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Threshold Stone
A threshold stone or sill stone () is a rectangularly dressed stone slab that forms part of the entrance of megalithic tombs of the Funnelbeaker culture, normally those with a passage. The red sandstone slab, up to 0.1 metres thick, was buried in the ground to a depth of 0.2 metres at the entrance to the chamber. Cultural sites of other types, such as Domus de Janas, also have a clear partition between the passage and the ante-chamber or main chamber. Threshold stones are typical of dolmens, gallery graves and passage graves, etc. Whilst in most simple dolmens the blocking stone (''Verschlussstein'') of the entrance side was replaced by a threshold stone of varying height, the entrance to extended dolmens and great dolmens was narrowed axially or coaxially usually to about half the width of the chamber and the lower threshold stone marked the transition in the open doorway between the passage and the chamber. In simple dolmens with no passage and an entrance opening, the threshol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megalithic Entrance
A megalithic entrance is an architectonic feature that enables access to a megalithic tomb or structure. The design of the entrance has to seal the access to the cultic structure in such a way that it is possible to gain access to the interior again, even after a long time, in order to perform rituals. To that end, the practitioners of Nordic megalith architecture, the Wartberg culture and Horgen culture, used several variants, that are also found in other megalithic regions in identical or slightly modified form. As the solutions were refined in detail, they all had in common the aim of sealing the structure that its re-opening was possible under difficult but manageable conditions by the tribal community. In general the following forms of entrance may be differentiated: Simple dolmens (upper image) *1. no entrance *2. entrance on the top *3. half-height entrance sealed with a closure stone *4. full height half-width stone (with passage) Dolmens (except No. 4) *5. squared ent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically from Sweden in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the south. The word was first used in 1849 by the British antiquarian Algernon Herbert in reference to Stonehenge and derives from the Ancient Greek words " mega" for great and " lithos" for stone. Most extant megaliths were erected between the Neolithic period (although earlier Mesolithic examples are known) through the Chalcolithic period and into the Bronze Age. Types and definitions While "megalith" is often used to describe a single piece of stone, it also can be used to denote one or more rocks hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe structures built by people from many parts of the world living in many different periods. The most widely known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funnelbeaker Culture
The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (, ; ; ), was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. It developed as a technological merger of local neolithic and mesolithic techno-complexes between the lower Elbe and middle Vistula rivers. These predecessors were the (Danubian culture, Danubian) Lengyel culture, Lengyel-influenced Stroke-ornamented ware culture (STK) groups/Late Lengyel and Baden culture, Baden-Boleráz in the southeast, Rössen culture, Rössen groups in the southwest and the Ertebølle culture, Ertebølle-Ellerbek groups in the north. The TRB introduced farming and husbandry as major food sources to the pottery-using hunter-gatherers north of this line. The TRB techno-complex is divided into a northern group including Northern Germany and southern Scandinavia (TRB-N, roughly the area that previously belonged to the Ertebølle-Ellerbek complex), a western group in the Megaliths in the Netherlands, Netherlands between the Zuiderzee and lower E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bunter Sandstone
The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsandstein predominantly consists of sandstone layers of the Lower Triassic series and is one of three characteristic Triassic units, together with the Muschelkalk and Keuper that form the Germanic Trias Supergroup. The Buntsandstein is similar in age, facies and lithology with the Bunter of the British Isles. It is normally lying on top of the Permian Zechstein and below the Muschelkalk. In the past the name Buntsandstein was in Europe also used in a chronostratigraphic sense, as a subdivision of the Triassic system. Among reasons to abandon this use was the discovery that its base lies actually in the latest Permian. Origin The Buntsandstein was deposited in the Germanic Basin, a large sedimentary basin that was the successor of the sma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domus De Janas
Domus de Janas ( Sardinian for 'House of the Fairies' or, alternatively, 'House of Witches') are a type of pre-Nuragic rock-cut chamber tomb found in Sardinia. They consist of several chambers quarried out by the people of the San Ciriaco through Ozieri cultures''Domus de Janas'', Portale Sardo and subsequent cultures, resembling houses in their layout. 
Built mostly between 3400 and 2700 BC, they date to the late
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Dolmen
A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (40003000 BCE) and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus (burial mound). Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance. In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone "skeleton". In Sumba (Indonesia), dolmens are still commonly built (about 100 dolmens each year) for collective graves according to lineage. The traditional village of Wainyapu, Sumba, Wainyapu has some 1,400 dolmens. Etymology Celtic or French The word ''dolmen'' entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his (1796) using the spelling ''dolmin'' (the current spelling was introduced about a decade later and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallery Grave
A gallery grave is a form of megalithic tomb built primarily during the Neolithic Age in Europe in which the main gallery of the tomb is entered without first passing through an antechamber or hallway. There are at least four major types of gallery grave (complex, transepted, segmented, and wedge-shaped), and they may be covered with an earthen mound (or "tumulus") or rock mound (or "cairn"). Background Archeologist T. Douglas Price argues that the gallery grave was a form of community burial site. Those placed in a gallery grave were most likely members of the same family or hamlet, and probably were intended to reinforce the sense of community. Gallery graves may be straight, or they may form an ell. In some cases, a burial chamber exists at the end of the gallery. The walls of gallery graves were built of orthostats, slab-like stones set upright in the earth. They were roofed with multiple flat stones, although the burial chamber (if one existed) was usually roofed with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passage Grave
A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or stone and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age and are found largely in Western Europe. When covered in earth, a passage grave is a type of tumulus, burial mound which is found in various forms all over the world. When a passage grave is covered in stone, it is a type of cairn. Construction and design The building of passage graves was normally carried out with megaliths along with smaller stones. The earliest passage tombs seem to take the form of small dolmens, although not all dolmens are passage graves. The passage itself in a number of notable instances is aligned in such a way that the sun shines through the passage and into the chamber at a significant point in the year, often at sunrise on the solstice, winter solstice or at sunset on the equinox. Many later passage tombs were constructed at the tops of hills or mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simple Dolmen
The simple dolmen (, literally "ancient dolmen") or primeval dolmen is an early form of dolmen or megalithic tomb that occurs especially in Northern Europe. The term was defined by archaeologist, Ernst Sprockhoff, and utilised by Ewald Schuldt in publicising his excavation of 106 megalithic sites in the north German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The simple dolmen emerged in the early days of the development of megalithic monuments of the Funnelbeaker culture (TBK) and around 3,500 BC they appeared across almost the entire region covered by the stone cult structures of Nordic megalith architecture, but not in the Netherlands, in Lower Saxony west of the 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. Distinction between simple dolmens and stone cists In many cases there is no clear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rectangular Dolmen
A rectangular dolmen (), extended dolmen (German: ''erweiteter Dolmen'') or enlarged dolmen is a specific type of megalith, rectangular in shape, with upright sidestones and, usually, two capstones. The term rectangular dolmen was coined by Ekkehard Aner and is used especially in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, where dolmens with this type of ground plan primarily occur. A more precise term, however, is extended dolmen, used by Ewald Schuldt and Ernst Sprockhoff, because these types of dolmen also occur with trapezoidal ground plans (e.g. the Gnewitz). Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities. Their emergence and function are a hallmark of social development. Capstones and passageway Whilst the simple dolmen as a rule only had one capstone (but could have two), the rectangular dolmen, which differs primarily in the orientation of its support stones (standing) from the simple dolmen (lying), usually had two capstones ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Dolmen
The great dolmen or grand dolmen (, ) is a type of megalithic site of the Funnelbeaker culture (TBK) that occurs in Nordic megalith architecture, primarily in the east of what is now German Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and which has two different types of entrance. Neolithic monuments are features of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities. Their evolution and function act as indicators of social development.J. Müller In: Varia neolithica VI 2009 p. 15 The type of site, called ''Stordysse'' in Danish, does not follow the criteria listed below. In Germany, dolmens with three or more capstones are described as great dolmens and are divided into: * Great dolmens with an antechamber (''Vorraum'') * Great dolmens with a porch (''Windfang'') The porch dolmen is mainly found on the island of Rügen and on the mainland opposite the island. The antechamber dolmen is found southeast of that, between Demmin and the island of Usedom. Several variant, but very rare examples recall the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
