Etteln

The gallery grave Etteln lies north west of the village on the Lechtenberg within a group of trees between fields. To reach the tomb turn left from the Kirchstraße (if you drive the K20 northward) into the Westernstraße, from here the tomb is signed (but a little unobtrusive). After about 750m turn right and after additional 750m turn left. You should reach a T-junction (you should already see the group of trees), turn right and after about 250m you should reach to tomb on your left. A pretty zigzag ride.

The place for the grave was probably chosen with great care more than 4.000 years ago, as it lies at the end of a ridge which slopes down to the north, giving very nice views of the landscape.

Visited July 2018

Taken from the information board:

Prehistoric gallery grave Etteln

Large community grave built in the Neolithic (2500 – 2000 BC.) in which a clan or settlement community of Neolithic cultivators buried for a long time their dead. Visible are the orthostats of the 22m long burial chamber, which are inclined inwards by the earth’s pressure.
The chamber formerly had a ceiling of large limestone slabs. It was sunk into the ground by two-thirds and covered by an elongated mound of earth.
On the south side, an entrance led into the now underground burial room.
Finds from the stone chamber graves are exhibited in the Westphalian State Museum of Prehistoric and Early History in Münster and in the local history museum of the Paderborn district, in the Wewelsburg.