Nældemose
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 long dolmen (langdysse) of Nældemose, also called Nellermose, lies on the shore south-west of Nældemose on the island of Funen, Denmark. It is a megalithic monument of the Funnel Beaker culture, dating from the Neolithic, about 3500 to 2800 BCE. It stands very close to an eroding cliff.
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
Nældemose
0 m north of the chamber in the forest floor, and two stones lie on the beach directly below the chamber.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Langdysse von NældemoseCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Langdysse von NældemoseCC BY-SA 4.0
The rectangular chamber is oriented west to east and sunk into the ground. It belongs to the closed type of early dolmen (Urdolmen) and is about 1.9 m long and 0.8 m wide. It is made of six stones, two on each long side and one at each end. The capstone or capstones are missing. After an excavation in 1951 the chamber floor lay about 0.7 m below ground level.
About 5.0 m west of the chamber three large stones form a north-south row about 4.0 m long; they are presumably kerbstones at the western end of a vanished long bed (Hünenbett). Another possible kerbstone lies about 5.0 m north of the chamber in the forest floor, and two stones lie on the beach directly below the chamber. About 5.0 m east of the chamber a recess can be seen in which an upright kerbstone with a split face directed to the south stands. This could be the remains of a second chamber.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Langdysse von NældemoseCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Langdysse von NældemoseCC BY-SA 4.0
In 1987 the chamber lay only about 4.0 m from the edge of the eroded cliff, which had receded by 6.0 m since 1954. With the erosion unchanged at 1.0 m every five years, a fall of the chamber within twenty years was expected in 1987. The existing state was nevertheless still found during a periodic inspection in 2018.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Langdysse von NældemoseCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Langdysse von NældemoseCC BY-SA 4.0
The dolmens of Dreslette and the long dolmen Vielandshøj lie nearby. Denmark's megalithic tombs belong to the Funnel Beaker culture of the fourth millennium BCE and fall into two main kinds, dolmens (dysser) and the larger passage graves.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Danish dolmens and passage graves (dysser and jættestuer)
Denmark's megalithic tombs belong to the Funnel Beaker culture of the fourth millennium BCE. They fall into two main kinds, dolmens (dysser) and the larger passage graves, with a long passage leading into a chamber. Nordic megalith architecture, the style found especially in Scandinavia and northern Germany, emerged mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE. In Scandinavia the sites are classed under general terms such as dolmens, passage graves and stone cists, in contrast with the many subtypes of the German tradition.
The great passage graves show how large these tombs could be. Kong Svends Høj on the island of Lolland is a large rectangular mound surrounded by kerbstones about 1.5 metres high, among the tallest recorded in a Neolithic tomb, and covers a chamber 12.5 metres long; the gable stones are almost 4 metres high. Excavation was first attempted there in 1780. Kong Asgers Høj on Møn has a chamber 10 metres long and 2 metres wide with a passage 7.5 metres long, and it was reused for secondary burial in the Corded Ware period. In 1839 the merchant Gustav Hage opened it hoping for treasure and found it empty.
Folklore: the king's names given to these graves come from later tradition and have nothing to do with the Neolithic builders. They show how people over the centuries explained monuments they could not date.
Dating combines radiocarbon dates on bone and charcoal in the chambers, pottery and the architecture. Many dolmens have lost their mounds, leaving the stone skeleton.
When visiting, look for the kerbstones around the base, the capstone and its supports, and the passage entrance.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Nordic megalith architecture, Wikipedia: Funnel beaker culture, Wikipedia: Kong Svends Høj, Wikipedia: Kong Asgers Høj, Wikipedia: Dolmen · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 2800 BCE
Er stammt aus der Jungsteinzeit etwa 3500 bis 2800 v. Chr. und ist eine Megalithanlage der Trichterbecherkultur (TBK).
Source - 1951
Der Kammerboden liegt nach der Ausgrabung von 1951 etwa 0,7 m unter dem Bodenniveau.
Source - 1987
Die Kammer des Langdysse lag 1987 nur etwa 4,0 m vom Rand der erodierten Klippe, die sich seit 1954 um 6,0 m verlagert hatte.
Source - 1987
Bei einem unveränderten Abbau von 1,0 m in je fünf Jahren wurde 1987 mit einem Absturz der Kammer innerhalb von zwanzig Jahren gerechnet.
Source - 2018
Die bisherige Zustand wurde allerdings noch 2018 bei einer periodischen Begehung angetroffen.
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
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 dolmens in Denmark; this site has not been dated itself. Danish dolmens (dysser) 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°10′35″ N, 10°03′44″ EFor a GPS or map app: 55.17642, 10.06218
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)Strærup Skovhaver3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Tokelhaver3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Tokkelhaver3500–500 BCE
- DolmenSmørhaver3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Sandhaver3500–500 BCE
Snave Dyssekammer3500–2800 BCE- DolmenDamsbo3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Damsbo3500–500 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q29470332wikidata.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 "Langdysse von Nældemose" (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