The Oldendorfer Totenstatt is a group of six

burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

and

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

sites in Oldendorf north of Amelinghausen in the valley of the River Luhe in

Lüneburg district Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. It consists of dolmens (sites 1, 3 and 4) and

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

(sites 2, 5 and 6).

Sites 1, 3 and 4

*Site 1 is a 45 m long dolmen, most of which has been destroyed. *Site 3 is the remains of the earth embankment, still 43 m long. Most of its external stones are still there, either

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

or overturned. The chamber must have been located in the section that no longer exists. *Site 4 is an 80 m long dolmen. It originally had about 100 external stones, 14 of which are still in situ, the remainder were put back during its restoration (some with dry stone walling filling the gaps). The

passage grave A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or with stone, and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age, and are found largely in Wester ...

consisted of a roughly 8 m long chamber with 12 upright supporting stones and a pair of passageway stones. The original five capstones of the chamber as well as the capstone for the passage are missing. The location of the chamber in the dolmen is right at the end, likewise the side entrance to the chamber is offset well to the end, so that the site is classified as one of the so-called ''Holsteiner Kammer'' ("Holstein Chamber") type.

Sites 2, 5 and 6

*Site 2 is a tumulus about 20 m in diameter in the centre of which the remains (the uprights and the joist (''Schwellenstein'')) of a passage grave are located. *Sites 5 and 6 are

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

tumuli.

Finds

Inside the chamber of site 2 and 4 were found relicts of

Funnelbeaker The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (german: Trichter(-rand-)becherkultur, nl, Trechterbekercultuur; da, Tragtbægerkultur; ) was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. It developed as a technological merger of l ...

, Globular amphora and

Corded Ware culture The Corded Ware culture comprises a broad archaeological horizon of Europe between ca. 3000 BC – 2350 BC, thus from the late Neolithic, through the Copper Age, and ending in the early Bronze Age. Corded Ware culture encompassed a v ...

s at different levels.

Literature

Laux F.: ''Die Steingräber von Oldendorf an der Luhe'' In: Körner G. (ed.) Dokumentation zur Archäologie Niedersachsens in Denkmalpflege und Forschung, 1975

External links

The Oldendorf Totenstatt at www.oldendorf-luhe.de
{{Coord, 53, 8, 47.0364, N, 10, 13, 9.91, E, type:landmark_dim:1_region:DE-NI, display=title Sacral architecture Megalithic monuments in Germany Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg (district) Funnelbeaker culture Tumuli in Germany Archaeology of Lower Saxony Globular Amphora culture