Gnarrenburg

The megaltihic tomb lies north of Gnarrenburg in a pine forest, not far from the forest road that leads from Gnarrenburg to the district Brillit. Already in 1893 the grave was considered considerably damaged. Later, two more larger stones were removed. The site, which was examined by Jürgen Deichmüller in 1968, was restored, but it was not possible to determine the type (passage grave or grand dolmen). The chamber is south-west-northeast orientated, the partly quite small support stones are still in situ. At the eastern end of the chamber is a capstone, but all other capstones are missing. At the western end the burial mound is still clearly visible.

Drive from Karlshöfen on the L122 towards Gnarrenburg. Just before you cross a railway line turn right into the road Barkhausen. Drive around 1.8 km before you turn left into the road “Am Kirchendamm”. Drive along this road for about 2.1 km, there is a very small parking lot and a forest track on the right side. During my visit, there was also a noticeable sign for the tomb. Park here and walk around 200 m along the forest track eastward, until you reach a beaten path leading in the wood on the left (also signed). The tomb is then only 50 m into the wood.

Visited May 2019

taken from the on-site information board:

Remains of a megalithic tomb from the Neolithic

The burial chambers of large boulders were built in the Neolithic funnel beaker culture (about 2500 – 2000 BC). They probably served individual families as crypts or ossuaries.

Findings from the tombs such as flint axes, arrowheads and clay pots are interpreted as funerary objects. This burial chamber contained shards of at least 24 decorated clay pots. The occurrence of many potsherds next to the stone chambers, mainly on the south side in the passage and outside the hill, point to rituals of funerary worship or ancestor worship, which we can not explain yet.

Following the burials of the funnel beaker culture, as in many other stone graves, there were burials with grave goods of the younger single grave culture. They show that the descendants of the builders have adopted the material culture of an immigrant population, for whom individual graves under burial mounds are characteristic.