Sieben Steinhäuser
Encyclopedia
The Sieben Steinhäuser is a group of five dolmens on the Lüneburg Heath
in the NATO training area of Bergen-Hohne
, in the state of Lower Saxony
in northern Germany
. The stones are considered to be part of the funnelbeaker culture
(3,500 - 2,800 B.C.). The gravesite was granted protected cultural monument status in 1923.
which lies between Bad Fallingbostel
to the northwest and Bergen to the east.
The dolmens are found at a height of 56 and . A stream, the Hohe Bach ("High Brook") which is a northeastern tributary of the River Meiße in the catchment area of the Aller
, flows past the stones in a north-south direction.
from the ranges. The site is only accessible on days when no exercises are taking place i.e. at weekends and on public holidays between 8 am and 6 pm.
funnelbeaker
period by the first settled farmers. The large gravesite, Grave D, shows similarities to French gravesites, the other four are like those of the Elbe-Weser Triangle
.
Although they are traditionally called the Sieben Steinhäusern ("seven stone houses") there are actually only five graves. Because an old illustration from 1744 still shows only five graves, it is assumed today, that the number seven is being used in the figurative sense for a larger number, as in the German expression sieben Sachen ("seven things") which means 'everything'. The first written record of the graves was made in 1720 by an academic. The regional author, August Freudenthal, contributed to their fame in the 19th century. Even then it was a popular tourist destination.
construction, but almost always supported by three or four points of contact. The largest of the dolmens has a capstone
measuring 16 by 14 feet (c. 5 m by 4¼ m) and is supported by seven upright support stones.
All the graves were originally covered with earth, so that they would looked like earth mounds or tumuli. Over the course of time the earth was eroded by wind and weather, so that the stones became visible again. Four graves were excavated and restored between 1924 and 1937.
In 1958 the graves were enclosed by protective earthen walls several metres high. They protect the gravesites from shell damage, because the site is located in the middle of a military training area.
. Two capstones probably caved in under their own weight when their supports were dislodged. The internal dimensions of the chamber are 5 x 2 m. The outside entrance appears to have been located between the first and centre support stones to the south of the southeastern side of the chamber.
A rectangular enclosure belongs to this gravesite, so it appears that we are dealing with a preserved long barrow
whose enclosure has been restored. It is about 7 m wide und 14 m long, apart from an abrupt gap to the southwest. Because there are no traces of stone pillars having been removed, it is suspected that this could have been used to lay out 3 to 4 more sites for planned graves during the Neolithic
era.
Lüneburg Heath
The Lüneburg Heath is a large area of heath, geest and woodland in northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover, and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve...
in the NATO training area of Bergen-Hohne
Bergen-Hohne Training Area
Bergen-Hohne Training Area is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers an area of , which makes it the largest military training area in Germany.It was established by the German armed forces, the...
, in the state of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
in northern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The stones are considered to be part of the funnelbeaker culture
Funnelbeaker culture
The Funnelbeaker culture, short TRB from Trichterbecherkultur is the principal north central European megalithic culture of late Neolithic Europe.- Predecessor and successor cultures :...
(3,500 - 2,800 B.C.). The gravesite was granted protected cultural monument status in 1923.
Geographical Location
The Sieben Steinhäuser are located roughly in the middle of the Bergen-Hohne Training AreaBergen-Hohne Training Area
Bergen-Hohne Training Area is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers an area of , which makes it the largest military training area in Germany.It was established by the German armed forces, the...
which lies between Bad Fallingbostel
Bad Fallingbostel
Bad Fallingbostel is the district town of the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of Bad since 5 August 2002. It has close ties to Walsrode, a few miles to the west...
to the northwest and Bergen to the east.
The dolmens are found at a height of 56 and . A stream, the Hohe Bach ("High Brook") which is a northeastern tributary of the River Meiße in the catchment area of the Aller
Aller
The Aller is a river, long, in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a right-hand, and hence eastern, tributary of the River Weser and is also its largest tributary. Its last form the Lower Aller federal waterway...
, flows past the stones in a north-south direction.
Accessibility
The only public access route to the dolmens begins at a barrier in Ostenholz, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) southeast of the Walsrode autobahn interchange. The access road runs for several kilometres through the out-of-bounds area of the military training area. It is regularly cleared of any spent ammunitionAmmunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
from the ranges. The site is only accessible on days when no exercises are taking place i.e. at weekends and on public holidays between 8 am and 6 pm.
History
The Sieben Steinhäuser gravesite was established around 2500 BC during the neolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
funnelbeaker
Funnelbeaker culture
The Funnelbeaker culture, short TRB from Trichterbecherkultur is the principal north central European megalithic culture of late Neolithic Europe.- Predecessor and successor cultures :...
period by the first settled farmers. The large gravesite, Grave D, shows similarities to French gravesites, the other four are like those of the Elbe-Weser Triangle
Elbe-Weser Triangle
The region between Bremen , Hamburg and Cuxhaven forms the Elbe-Weser Triangle in northern Germany. It is also colloquially referred to as the Nasses Dreieck or "Wet Triangle"...
.
Although they are traditionally called the Sieben Steinhäusern ("seven stone houses") there are actually only five graves. Because an old illustration from 1744 still shows only five graves, it is assumed today, that the number seven is being used in the figurative sense for a larger number, as in the German expression sieben Sachen ("seven things") which means 'everything'. The first written record of the graves was made in 1720 by an academic. The regional author, August Freudenthal, contributed to their fame in the 19th century. Even then it was a popular tourist destination.
Description of the graves
The burial chambers are all rectangular and aligned in a northeast-southwest direction. Their capstones are not of bayBay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
construction, but almost always supported by three or four points of contact. The largest of the dolmens has a capstone
Capstone
Capstone may refer to:* Coping , one of the finishing or protective stones that form the top of an exterior masonry wall or building* Capstone , a US government project about cryptographic standards...
measuring 16 by 14 feet (c. 5 m by 4¼ m) and is supported by seven upright support stones.
All the graves were originally covered with earth, so that they would looked like earth mounds or tumuli. Over the course of time the earth was eroded by wind and weather, so that the stones became visible again. Four graves were excavated and restored between 1924 and 1937.
In 1958 the graves were enclosed by protective earthen walls several metres high. They protect the gravesites from shell damage, because the site is located in the middle of a military training area.
Grave A
Grave A comprises four supporting stones along the sides and another stone at each end. On the supporting stones are three capstones, the middle one of which is considerably narrower and has been broken. The inside dimensions of the chamber are 6.5 x 2 m. The entrance is in the middle of the southeastern side, but only the pair of supporting pillars are left.Grave B
Grave B is also composed of four supporting stones along the sides, but unlike Grave A, there are also four capstones. One is very narrow and placed between them like a lintel (Jochstein). The internal size of the chamber is 7 x 2,2 m. Of the entrance in the middle, only the southern pillar remains.Grave C
The relatively short chamber of Grave C consists of three supporting stones on the southeast and four on the northwest side as well as two end stones and three capstones. Before restoration only the northeastern three-point support, the centre of the three supporting stones on the southeast side and the southwestern end stone were found in situIn situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...
. Two capstones probably caved in under their own weight when their supports were dislodged. The internal dimensions of the chamber are 5 x 2 m. The outside entrance appears to have been located between the first and centre support stones to the south of the southeastern side of the chamber.
Grave D with enclosure
Grave D is the most impressive in the entire group. The support stones of the short, almost square burial chamber consist of a slab on the southwest side and a second one on the other side. The chamber is covered by a mighty stone slab which measures 4.6 x 4.2 m and is half a metre thick. The inside dimensions of the stocky chamber are roughly 4 x 3 m. The entrance is located in the centre of the southeastern side, its support stones are original whilst the capstone has been restored.A rectangular enclosure belongs to this gravesite, so it appears that we are dealing with a preserved long barrow
Long barrow
A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the early Neolithic period. They are rectangular or trapezoidal tumuli or earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs...
whose enclosure has been restored. It is about 7 m wide und 14 m long, apart from an abrupt gap to the southwest. Because there are no traces of stone pillars having been removed, it is suspected that this could have been used to lay out 3 to 4 more sites for planned graves during the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
era.
Grave E
The sides of grave E, like grave A, comprise four supporters each, on which lie three capstones. The support stone on the southwestern end was restored. From the fact that two of the chambers capstones (the southwestern and the centre one) have been found in halves, it is not difficult to surmise that the stone blocks were artificially split in prehistoric times. In carrying out the restoration work the two easily movable capstones were replaced. The chamber has internal measurements of 5.6 x 2 m. Only the two external pillars are left from the entrance in the middle of the southeastern side.The legend of the Sieben Steinhäuser
According to a legend that is recounted by many in the Heidmark area, the largest stone was fired at the Sieben Steinhäuser by the giant of Borg from a catapult at Elferdingen which was located near the "Orskarrn". The two largest stone pillars of the largest grave were placed by the giant in the pocket of his coat. The giant went to the stone graves via Fallingbostel. There the area was very sandy and the giant's shoes soon filled with sand. He shook himself out near Fallingbostel and that's how the Tutberg and Weinberg hills appeared.See also
The following burial sites are also in the same general area:- Bonstorf BarrowsBonstorf BarrowsThe Bonstorf Barrows are the remains of a much larger barrow cemetery on the Lüneburg Heath in north Germany dating to the late neolithic or early bronze age. They are located east of the village of Bonstorf, part of the municipality of Hermannsburg in the Lower Saxon district of Celle...
- a neolithic or early Bronze Age burial site. - Dohnsen-Siddernhausen DolmenDohnsen-Siddernhausen DolmenThe dolmen on a low elevation between the villages of Dohnsen and Siddernhausen near the town of Bergen in North Germany, was originally 500 m further north. It was excavated in 1977 and reconstructed in its present location...
- another dolmen site. - Oldendorfer TotenstattOldendorfer TotenstattThe Oldendorfer Totenstatt is a group of six burial mounds and megalith sites in Oldendorf north of Amelinghausen in the valley of the River Luhe in Lüneburg district in the German state of Lower Saxony...
Literature
- E. Sprockhoff: Atlas der Megalithgräber Deutschlands. Teil 3, Niedersachsen und Westfalen. (Hrsg. G. Kröner Bonn 1975). ISBN 3-7749-1326-9
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich: Wenn Steine reden könnten. Band II, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1992, ISBN 3-7842-0479-1
- H. Schirnig: Archäologischer Wegweiser. Die Sieben Steinhäuser bei Fallingbostel. Hildesheim 1982.
External links
- http://www.fallingbostel.de/tourismus/sehenswuerdigkeiten_sieben_stein_haeuser.html
- Access to the Sieben Steinhäusern