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Passage tomb (passage grave)The Copper Age
Firse Sten
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
Photo Achird · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
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Overview
About this site
Overview
Firse Sten (also Fisse Sten) is a strictly geometric passage grave (Swedish ganggrift) south of Falköping in the province of Västergötland, Sweden. It was built between 3500 and 2800 BC as a megalithic monument of the Funnel Beaker culture and was excavated in 2008.
The chamber was reused in the Bronze Age for later burials, and a stone cist was built inside the passage from stones of the passage itself.
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
Firse Sten
A long, narrow passage built of thin slabs leads centrally into a rectangular chamber made of massive blocks, which has lost its capstones.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument is oriented north-west to south-east. A long, narrow passage built of thin slabs leads centrally into a rectangular chamber made of massive blocks, which has lost its capstones. The remains of the mound have a diameter of 25 to 30 m and a height of 0.7 to 1.3 m. A passage grave is a form of Neolithic megalithic monument consisting of a chamber and a structurally distinct lateral passage.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
The investigation showed that a stone cist had been built in the passage from stones of the passage. It contained three burials, among them that of a small child. At the end of the Stone Age it was not unusual for parts of older monuments to be used to build cists.
Human and animal bones and flint flakes were found. Two bronze razors and a pair of tweezers show that the monument was used for later burials during the Bronze Age. In front of the monument a buckle, a dagger blade and a bronze sword pommel were found.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
After the investigations were completed, the chamber and passage were filled with gravel to prevent them from collapsing and from becoming overgrown again.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
In Denmark and Sweden the passage grave is the grandest form of the Funnel Beaker culture’s megalithic tombs. 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. This kind of grave is found primarily in Denmark, Germany and Scandinavia, and only occasionally in France and the Netherlands.
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
Photographs
3 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 passage tombs in Sweden; this site has not been dated itself. Swedish passage graves belong to the Nordic megalith tradition which emerged predominantly between 3500 and 2800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Sweden
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 58°09′11″ N, 13°34′07″ EFor a GPS or map app: 58.15302, 13.56865
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.
Falköping 7:12000–500 BCE
Falköpings östra 5:12000–500 BCE- MegalithFalköpings östra 6:12000–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Falköpings östra 7:12000 BCE–1050 CE
Falköping 5:22000–500 BCE- Stone circleFalköpings östra 3:12000 BCE–800 CE
Åttagårdens gånggrift3500–2800 BCE- MegalithKarleby 1:12000–500 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q15212988wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Firse Sten" (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): Firse StenCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q15212988CC0