Niedertiefenbach (megalithic tomb)
Encyclopedia
The Niedertiefenbach tomb is a megalith
ic tomb located near Beselich
-Niedertiefebach in Hesse
, Germany
. It belongs to the Wartberg culture
of the Central European Later Neolithic
. It is of special importance in Central European prehistory
because of the sequence of collective burial layers contained within it.
, is located on a slight rise near the village of Niedertiefenbach, about two km north of the river Lahn
. Visible from the tomb is the hill of Steeden
which bore a prehistoric Rössen culture
settlement and contained at least two cave
s with prehistoric activity. The Steeden sites have all been destroyed by quarrying. Similarly, no trace of the tomb is visible in situ.
and Kassel
basin groups of tombs). Its height can be determined, as the tops of the orthostaths had not been destroyed by ploughing; it was low, at 0.8 to 0.88 m. In 1859, one slab remained of the ceiling. It is not clear whether the ceiling was entirely of stone, or a mixture of stone, wood and other materials. It is similarly unclear whether it was built in a pit (like its counterparts in the general region) and whether it was once covered by a mound.
The state of the skeletons recovered, all of them inarticulate or only partially articulate, placed in a sequence of distinct layers, indicates that the dead were either allowed to decay partially outside the tomb (excarnation
), or that their remains were reorganised after partial or complete decomposition within the tomb. It is doubtful whether the bodies entered the tomb through its entrance, as the uppermost levels of burials are only 30 cm under the top of the orthostaths. Interestingly, the same doubt has been raised on different grounds, namely the narrow Seelenloch entrances, at Züschen
, Lohra
and Altendorf
.
Phase 1 (layers 10–7):
Layer 10a, on the floor of the chamber, included a pyramid of bones (six skulls mixed with short and long bones, including the near-complete skeleton of a child), as well as a pair of legs lying parallel to the chamber.
Layer 10 had two articulated skeletons, lying on their back with their arms crossed on the chest, at right angles to the chamber.
Layer 9 consisted of several caches of longbones, mostly parallel to the chamber, and the bottom halves of three articulated skeletons at right angles to the chamber.
Layer 8 contained three badly preserved, but articulate, skeletons, this time parallel to the chamber, again with the arms crossed over the body.
Layer 7 had inarticulate bone remains mixed with many stones; it was separated from layer 6 above it by a deposit of earth. It included a skull accompanied by a flint knife.
Phase 2 (layers 6–3):
Layer 6 was also quite mixed, but had a grouping of long bones in the north, a nest of five skulls and a copper spiral further south, as well as individual skull set off by a stone setting. Also in layer 6, a row of skulls running across the chamber near the partition wall was started, which contained through 5 and 4a.
Layers 5 and 4 appear to follow a different pattern from previous practice. Apart from the above-mentioned row, skulls are mainly placed along the west, bones to the east, long bones in the north and parallel to the chamber. Most of the copper and amber finds were from these layers. They were covered with a paving-like deposit of large carefully placed limestone slabs.
Phase 3 (layers 2–1):
Layer 2, on top of the limestone slabs, contained three skulls and two partially articulated lower bodies, parallel to the chamber, as well as some long bones.
Layer 1, the top of the burial deposit, had a mixture of short and long bones spread all over the excavated area, as well as more than fifteen skulls.
No complete skeletons were found, but the bones encountered were quite well preserved. On the basis of the thighbones, there were 60 male adults, 53 female adults, 11 youths over 14, 10 children over 7, 29 children under 7 and 14 further individuals of undeterminable age; i.e. a total of 177. The males had an average height of 1.68 m, the females of 1.53 m. One adult, and one young child, displayed signs of violent injury with a tool.
Ten dog canines, two dog mandibles and two animal bones carved to look like dog (or wolf) teeth are comparable to finds from other Wartberg tombs and might have a totem
ic or talisman
ic significance. A pierced fossilised seashell was also found.
beads were found, virtually all of them from phase 2. Amber is not locally available and was probably imported from the Baltic
.
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
ic tomb located near Beselich
Beselich
- Location :Beselich lies on the northeast edge of the Limburg Basin , on the edge of the Lahn valley, on the southeast slope of the Westerwald 220 m above sea level. Visible from far away is the Beselicher Kopf . The brooks Tiefenbach, Kerkerbach and Brandbach flow through the municipal area...
-Niedertiefebach in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It belongs to the Wartberg culture
Wartberg culture
The Wartberg culture , sometimes: Wartberg group or Collared bottle culture is a prehistoric culture of the later Central European Neolithic...
of the Central European Later Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
. It is of special importance in Central European prehistory
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
because of the sequence of collective burial layers contained within it.
Location
The tomb, or gallery graveGallery grave
A Gallery grave is a form of Megalithic tomb where there is no size difference between the burial chamber itself and the entrance passage. Two parallel walls of stone slabs were erected to form a corridor and covered with a line of capstones. The rectangular tomb was covered with a barrow or a cairn...
, is located on a slight rise near the village of Niedertiefenbach, about two km north of the river Lahn
Lahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
. Visible from the tomb is the hill of Steeden
Steeden
Steeden is an Australian sporting goods manufacturer, best known for producing rugby league footballs.Steeden is the official ball supplier of the National Rugby League , Rugby League State of Origin, Kangaroos National Team, New South Wales Rugby League, Queensland Rugby League, Rugby Football...
which bore a prehistoric Rössen culture
Rössen culture
The Rössen Culture is a Central European culture of the middle Neolithic .It is named after the necropolis of Rössen...
settlement and contained at least two cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
s with prehistoric activity. The Steeden sites have all been destroyed by quarrying. Similarly, no trace of the tomb is visible in situ.
Date
The tomb belongs to the Hessian-Westphalian stone cist group (Hessisch-Westfälische Steinkistengruppe), which is part of the Wartberg culture. It dates to before 3000 BC but was in use for several generations, straddling the 4th and 3rd millennia.Discovery and excavation
The site was first noticed and identified as a prehistoric monument by K. Rossel in 1859. In 1874, the southern part of the monument was blown up, probably because it was inconvenient for agriculture. Much human bone material was removed at that time. The tomb was rediscovered by H. Wurm in 1961, and excavated in the same year by H. Schoppa.Tomb architecture
Despite the late 19th century damage, the overall size of the tomb can be estimated at 10 by 3.2 m (outside measurements). Unusually among the Wartberg tombs, it was oriented north–south. The tomb was built of unworked limestone slabs (0.3 to 0.8 m thick) from Steeden (2 km to the south). The relatively large gaps between the slabs were filled with drystone walling (a feature well known from gallery graves elsewhere in Europe, but not familiar within the LahnLahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
and Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
basin groups of tombs). Its height can be determined, as the tops of the orthostaths had not been destroyed by ploughing; it was low, at 0.8 to 0.88 m. In 1859, one slab remained of the ceiling. It is not clear whether the ceiling was entirely of stone, or a mixture of stone, wood and other materials. It is similarly unclear whether it was built in a pit (like its counterparts in the general region) and whether it was once covered by a mound.
Tomb interior
The final 2.7 m of the chamber, near the north end, is set off as a separate compartment by two vertically set slabs, leaving a 60 cm gap in the middle. The chamber formed by these slabs had two unconnected areas of cobbled floor, one of larger slabs in the west, and one of rubble in the east. Two postholes set in front of the back wall might indicate internal supports for a ceiling.The state of the skeletons recovered, all of them inarticulate or only partially articulate, placed in a sequence of distinct layers, indicates that the dead were either allowed to decay partially outside the tomb (excarnation
Excarnation
In archaeology and anthropology, the term, excarnation , refers to the burial practice of removing the flesh and organs of the dead, leaving only the bones....
), or that their remains were reorganised after partial or complete decomposition within the tomb. It is doubtful whether the bodies entered the tomb through its entrance, as the uppermost levels of burials are only 30 cm under the top of the orthostaths. Interestingly, the same doubt has been raised on different grounds, namely the narrow Seelenloch entrances, at Züschen
Züschen (megalithic tomb)
The Züschen tomb is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a gallery grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist , it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe...
, Lohra
Lohra (megalithic tomb)
The Lohra tomb was a megalithic monument outside Lohra near Marburg in north central Hesse, Germany. It is one of the lesser known among its type in Central Europe. It dates to the late Neolithic, probably just after 3000 BC...
and Altendorf
Altendorf (megalithic tomb)
The Altendorf tomb was an important megalithic tomb at Altenburg near Naumburg, northern Hesse, Germany. It was a gallery grave belonging to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture...
.
Sequence
Careful excavation in the undestroyed part of the tomb revealed ten discernible layers of burials (numbered 1–10 in the order of discovery from the top down, i.e. the reverse to the order of deposition), most of them consisting of disarticulate, often sorted, groups of bones. The ten layers could be grouped in three phases .Phase 1 (layers 10–7):
Layer 10a, on the floor of the chamber, included a pyramid of bones (six skulls mixed with short and long bones, including the near-complete skeleton of a child), as well as a pair of legs lying parallel to the chamber.
Layer 10 had two articulated skeletons, lying on their back with their arms crossed on the chest, at right angles to the chamber.
Layer 9 consisted of several caches of longbones, mostly parallel to the chamber, and the bottom halves of three articulated skeletons at right angles to the chamber.
Layer 8 contained three badly preserved, but articulate, skeletons, this time parallel to the chamber, again with the arms crossed over the body.
Layer 7 had inarticulate bone remains mixed with many stones; it was separated from layer 6 above it by a deposit of earth. It included a skull accompanied by a flint knife.
Phase 2 (layers 6–3):
Layer 6 was also quite mixed, but had a grouping of long bones in the north, a nest of five skulls and a copper spiral further south, as well as individual skull set off by a stone setting. Also in layer 6, a row of skulls running across the chamber near the partition wall was started, which contained through 5 and 4a.
Layers 5 and 4 appear to follow a different pattern from previous practice. Apart from the above-mentioned row, skulls are mainly placed along the west, bones to the east, long bones in the north and parallel to the chamber. Most of the copper and amber finds were from these layers. They were covered with a paving-like deposit of large carefully placed limestone slabs.
Phase 3 (layers 2–1):
Layer 2, on top of the limestone slabs, contained three skulls and two partially articulated lower bodies, parallel to the chamber, as well as some long bones.
Layer 1, the top of the burial deposit, had a mixture of short and long bones spread all over the excavated area, as well as more than fifteen skulls.
Anthropology
An anthrolopological study of the remains was undertaken. The minimum numbers calculated from the 1961 material reflect only part of the original deposit, as the 19th century disturbance probably removed much of the originally present bone materials.No complete skeletons were found, but the bones encountered were quite well preserved. On the basis of the thighbones, there were 60 male adults, 53 female adults, 11 youths over 14, 10 children over 7, 29 children under 7 and 14 further individuals of undeterminable age; i.e. a total of 177. The males had an average height of 1.68 m, the females of 1.53 m. One adult, and one young child, displayed signs of violent injury with a tool.
Stone tools
Two flint arrowheads and a scraper were found on the bottom of the tomb, and a further flint knife in layer 7. The tomb also contained some flint chippings.Bone
The amount of animal bone found was unusually low. There were fifteen bones and three teeth of cattle, one dog or wolf bone and two unidentified animal bones.Ten dog canines, two dog mandibles and two animal bones carved to look like dog (or wolf) teeth are comparable to finds from other Wartberg tombs and might have a totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
ic or talisman
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
ic significance. A pierced fossilised seashell was also found.
Amber
21 amberAmber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
beads were found, virtually all of them from phase 2. Amber is not locally available and was probably imported from the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
.
Metal
While poor in other finds, the tomb was remarkably rich in metal, especially copper. Six copper spirals were found, one from phase 1, the rest from phase 2. They are among the earliest metal finds in that part of Europe. The presence of several copper ornaments probably places phases 2 and 3 of the Niedertiefenbach tomb, but not necessarily its erection, in late Wartberg, after 3000 BC.See also
- Wartberg cultureWartberg cultureThe Wartberg culture , sometimes: Wartberg group or Collared bottle culture is a prehistoric culture of the later Central European Neolithic...
- Züschen (megalithic tomb)Züschen (megalithic tomb)The Züschen tomb is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a gallery grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist , it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe...
- Altendorf (megalithic tomb)Altendorf (megalithic tomb)The Altendorf tomb was an important megalithic tomb at Altenburg near Naumburg, northern Hesse, Germany. It was a gallery grave belonging to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture...
- Lohra (megalithic tomb)Lohra (megalithic tomb)The Lohra tomb was a megalithic monument outside Lohra near Marburg in north central Hesse, Germany. It is one of the lesser known among its type in Central Europe. It dates to the late Neolithic, probably just after 3000 BC...