Overview
About this site
Overview
Tornby Dyssen (Danish Tornby Dysse), known in German as the Dolmen von Tornby, is the northernmost surviving dolmen in Denmark. It stands in a field seven kilometres south of Hirtshals, in Vendsyssel-Thy in Jutland, and dates from the Neolithic, about 3950 - 2801 BCE. It is a megalithic monument of the Funnel Beaker culture and a protected ancient monument in Denmark.
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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
Tornby Dyssen
A further stone, possibly a displaced supporting stone or the remains of a passage, lies a few metres away.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von TornbyCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von TornbyCC BY-SA 4.0
The dolmen has no passage today, and its mound has eroded. It consists of four supporting stones and one large capstone. A further stone, possibly a displaced supporting stone or the remains of a passage, lies a few metres away. The monument could be a polygonal dolmen, a type that is common in the region.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von TornbyCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Dolmen von TornbyCC BY-SA 4.0
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, which have 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.
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
- 2801 BCE
Er liegt in einem Feld, sieben Kilometer südlich von Hirtshals auf der Insel Vendsyssel-Thy in Jütland und stammt aus der Jungsteinzeit etwa 3950 - 2801 v. Chr. und ist eine Megalithanlage der Trichterbecherkultur (TBK).
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.
Photographs
2 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
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
- 57°32′10″ N, 9°56′30″ EFor a GPS or map app: 57.53611, 9.94161
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)Blomsterhøje3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Blomsterhøje3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Stendyssen3500–500 BCE
Hellekisten i Horne3500–2800 BCE- DolmenHorne3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Dalshøje3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Kringelhøj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Tofte3500–500 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1269335wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen von Tornby" (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): Dolmen von TornbyCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1269335CC0