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Hjälmars rör
Also known asHjelmars rör
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
Photo Achird · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Hjälmars rör is a passage grave of the Funnel Beaker culture on a hill beside Wetterlinsgatan, in an industrial area of Falköping in the Falbygden district of Västergötland, Sweden. It was built between 3500 and 2800 BCE, and its chamber is divided into 18 compartments.
The tomb is also known as Hjelmarsrör Ganggrift, Hjelmrör, Vetterlingsgården and Falköping 3:1. According to Karl Esaias Sahlström (1884–1964) it is among the oldest passage graves in Sweden.
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
Hjälmars rör
It is built of eight supporting stones and four capstones and lies half hidden in the earth mound.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Hjälmars rörCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Hjälmars rörCC BY-SA 4.0
The chamber has two bulging sides and two straight sides. It is built of eight supporting stones and four capstones and lies half hidden in the earth mound. It is entered from the south-east by a central passage, of which three capstones are visible. The chamber is 5.6 m long and 2.5 m wide at the middle. The mound has a diameter of about 22.0 m and a remaining height of one metre.
Inside the chamber 18 compartments were identified. They were separated only at the sides by dividing slabs, not completely.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Hjälmars rörCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Hjälmars rörCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb has been excavated twice. About 200 amber beads and human bones from the chamber survive, together with some sherds found outside it.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Hjälmars rörCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Hjälmars rörCC BY-SA 4.0
In Denmark and Sweden the passage grave is the grandest form of the megalithic tombs of the Funnel Beaker culture. A passage grave has a chamber under a mound, entered by a long passage of large stones. Nordic megalith architecture emerged mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE, and passage graves are one of its main types alongside dolmens, long barrows and stone cists.
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
Photographs
6 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°10′11″ N, 13°34′41″ EFor a GPS or map app: 58.16982, 13.57806
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.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q18018045wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Hjälmarsrör (Raä-nr Falköping 3-1) gånggrift 2167.jpgAchirdCC BY-SA 3.0
- Hjelmars rör (RAÄ-nr Falköping 3-1) 0438.jpgGunnar CreutzCC BY-SA 3.0
- Hjelmars rör (RAÄ-nr Falköping 3-1) 0441.jpgGunnar CreutzCC BY-SA 3.0
- Hjälmarsrör (Raä-nr Falköping 3-1) gånggrift 2163.jpgAchirdCC BY-SA 3.0
- Hjälmars rör - KMB - 16001000017223.jpgMårten SjöbeckPublic domain
- Hjälmars rör - KMB - 16001000017225.jpgMårten SjöbeckPublic domain
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Hjälmars rör" (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): Hjälmars rörCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q18018045CC0