Added May 30, 1999. Updated December 23, 2001, 22:11:43.
This page will be updated occasionally
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Revision 1.1
Suns, Wheels and Megalithic Tombs: The
ancient Symbols on the Stone Age Tomb near Blengow, Germany.
(In Memory of
Dr. Erika Nagel)[1]
By
Maximilian O. Baldia ©
All
rights reserved May 30, 1999 to December 23, 2001
List of Figures
Figure 1. Location of Blengow
Figure 2. The displaced Blengow 1 capstone with crossed wheel or sun symbols. (Photo Baldia September 1997, Copyright 1999 ©).
Figure 3. Close-up of the capstone's center with four
wheel symbols and two drilled holes (cup marks). One of the cup marks is to the left of the 35 mm camera lens cap,
which has a diameter of 6 cm (Photo M. Baldia September 1997. Copyright 1999
©).
Figure 4. Close-up of the right side of the Blengow 1
capstone (Photo M. Baldia September 1997,
Copyright 1999 ©).
Figure 5. Close-up from the center to the right of the
Blengow 1 capstone and two rightmost, partly superimposed wheel symbols
(Photo M Baldia September 1997, Copyright 1999
©).
The megalithic tombs of southern Scandinavia, Germany, Netherland and parts of Poland exhibit virtually no decoration. The discovery of seven "circle with cross" symbols on a capstone of the megalithic tomb at Blengow in East Germany is, therefore, quite significant (Schacht 1995).
The tombs belong to the farmers of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture and were constructed between 3600/3500 - 3200/3100 cal. BC. However, the symbols occur most often centuries later during the Bronze Age. In most cases the symbols could have been pecked into the capstones of the ancient tombs long after the they had been built. In fact, a few megalithic tombs have been found below Bronze Age tumuli, possibly indicating very long-lived religious traditions.
The signs may be interpreted as sun symbols or wagon wheels. There seems to be a close connection between the sun and the wheel during the Bronze Age. Wagon tracks below an early megalithic tomb in Flintbek, North Germany may indicate a long association between wheels and tombs.
References and credits
Baldia, M. O.
1994 Megalithic
Tombs and Interregional Communication. Paper
presented at the international symposium: Megaliths and Social Geography, 13-17
May, 1994, Falköping, Sweden.
1996 From dolmen to passage- and
gallery-grave: An
interregional construction analysis. Paper delivered 25 June 1995 at
the conference on Megalithic tombs: Their Context and Construction. Kalundborg, Denmark. (Updated).
Hoika, J.
1998 Trade
and Communication within the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB) of the
Baltic Region.
Schacht, Sigrid
1995 Radkreuze und Schälchen an drei Megalithgräbern im Raum um Rerik, Kr. Bad Doberan. Ausgrabungen und Funde, 40:140-144.
Related Links
Megalithic Tomb Index : East & Central Germany
Please send comments or questions to Max Baldia.