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88-632: The Sieben Steinhäuser are located roughly in the middle of the Bergen-Hohne Training Area which lies between Bad Fallingbostel to the northwest and Bergen to the east. The dolmens are found at a height of 56 and 67 m above  sea level (NN) . 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

176-446: A Breton word meaning "table-stone"; this is typically used in reference to the stone chambers found in some, although not all, long barrows. The historian Ronald Hutton suggested that such sites could also be termed "tomb-shrines" to reflect the fact that they appear to have often been used both to house the remains of the dead and to have been used in ritual activities. Some contain no burials while others have been found to contain

264-571: A Moor . In the northern part of the training area is the small Wittenmoor. Just beyond its eastern boundary is the larger Großes Moor, in the south is the Ostenholz Moor and on the southern boundary the Bannetzer Moor which adjoins the Meißendorf Lakes . The remaining areas consist of woodland. Outside of and flowing parallel to the northwestern edge of the military training area is part of

352-579: A form of tomb. In the latter nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, archaeologists like V. Gordon Childe held to the cultural diffusionist view that such Western European monuments had been based on tombs originally produced in parts of the eastern Mediterranean region, suggesting that their ultimate origin was either in Egypt or in Crete. In this view, the tradition was seen as having spread westward as part of some form of "megalithic religion". A seminal study of

440-610: A large British military garrison for the 7th Armoured Brigade (the Desert Rats) which was part of the British Forces Germany . Opposite this barracks is the village of Belsen which gave its name to the nearby Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the Second World War . The current German commandant of Bergen-Hohne Training Area, Colonel Gerd Ahrens, is also responsible for Munster Training Area . He also has command of

528-521: A liberation camp for survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp , which was located on the edge of the training area near the town of Bergen . Under British control, the training area was steadily expanded and, since the 1960s, has also been used by the German Armed Forces ( Bundeswehr ) and other NATO troops. Bergen-Hohne Training Area is situated on both sides of the boundary between

616-441: 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 whose enclosure has been restored. It

704-712: A natural feature. Damage sustained by Neolithic long barrows can also lead to them being mistaken for other types of monuments, such as the oval barrows and round barrows which are usually of later date. Aerial photography has proven useful in identifying many more examples that are barely visible on the ground. Geophysical surveys have been found to be helpful to explore sites that are unavailable for excavation. Long barrows such as West Kennet Long Barrow in Wiltshire have become tourist attractions. At Wayland's Smithy in Oxfordshire, visitors have lodged coins into cracks in

792-432: A new way of looking at the land. In this interpretation, the long barrows served as territorial markers, dividing up the land, signifying that it was occupied and controlled by a particular community, and thus warning away rival groups. In defending this interpretation, Malone noted that each "tomb-territory" typically had access to a range of soils and landscape types in its vicinity, suggesting that it could have represented

880-565: A system of ancestor veneration or as a religion spread by missionaries or settlers. An alternative explanation views them primarily in economic terms, as territorial markers delineating the areas controlled by different communities as they transitioned toward farming. Communities continued to use these long barrows long after their construction. In both the Roman period and the Early Middle Ages, many long barrows were reused as cemeteries. Since

968-685: A timber or stone chamber in one end of the tumulus. These monuments often contained human remains interred within their chambers, and as a result, are often interpreted as tombs , although there are some examples where this appears not to be the case. The choice of timber or stone may have arisen from the availability of local materials rather than cultural differences. Those that contained chambers inside of them are often termed chambered long barrows while those which lack chambers are instead called unchambered long barrows or earthen long barrows . The earliest examples developed in Iberia and western France during

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1056-464: A viable territorial area for a particular community. Also supporting this interpretation is the fact that the distribution of chambered long barrows on some Scottish islands shows patterns that closely mirror modern land divisions between farms and crofts. This interpretation also draws ethnographic parallels from recorded communities around the world, who have also used monuments to demarcate territory. This idea became popular among archaeologists in

1144-655: 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 284 square kilometres (70,000 acres), which makes it the largest military training area in Germany. It was established by the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht , in 1935. At the end of the Second World War it was taken over by British occupying forces and some of its facilities used as

1232-467: Is about 4 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. The sides of grave E, like grave A, comprise four supporters each, on which lie three capstones. The support stone on the southwestern end

1320-496: Is assumed today, that the number seven is being used in the figurative sense for a larger number, as in the German expression Siebensachen ("seven things") which means 'everything'. The first written record of the graves was made in 1720 by an academic. On 24 July 1835 the gravesite was placed under conservation protection by the Amtsvogtei of Fallingbostel . The regional author, August Freudenthal, contributed to their fame in

1408-537: Is increasingly used by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and it is the only training area in Germany which may be overflown by reconnaissance drones. Air-to-ground practice and live munitions may also be fired. Hohne station was one of the main British Forces bases and was located in Lager Hohne , a former Wehrmacht facility, on the eastern side of the training area. It was the headquarters of Bergen-Hohne Garrison ,

1496-531: Is on the southwest boundary of the area in the Ostenholz Moor at about 28 m high. As early as the 19th century the army of the Kingdom of Hanover used two small areas here to drill their troops. The last wolf in the Lüneburg Heath was seen and shot east of Becklingen on 13 January 1872 in the forest of Becklinger Holz , which, today, is within the training area. It was shot by the forester, Grünewald, who

1584-631: Is that they were inspired either by natural rock formations or by the shape of wooden houses. It has been suggested that their design was based on the wooden long houses found in central Europe during the Early Neolithic, however there is a gap of seven centuries between the last known long houses and the first known chambered long barrows. According to one possible explanation, the long barrows served as markers of place that were connected to Early Neolithic ideas about cosmology and spirituality , and accordingly were centres of ritual activity mediated by

1672-661: Is the Cotswold-Severn Group found in the west of the island. These are typically chambered long barrows, and contained human bone in comparatively large quantities, averaging between 40 and 50 people in each. The long barrows found in the Netherlands and northern Germany also used stone in their construction where it was available. The examples of long barrows found in parts of Poland are also typically earthen rather than megalithic. Further north, in Denmark and southern Sweden,

1760-505: The Beaker culture , thus indicating a date in the final centuries of the third millennium BCE; this meant that human remains had been placed into the chamber intermittently over a period of 1500 years. This indicates that some chambered long barrows remained in sporadic use until the Late Neolithic. In various cases, archaeologists have found specific bones absent from the assemblages within

1848-681: The Bundeswehr was also allowed to use the training area again. They maintained a liaison headquarters there with the British commandant. On 1 April 1958 the British Army transferred the training area to the Bundeswehr. Up to 50,000 British, American and German soldiers were stationed at Bergen-Hohne and it became the largest military training area in Europe and one of the training area for NATO's ground forces in

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1936-568: The Federal Republic of Germany . In the southwest of the area is Ostenholz Camp ( Lager Ostenholz ), which has an autobahn junction in the immediate vicinity. This camp is only used for exercising troops, yet it has permanent accommodation as well as the massive buildings of the training area's headquarters and permanent range staff. After the end of the Cold War the number of soldiers significantly reduced. The British Army withdrew completely from

2024-769: The Reichsbauernführer ("Reich Farmers' Leader") to present their concerns. On 18 March 1935 more than 80 farmers drove to Berlin to confirm their future and the planned relocation of their homes. In spite of opposition from the local population, within a few years 3,635 inhabitants in 25 villages had to leave their homes. Amongst the villages that disappeared from the map were Deil , Hörsten, Hoppenstedt, Hohne, Hohnerode, Manhorn, Lohe, Gudehausen, Ettenbostel , Oberndorfmark , Oberhode, Benhorn , Hartem, Fahrenholz , Böstlingen , Pröbsten , Kolk , Südbostel, Nordbostel, Obereinzingen , Untereinzingen , Achterberg , Wense and parts of Oerbke , Ostenholz and Hasselhorst. At

2112-515: The 1950s revealed that they post-dated the Middle Ages, and thus must have been created by more recent landscaping projects. In areas which were previously impacted by glaciation, moraine deposits on valley floors have sometimes been mistaken for long barrows. At Dunham New Park in Cheshire , northwest England, for instance, a mound was initially believed to be a long barrow and only later assessed as

2200-730: The 1980s and 1990s, and—in downplaying religion while emphasising an economic explanation for these monuments—it was influenced by Marxist ideas then popular in the European archaeological establishment. In the early twenty-first century, archaeologists began to challenge this idea, as evidence emerged that much of Early Neolithic Britain was forested and its inhabitants were likely pastoralists rather than agriculturalists . Accordingly, communities in Britain would have been semi-nomadic, with little need for territorial demarcation or clear markings of land ownership. Also, this explanation fails to explain why

2288-408: The 19th century. Even then it was a popular tourist destination. The burial chambers are all rectangular and aligned in a northeast-southwest direction. Their capstones are not of bay 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

2376-790: The Böhme), which likewise has many ponds. The extreme northeast is drained by streams that flow eastwards into the Meiße . A heavily wooded moraine ridge runs across the training area in roughly a southwest-to-northeast direction. These woods include the Becklinger Holz and amongst the elevations here are the: Falkenberg ( 150 m above  sea level (NN) ), Hakenberg (143 m), Staffelberg (127 m), Hengstberg (121 m), Hammberg (107 m), Großer Dellberg (107 m), Scharpenhorn (107 m), Fuhrberg (102 m), Horstberg (98 m), Söhrenberg (93 m) and Ziegenberg (63 m). The lowest point

2464-508: The Early Neolithic itself. The human remains placed in long barrows often included a mix of men, women, and children. The bones of various individuals were often mixed together. This may have reflected a desire to obliterate distinctions of wealth and status among the deceased. Not all of those who died in the Early Neolithic were buried in these long barrows, although it remains unknown what criteria were used to determine whose remains were interred there and whose were not. Large sections of

2552-581: The Early Neolithic of Western Europe" more than any other, while the archaeologist David Field described them as "among the best known and easily recognised archaeological monuments in the [British] landscape." For the archaeologist Caroline Malone , the long barrows are "some of the most impressive and aesthetically distinctive constructions of prehistoric Britain". Her fellow archaeologist Frances Lynch stated that these long barrows "can still inspire awe, wonder and curiosity even in modern populations familiar with Gothic cathedrals and towering skyscrapers." In

2640-405: The Early Neolithic outdoor exposure of corpses has also been found at Hambledon Hill . The postholes found in front of many long barrows may also have represented the bases of platforms on which excarnation took place. When entering the chambers to either add or remove new material, individuals would likely have been exposed to the smell of decaying corpses. It is unknown if entering this area

2728-431: The Early Neolithic population were not buried in them, although how their bodily remains are dealt with is not clear. It is possible that they were left in the open air. It is also not known where the act of excarnation took place prior to the deposition of bones within the chambers. Some human bones have been found in the ditches of causewayed enclosures , a form of Early Neolithic earthen monument, while evidence for

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2816-414: The Early Neolithic would have required the co-operation of a number of different individuals and would have represented an important investment in time and resources. They were built without the use of metal tools. There is often regional variation in style and material. In the north and west of Britain, for instance, long barrows often consist of stone mounds containing chambers inside of them, whereas in

2904-577: The Early Neolithic. They are found across much of Western Europe; stretching from southeast Spain up to southern Sweden and taking in the British Isles to the west. The long barrows are not the world's oldest known structures using stone—they are predated by Göbekli Tepe in modern Turkey—but they do represent the oldest widespread tradition of using stone in construction. The archaeologist Frances Lynch has described them as "the oldest built structures in Europe" to survive, while Field noted that they are

2992-765: The Meierbach stream flows in a southwesterly direction. The central and southern parts of the training area are drained by this stream (which passes the Sieben Steinhäuser ) and the Hohe Bach , both northeastern tributaries of the Meiße. Its southeastern part is drained by the Liehlbach (a northern tributary of the Meiße), along which several ponds are found and the northwest mainly by the Fischendorfer Bach (a southeastern tributary of

3080-521: The archaeologist Stuart Piggott favoured the term "earthen" barrows for them. Ian Kinnes instead used the term "non-megalithic barrows". These long barrows might have used timber because stone was not available. Some classificatory systems, such as that employed by the United Kingdom's National Monuments Record , do not distinguish between the different types of long barrow. The archaeologist David Field noted that drawing typological distinctions on

3168-586: The area in September 2015. The facility still has considerable importance, however. Live firing ranges are heavily used by the Bundeswehr , Dutch and Belgian forces. Plans for the future use of the military facilities are still unknown. The original ranges and their purpose: Today there are 22 firing ranges on the training area for main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles , of which nine are also suitable for anti-tank guided missiles . In addition there are 14 artillery fire positions, six of which are outside

3256-669: The area of southern Spain, Portugal, southwestern France, and Brittany, the long barrows typically include large stone chambers. In Britain, earthen long barrows predominate across much of the southern and eastern parts of the island. Around 300 earthen long barrows are known from across the eastern side of Britain, from Aberdeenshire in the north down to the South Downs in the south, with two projections westward into Dorset and Galloway . Excavation has suggested that these earthen long barrows were likely constructed between 3800 and 3000 BCE. Another prominent regional tradition in Britain

3344-538: 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. The following burial sites are also in the same general area: 52°48′02″N 9°47′51″E  /  52.80056°N 9.79750°E  / 52.80056; 9.79750 Bergen-Hohne Training Area The Bergen-Hohne Training Area (German: NATO-Truppenübungsplatz Bergen or Schießplatz Bergen-Hohne )

3432-552: The basis of material used can mask important similarities between different long barrows. Also criticising the focus on classification, the archaeologists Lewis-Williams and Pearce believed that doing so distracted scholars from the task of explaining the meaning and purpose behind the monuments. Long barrows are single mounds, usually of earth, which are flanked by ditches. They are usually between 20 and 70 metres in length, although there are some exceptional examples at either end of this spectrum. The construction of long barrows in

3520-514: The boundaries of the training area. There are also five small arms ranges and three ranges for hand-held anti-tank weapons, as well as air defence training facilities, FIBUA villages, deep wading points and bivouac sites. The troops of NATO member countries – Germany, Netherlands, Britain and Belgium – exercise regularly on the training area. Major combat equipment that uses the ranges include Challenger 2 and Leopard 2 tanks, WAH-64 Apache attack helicopters and Panzerhaubitze 2000 . The area

3608-644: The chamber falls into two categories. One form, known as grottes sepulchrales artificielles in French archaeology, are dug into the earth. The second form, which is more widespread, are known as cryptes dolmeniques in French archaeology and involved the chamber being erected above ground. Many chambered long barrows contained side chambers within them, often producing a cruciform shape. Others had no such side alcoves; these are known as undifferentiated tombs . Some long barrows do not contain chambers inside of them. John Thurnham termed these "unchambered" barrows, while

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3696-579: The chambered long barrows should be clustered in certain areas rather than being evenly distributed throughout the landscape. Many of the chambered long barrows have not remained intact, having been damaged and broken up during the millennia. In some cases, most of the chamber has been removed, leaving only the three-stone dolmen. During the first half of the first millennium BCE, many British long barrows saw renewed human activity. At Julliberrie's Grave in Kent, southeast England, three inhumations were buried at

3784-469: The chambers, where they had often been treated in a manner akin to the human remains. Sometimes human remains were deposited in the chambers over many centuries. For instance, at West Kennet Long Barrow in Wiltshire , southern England, the earliest depositions of human remains were radiocarbon dated to the early-to-mid fourth millennium BCE, while a later deposition of human remains was found to belong to

3872-487: The chambers. For instance, at Fussell's Lodge in Wiltshire , southern England, a number of skeletal assemblages were found to be missing not just small bones but also long bones and skulls. It is therefore possible that some bones were deliberately removed from the chambers in the Early Neolithic for use in ritualistic activities. The source of inspiration for the design of the chambered long barrows remains unclear. Suggestions that have proved popular among archaeologists

3960-407: The dead were visited by the living and where people maintained relationships with the deceased. In some cases, the bones deposited in the chamber may have been old when placed there. In other instances, they may have been placed into the chamber long after the long barrow was built. In some instances, collections of bone originally included in the chamber might have been removed and replaced during

4048-400: The dead. The inclusion of human remains has been used to argue that these long barrows were involved in a form of ancestor veneration . Malone suggested that the prominence of these barrows suggested that ancestors were deemed far more important to Early Neolithic people than their Mesolithic forebears. In the early twentieth century, this interpretation of the long barrows as religious sites

4136-399: The districts of Heidekreis (formerly Soltau-Fallingbostel ) and Celle , about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Hanover , roughly 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Bremen and around 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Hamburg . It is located between Bad Fallingbostel in the west and Bergen in the east, and between the towns of Soltau a few miles to the north and Wietze to

4224-407: The earliest monuments surviving in Britain. Although found across this large area, they can be subdivided into clear regionalised traditions based on architectural differences. Excavation has revealed that some of the long barrows in the area of modern Spain, Portugal, and western France were erected in the mid-fifth millennium BCE, making these older than those long barrows further north. Although

4312-549: The eastern part of the area as a Royal Armoured Corps Training Centre. Up to 1952, the training area was expanded more and more until it reached its present-day limits. During the Cold War the area was intensively used by the heavy concentrations of troops on the North German Plain , which was seen as strategically important to NATO . There were also discussions about combining the training areas of Munster and Bergen. In 1957

4400-461: The eastern perimeter of the area, near the village of Belsen , and called in those days the Ostlager or "East Camp", around 100 barrack blocks , 50 stables and 40 large garage blocks were built, as well as a hospital, storage depots and a target factory, where targets for the firing ranges were made. To the south of this camp was a military ammunition dump for infantry munitions . On 4 May 1936

4488-484: The entrance in the middle of the southeastern side. 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

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4576-611: The fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material represent the oldest widespread tradition of stone construction in the world. Around 40,000 long barrows survive today. The structures have a long earthen tumulus , or "barrow", that is flanked on two sides with linear ditches. These typically stretch for between 20 and 70 metres in length, although some exceptional examples are either longer or shorter than this. Some examples have

4664-406: The first and centre support stones to the south of the southeastern side of the chamber. In December 2013, the chamber collapsed, probably due to soil erosion, but there are plans to rebuild it. 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 two on the other side. The chamber is covered by

4752-486: The first half of the fourth millennium BCE, either soon after farming or in some cases perhaps just before it. It later spread further north on mainland Europe, for instance arriving in the Netherlands in the second half of the fourth millennium BCE. Later in the Neolithic, burial practices tended to place greater emphasis on the individual, suggesting a growing social hierarchy and a move away from collective burial. One of

4840-478: The first units took over their accommodation. On the western edge of the area, near the village of Oerbke , another camp, the Westlager ("West Camp"), was built. From 1 April 1937 until 1942 more barracks, stables, garages and depots went up. From 1 August 1938 military exercises took place across the whole training area. On 15 April 1945 the training area was taken over by British forces. They initially only used

4928-454: The general area in which the oldest long barrows were built is therefore known, archaeologists do not know exactly where the tradition started nor which long barrows are the very first ones to have been built. It therefore appears that the architectural tradition developed in this southern area of Western Europe before spreading north, along the Atlantic coast. The tradition had reached Britain by

5016-413: 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

5104-450: The last chambered tombs erected was Bryn Celli Ddu in Anglesey , Wales, built long after people stopped building them across most of Western Europe. The conscious anachronism of the monument led excavators to suggest that its construction was part of a deliberate attempt by people to restore older religious practices that were extinct elsewhere. Hutton suggested that this tradition "defines

5192-558: The long barrows authored by the Welsh archaeologist Glyn Daniel was published in 1958 as The Megalith Builders of Western Europe . In 1950, Daniel stated that about a tenth of known chambered long barrows in Britain had been excavated, while regional field studies helped to list them. Few of the earlier excavations recorded or retained any human remains found in the chamber. From the 1960s onward, archaeological research increasingly focused on examining regional groups of long barrows rather than

5280-785: The long barrows likely had "broad religious and social roles" for the communities who built and used them, comparing them in this way to the churches of medieval and modern Europe. Many of the long barrows were used as tombs in which to place the remains of deceased individuals. For this reason, archaeologists like Malone have referred to them as "houses of the dead". Conversely, many of the long barrows do not appear to have been used as tombs; various examples that have been excavated by archaeologists have shown no evidence of having had human remains deposited there. The archaeologists David Lewis-Williams and David Peace, however, noted that these long barrows were more than tombs, also being "religious and social foci", suggesting that they were places where

5368-439: The long barrows typically used stone in their construction. The purpose and meaning of Early Neolithic long barrows are not known, though archaeologists can make suggestions on the basis of recurring patterns that can be observed within the tradition. Archaeologists have not, however, agreed upon the most likely meaning and purpose of these monuments, with various different interpretations being put forward. Lynch suggested that

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5456-491: The long barrows. Enviro-archaeological studies have demonstrated that many of the long barrows were erected in wooded landscapes. In Britain, these chambered long barrows are typically located on prominent hills and slopes, in particular being located above rivers and inlets and overlooking valleys. In Britain, long barrows were also often constructed near to causewayed enclosures , a form of earthen monument. Across Europe, about 40,000 long barrows are known to survive from

5544-486: The mid-fifth millennium BCE. The tradition then spread northwards, into the British Isles and then the Low Countries and southern Scandinavia. Each area developed its own variations of the long barrow tradition, often exhibiting their own architectural innovations. The purpose and meaning of the barrows remains an issue of debate among archaeologists. One argument is that they are religious sites, perhaps erected as part of

5632-624: The middle course of the River Böhme . Similarly the Meiße runs roughly along its southeastern and southern boundary (both are northeastern tributaries of the River Aller ). Near the centre of the area are the Sieben Steinhäuser (literally: seven stone houses), a group of dolmens that may be visited at weekends. East-southeast of them and not far away is a small lake, the Meiersee, through which

5720-500: The misidentification of other features. Long barrows have been confused with coniger mounds and rabbit warrens , sometimes termed pillow mounds, which can take on a similar shape. Rifle butts can also sometimes take on shapes similar to those of long barrows. Later landscaping has also led to misidentification; the two mounds at Stoke Park in Bristol , southwest England were for instance thought to be long barrows until an excavation in

5808-433: The nature of the original long barrow design. Architecturally, there is much overlap between long barrows and other monument types from Neolithic Europe, such as the bank barrows , cursus monuments , long cairns , and mortuary enclosures . Bank barrows are stylistically similar to the long barrows but are considerably longer. Cursus monuments also exhibit parallel ditches, but also extend over much longer distances than

5896-414: The neurologically generated tiered cosmos", a cosmos mediated by a system of symbols. They suggested that the entrances to the chambers were viewed as transitional zones where sacrificial rituals took place, and that they were possibly spaces for the transformation of the dead using fire. A second explanation is that these long barrows were intrinsically connected to the transition to farming, representing

5984-496: The norm until the late neolithic". Comparatively rarely, grave goods have been found interred alongside human bone inside the long barrows. Where these have been found, archaeologists have typically interpreted them as the remains of funerary ceremonies or of feasts. The choice of grave goods included reflects regional variation. In the Cotswold-Severn Group in southwestern England, cattle bones were commonly found within

6072-427: The remains of up to fifty people. Early 20th-century archaeologists began to call these monuments chambered tombs . The archaeologists Roy and Lesley Adkins referred to these monuments as megalithic long barrows . In most cases, local stone was used where it was available. The decision as to whether a long barrow used wood or stone appears to have been based largely on the availability of resources. The style of

6160-406: The site is located in the middle of a live firing range. The dolmens have Sprockhoff Numbers 806 to 810. 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

6248-541: The site's stones since at least the 1960s, while at the Coldrum Long Barrow in Kent, a rag tree has been established overhanging the barrow. Many modern Pagans view West Kennet Long Barrow as a "temple" and use it for their rituals. Some see it as a place of the ancestors where they can engage in " vision quests " and other neo-shamanic practices. Others have seen it as a womb of the Great Goddess, and as

6336-413: The sixteenth century they have attracted interest from antiquarians and archaeologists ; it is from the excavations of the latter that our knowledge about them derives. Some have been reconstructed and have become tourist attractions or sacred sites used for rituals by modern Pagan and other religious groups. Given their dispersal across Western Europe, long barrows have been given different names in

6424-414: The south and east of Britain these long barrows are typically made of earth. Many were altered and restyled over their long period of use. Ascertaining at what date a long barrow was constructed is difficult for archaeologists as a result of the various modifications that were made to the monument during the Early Neolithic. Similarly, both modifications and later damage can make it difficult to determine

6512-481: The south. Its extent roughly coincides with the geographical area known as the Heidmark . The terrain is between 28 and 150 m above  sea level (NN) . The central part of the training area consists of two areas of heathland ( Heide ) known as Lohheide und Osterheide , which have not been under any local administrative control since 1945. Surrounding this are a number of areas of marsh known in German as

6600-476: 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 situ . 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

6688-465: The southeastern side, but only the pair of supporting pillars are left. 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 7.0 x 2.2 m. Of the entrance in the middle, only the southern pillar remains. The relatively short chamber of Grave C consists of three supporting stones on

6776-674: The southern edge of the ditch around the long barrow. The barrow at Wayland's Smithy in Oxfordshire, also in southeast England, saw a cemetery established around the long barrow, with at least 46 skeletons buried in 42 graves, many having been decapitated. 17 Romano-British burials were discovered at Wor Barrow in Dorset, eight of which were missing their heads. The deposition of coins around long barrows also appears to have been quite common in Roman Britain, and these may have been placed by these monuments as offerings. A hoard of Constantinian coins

6864-467: The sparse population and the varied landscape this area was selected for creating the largest exercise area for Germany's armed forces, the Wehrmacht . On 15 September 1934 the news of the establishment of a training area reached the farmers resident there. On 1 October 1934 the farmers affected by the relocation assembled at the Sieben Steinhäuser for a counsel. A delegation went that same day to Goslar to

6952-650: The stones in a north-south direction. 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 ammunition 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. The Sieben Steinhäuser gravesite

7040-498: The training areas at Ehra-Lessien and Lübtheen . There are several places of interest within the Bergen-Hohne Training Area: In the area of Lohheide : In the area of Osterheide and its neighbourhood: 52°48′0″N 9°49′0″E  /  52.80000°N 9.81667°E  / 52.80000; 9.81667 Long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in

7128-694: The various different languages of this region. The term barrow is a southern English dialect word for an earthen tumulus, and was adopted as a scholarly term for such monuments by the 17th-century English antiquarian John Aubrey . Synonyms found in other parts of Britain included low in Cheshire , Staffordshire , and Derbyshire , tump in Gloucestershire and Hereford , howe in Northern England and Scotland, and cairn in Scotland. Another term to have achieved international usage has been dolmen ,

7216-432: The wider architectural tradition. From this decade onward, the meticulous excavation of various long barrows also led to the widespread recognition that long barrows were often multi-phase monuments which had been changed over time. Up until the 1970s, archaeologists widely believed that the long barrows of Western Europe were based on Near Eastern models. Archaeological investigation of long barrows has been hindered by

7304-573: Was established during the third millennium BC during the neolithic 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

7392-451: Was for instance placed in a pot around Julliberrie's Grave. A solitary coin from the reign of Allectus was found in the ditch around the long barrow at Skendleby I. The first serious study of chambered long barrows took place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the mounds that covered chambers were removed by agriculture. By the nineteenth century, antiquarians and archaeologists had come to recognise this style of monument as

7480-404: Was often connected to the idea that they were the holy sites of a new religion spread by either settlers or missionaries. This explanation has been less popular with archaeologists since the 1970s. Adopting an approach based in cognitive archaeology , Lewis-Williams and Pearce argued that the chambered long barrows "reflected and at the same time constituted... a culturally specific expression of

7568-412: 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

7656-502: Was the head gamekeeper ( Leibjäger ) to King George V of Hanover , the last king of Hanover. In commemoration of the event, the "Wolf Rock" ( Wolfsstein ) was erected there in 1892. In 2012, wolves were once again sighted in the training area. The first plans for establishing the military training area were laid in August 1934 as part of the military re-armament of the German Reich . Due to

7744-427: Was therefore seen by Early Neolithic Europeans as an ordeal to be overcome or an honourable job to be selected for. In some chambers, human remains were arranged and organised according to the type of bone or the age and sex of the individual that they came from, factors that determined which chamber they were placed in. Lynch noted that "the bulk of our surviving evidence suggests that collectivity became and remained

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