Gundestrup

Gundestrupgård – Søndre Jættestue

Passage Grave in North Jutland (Nordjylland)

The ground plan of this tomb is extremly rare in Denmark. I am not sure if there really is a another one of this type.

A 4m long passage leads into a polygonal chamber, covered by a large capstone. Between two chamber uprights is a small gap, that connects the main chamber with a polygonal sidechamber. The sidechamber has approximately half the size of the main-chamber and is also covered by a single capstone.

The tomb is situated in a damaged barrow. Clear height of both chambers is reduced a bit as they are filled with earth to a certain extent. Therefore access of the sidechamber was not possible.

There are a large (bronze age) barrow and a magnificent, but overgrown and damaged double passage grave with two side-chambers (Gundestrup Northern passage grave) nearby [Date of visit: April 1990]

Sogn Beskrivelse No. Skræm (Skraem) SB-27
Skræm sogn, Øster Han herred, Hjørring amt

Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 162-3.

Access: Up a farm track, maybe about 400m. When I was there, it was extremely muddy & slippery!

In the far north of Denmark, fairly near Aalbog. Take the 11/29 between Aalborg in the east and Thisted in the west, heading for Fjerritslev.

At Fjerritslev, take the 29 south for about 3km, then take a left towards Husby. After 3km, turn right onto Gundestrupvej and after less than 500m, you should see a signpost for the monument.

Visited 6 April 2006
There are actually 3 ‘højs’ (or runndysse) here, 2 with mounds (and no accessible entrance) and one which has basically been stripped down to the passage & chamber on a low platform.

The 2 ‘complete’ barrows are pretty run-of-the-mill, for Denmark – that means they’re impressive mounds!!! But without being able to get inside, there is of course no way to see any of the megalithic ‘skeleton’, leaving fairly featureless mounds that perhaps have limited interest.

On the tomb that has been stripped, I have to admit that this is one of the few TME places in Denmark that disappointed me a bit. It didn’t help that it was a dull drab day & it had been raining mostly steadily (but often hard!) all day.

And it certainly didn’t help that the barrow had been burnt clear of vegetation, making it look stark, cold and ‘messy’ on its island in a ploughed field – which also made photographing difficult from many angles.

Please note that, unusually, Julian has made a mistake about this site in TME, concerning the Gundestrup Cauldron. It was actually found at another place called Gundestrup, about 30km further south, near Aars (on the 29 from here). This is backed up by James Dyer’s Discovering Archaeology in Denmark. I believe there is nothing to see at the place where it was found.

And opinion seems divided as to where the cauldron is now! Different sources say it’s in the National Museum in Copenhagen, Århus Museum or even Aars Museum! I tried to check online & the National Museum’s website ‘seems’ to say they have it, but the collection’s being revamped & is not open until May 2008!