Oberndorfmark D

Tomb D is the most striking tomb of the Sieben Steinhäuser. The chamber is covered by a single massive slab, measuring approximately 4.60 mx 4.20 m in thickness. The clear width of the compact chamber is about 4 m x 3 m. In the middle of the southeast side is the entrance, the two supporting stones of which are original, while the capstone was added. The tomb has a rectangular stone enclosure or giant bed. It is about 7 m wide und 14 m long, apart from an abrupt gap to the southwest. According to the information board, the enclosure was once much longer, but was shortened to its current length for the use of the perimeter stones for the other tombs.

Visited June 2019

taken from the on-site information board:

The Sieben Steinhäuser (Seven Stone Houses)
Megalithic Tombs of the Neolithic around 2300 BC

The history of the construction and use of the Sieben Steinhäuser can be traced on the basis of the form of the megalithic tombs and the excavation results obtained at the end of the thirties.

In the middle phase of the Neolithic period the tomb D with its huge capstone was built according to West European model first.

The tomb was enclosed by an elongated Hunebed, which was later shortened to its current length for the use of the perimeter stones for the other tombs. In one go, the site was subsequently extended by four almost identical stone tombs (A, B, C and E).

From the lower found layer of tomb B came as an addition a ceramic vessel (1) and a flint blade (2) to light. In tomb C the amber oyster (3) and the cross-cutting arrowhead (4) also belong to the oldest find.

While the construction of the passage graves is based on the North German tradition, the ceramics point to close contacts with the Central German area.

In the late Neolithic period, the graves were reused after partial clearing of the old burials. In them, the dead were buried with such typical additions as the vessel with herringbone pattern (5) from tomb E individually. With the end of the Neolithic Age, people no longer bury themselves in megalithic tombs. But they were respected by all cultural groups until modern times.