers are among the largest in Denmark. One of the two has a side chamber, which is extremely rare among the 57 preserved double passage graves of Denmark; the only other example named is Gundestrup 2.
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
Drysagerdys
The remains of the side chamber lie in the middle of the west side of the chamber, opposite the mouth of the passage.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab DrysagerdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab DrysagerdysCC BY-SA 4.0
The two chambers lie side by side and have two shared supporting stones.
The rectangular north chamber is about 13.2 m long and 1.8 m wide. It was built from 26 supporting stones, and only three of its capstones survive. The passage is only partly preserved. It consists of four supporting stones and is about 2.5 m long and 0.7 m wide. The remains of the side chamber lie in the middle of the west side of the chamber, opposite the mouth of the passage.
The rectangular south chamber is about 11.8 m long and 1.8 m wide. It consists of 15 supporting stones and four surviving capstones. The passage, which joins in the middle, is also only partly preserved. It consists of four supporting stones and is about 1.4 m long and 0.5 m wide.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab DrysagerdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab DrysagerdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Hardly any finds were made.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab DrysagerdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Ganggrab DrysagerdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Among the largest passage graves of Denmark are Listrup on Falster (at least 13 m), Kong Svends Høj on Lolland (12.3 m), Gundestrup 2 (12.0 m), the Rævehøj of Vester Egesborg (11.5 m) and Birkehøj (11 m), both on Zealand, and Jordehøj and Kong Asger Høj on Møn and Mårhøj on Funen (10 m each). In Sweden longer chambers occur only in Falbygden, for example Ragnvalds Grab at 16 metres. In Germany (De hoogen Steener, 28 m) and in the Netherlands (for example D27 in Borger at 22.5 m and Havelte 1 at 18.0 m) the so-called Emsland chambers are in part substantially longer.
The passage grave of Vellerup and the megalithic grave Klingerbakke lie nearby.
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
- 2800 BCE
Das Ganggrab entstand zwischen 3500 und 2800 v. Chr. als Megalithanlage der Trichterbecherkultur (TBK).
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°48′15″ N, 11°57′41″ EFor a GPS or map app: 55.80403, 11.96137
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.
- DolmenKong Dyves Sten3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Maglehøj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Krogstrup3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Tranebjærgbakke3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Ordrup Marker3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Sobakkeskoven3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic long barrowSkedys3500–2800 BCE
- Passage tomb (passage grave)Klangdys3500–2800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q23927030wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ganggrab Drysagerdys" (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): Ganggrab DrysagerdysCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q23927030CC0