Simple dolmen

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The development of the block cist (above left) into the simple dolmen with passage (below right)
Parallel and transversely-oriented dolmens
Simple dolmen in the Dammerstorf Forest (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
Simple dolmen near Grevesmühlen

The simple dolmen (

River Weser nor east of the River Oder and only once in Sweden
(Lejeby Laholm).

Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of neolithic communities. Their emergence and function serve as indicators of social development.[2]

Distinction between simple dolmens and stone cists

In many cases there is no clear distinction between simple dolmens and stone cists.

orthostats
). In simple dolmens the sidestones consist of rubble, in stone cists of slabs. Whether this was of relevance for neolithic people, remains questionable, because there are also combinations of both materials.

Evolution

Monte Bubbonia dolmen, Sicily

The smallest simple dolmens occur on the

megalithic tombs
fulfil his conditions, is still open to question. Also in Sicily, in recent years, are being found small dolmen monuments, because around the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the west coast of the Mediterranean island was caught up in a cultural wave (bringing the bell-shaped goblet) coming the Sardinian coast, which in turn had imported from the peninsula Iberica.[5]

Cava dei Servi dolmen, Sicily

You can follow the evolution of simple dolmens, which for the early builders was a learning process, and how, step by step, they met the demands placed on them at the time by producing ever more mature (and larger) solutions. This also applies to the development of simple dolmens into extended dolmens (also called rectangular dolmens), to its round variant, the polygonal dolmen, and to the great dolmens.

Block cists

The prototype of the simple dolmen is the so-called

block cist
, enclosed on all sides and dug into the ground. It has no entrance and is, once closed, difficult for the technically less skilled user to open and re-utilise. It was therefore only intended for a one-time use.

On the island of

River Eider
about 20% of the simple dolmens are covered by a circular mound.

Access

Initial progress - in terms of multiple use - was achieved by the creation of an

entrance. In examples that were still dug into the ground the entrance was (in Denmark and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) initially made through the roof - as, for example, at Barkvieren
. By dividing the ceiling into a large stone and a stone that could be lifted by hand, access from above was enabled. This variant, however, is not very widespread.

Breakdown of the 18 simple dolmens researched by Schuldt

This development path was abandoned in favour of options using other axes of entry. The simple dolmen was now buried less deeply and the upper half of one of the ends was used as access. This form can be found e.g. in the

orthostats
. This process shows the discovery of the stability of a three-point support system.

The always parallel-sided open simple dolmens are 2.2 to 2.6 metres long and 1.0 to 1.8 metres wide and slightly larger than the closed examples. For Schleswig-Holstein, the small chamber at

Plön county, (only 1.8 metres long x 0.5 metres wide) is, in this respect, an exception. Of the 20 simple dolmens in Schleswig-Holstein, 12 are sealed on all sides, five are classified as open at the end and the design of three (destroyed) simple dolmens cannot be determined. Of about 88 simple dolmens once found in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
there are still 51 survivors.

Subsequently, the first rectangular dolmens (Grammdorf in the municipality of Wangels) and passage graves (Deinste) were built, still sunk in pits. In the next step, the neolithic builders understood how to lay the foundation of the three or more supporting stones (which in simple dolmens were always placed on their longest sides) in such a way that their base of the structure could be closer to the surface of the ground. This higher positioning allowed a passage to be added that led into the chamber at ground level (below right). Now, however, a threshold stone was required that separated the chamber and the profane or secular passage (symbolically) from one another.

The effort was made to reduce the size of the slab covering the opening of the re-usable simple dolmen to one that could be manhandled by the settlement community. The simple dolmen with a passage evolved into the "extended dolmens", which are generally longer, usually have more than one capstone and - apart from the transitional types at Neu Gaarz, Bad Doberan county - have orthostats that stand on one of their two smallest faces, thus allowing the roof of the chamber to be higher.

Simple dolmens once lay within stone enclosures or under circular mounds, but many of these have been removed. The simple dolmen at Lindeskov on

Fyn lies within a 168-metre-long enclosure, the second longest in Denmark (after the Kardybdysse, 185 m). By comparison, the longest German enclosure measures 160 metres. In Poland, the length of one chamberless enclosure is 130 metres.[6]
In the Netherlands, researchers have only come across one site within an enclosure.

See also

  • Rock shelter – Shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff

References

  1. ^ Bakker, JA (1992). The Dutch Hunebedden, University of Michigan.
  2. ^ J. Müller In: Varia neolithica VI 2009 p. 15
  3. ^ Ewald Schuldt: Die Nekropole von Wollschow Kreis Pasewalk und das Problem der neolithischen Steinkisten in Mecklenburg In: Jahrbuch der Bodendenkmalpflege in Mecklenburg 1974 (1975) pp. 77–144
  4. ^ This detailed classification of dolmens into subtypes is only common in Germany. In the Netherlands and Poland these types do not occur. In Denmark and Sweden a distinction is only made between dolmens (Dysse, Döse) and passage graves. In Denmark the type of mound is used to distinguish dolmens in the nomenclature (Runddysse and Langdysse)
  5. ^ Salvatore Piccolo, Ancient Stones, op. cit., pp. 4 and 32.
  6. ^ Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde und Vorgeschichte Oldenburg J. A. Artymowski: Zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte Polens In: Altertümer aus Polen p. 11

Literature

  • Mamoun Fansa: Großsteingräber zwischen Weser und Ems. 3rd revised edition. Isensee, Oldenburg, 2000, (Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Nordwestdeutschland. Beiheft 33).
  • Salvatore Piccolo: Ancient Stones. The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily. Brazen Head Publishing, Thornham (UK), 2013, .
  • Michael Schmidt: Die alten Steine. Reisen zur Megalithkultur in Mitteleuropa. Hinstorff, Rostock, 1998, .
  • Jürgen E. Walkowitz: Das Megalithsyndrom. Europäische Kultplätze der Steinzeit. Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach, 2003, (Beiträge zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte Mitteleuropas. 36).