Passage tomb (passage grave)The Copper Age
Magsdys
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
Magsdys, also recorded as Østre Magsdys, is a passage grave in Ferslev parish, Frederikssund Municipality, Denmark. It is a megalithic tomb of the northern group of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture and is dated to between 3500 and 2800 BCE on typological grounds.
The round mound is 25 m in diameter and 3.5 m high, and is built of earth mixed with stones and flint fragments. It has been protected since 1810.
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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
Magsdys
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb lies south-east of Baunehøj, in a field. A few metres to the north-west stood the now destroyed passage grave Vestre Magsdys. There are, or were, numerous other megalithic tombs in the immediate surroundings.
A larger depression can be seen in its eastern part and a smaller one in its western part.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
The mound is round, with a diameter of 25 m and a height of 3.5 m. No stone kerb can be made out. The mound consists of earth mixed with stones and flint fragments. A larger depression can be seen in its eastern part and a smaller one in its western part.
The chamber lies in the northern part of the mound and is classed as a passage grave. It is between 5 m and 5.5 m long and between 1.9 m and 2.2 m wide. Its wall stones are completely hidden within the mound. Only two capstones of the chamber and two capstones of the passage are visible.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument was placed under protection in 1810. Staff of the Danish National Museum documented the site in 1873 and 1942, and staff of the forestry and nature authority documented it again in 1989.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
In Denmark and Sweden the passage grave is the grandest form of the Funnel Beaker culture's megalithic tombs. It 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.
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
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°47′10″ N, 11°53′59″ EFor a GPS or map app: 55.78605, 11.89979
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)Bavnebakken3500–500 BCE
- Passage tomb (passage grave)Venslev Marker3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Store Mørkebjerg3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Store Mørkebjerg3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Venslev Marker3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Risbjerg3500–500 BCE
- Passage tomb (passage grave)Venslev Marker3500–2800 BCE
- Passage tomb (passage grave)Orkenspends Dys3500–2800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q30146856wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Østre Magsdys" (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): Østre MagsdysCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q30146856CC0