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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Aug 22, 2003, 19:27
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The German juggernauts that are the hunen-bett's are but the Main bulk of Northern Europe's 'entirely-created-with-post-glacial-erratics' megalithic sites. In an effort to sweep away the notion that the Dutch hunebetts is all there is to see in Northern Europe (these are an appendix of a huge area reaching NW Poland in the east and S Sweden in the North), I would like to highlight the Saxon areas immediately east of Drenthe (where the Dutch sites are) up towards Denmark and eastwards towards Mecklenburg (the north of the former German Democratic Republic). Although the nazis and their extensive motorway and road building programme cleared away 90% of them, the numbers are still in the 1000s especially in those areas far from the main industrial centres of the west (like rural Mecklenburg). Many years ago, in Balfour's guide of European Megalithic sites (Megalithic Mysteries), I read that 20,000 sites have been catalogued in Denmark. We all know that that might well be a ridiculous number, as site-counting often include all sorts of various paraphernalia and dodgy old-fashioned methods (a bit like US vote counting). I have only been to Denmark once (Arhus) and I need a good overview of their main graves now so as to compare them with their southern German counterparts. Now, the thing that bothers me is, Denmark has no proper website about their stones and I do not know of any books on Danish sites ??? (except http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/dolmens.html)
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Buck 33 posts |
Aug 23, 2003, 10:19
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This book might help for overview of Demark evidence... An Ethnography of the Neolithic Early Prehistoric Societies in Southern Scandinavia by Christopher Tilley best - buck :)
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no_neck 62 posts |
Aug 23, 2003, 17:43
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Agree with Mr. Quam. But it's the shame of postwar Germans whose still scared to look after their 'hun's beds' so it's left to the scrubulously tidy Dutch to do the business. If the German could just do something with Thuinne the Europeans would understand. The Hummlings too. By the way, the 20,000 Danish claim is spurious to say the least - count every rune stone and mound and you might get close I spose.
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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Aug 24, 2003, 11:36
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thanks buck, gotta get that one - got a wonderful title there too!
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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Aug 24, 2003, 11:55
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Exactly. I have the feeling Scandinavian and German prehistory includes most of the Dark Ages whereas in most parts of Europe prehistory was barbarian for not such a long time and the Neolithic is clearly delimited. One mustn't forget that, in opposition to everywhere else in Britain and the Continent, the Romans never got near there and Odin carried on til the Middle Ages until the adoption of Christianity. For instance, I've been reading about an extensive research of the Baltic coast in Germany and much of it includes early Germanic and Slavic prehistory (!?) However, I am intrigued by monuments like Ales Stenar, who, although they are viking stone ships no doubt, may date to an earlier time. A sort of Neolithic precursor that the Vikings and other Indoeuropeans found and imitated on a massive scale without understanding the purpose or essential alignments with the sun etc when they eventually took over European megalithia. Therefore, one must keep an open mind. The proper number of remaining Danish 'dolmens' is around 5,300 plus the 400 or so in Southern Sweden, which include a gorgeous collection of passage graves. As for the Germans, I have been met with the blank faces of some prehistorians when I have asked them about their concept of Prehistory. It seems that showing an excessive interest in that part of German history is a no-zone. German history in schools begings with the Third Reich and finishes with the Third Reich, which is fine to a certain extent, since most other famous countries still hide their own abuses, mistakes and genocides under the carpet and would not dare put them under discussion. However, most of the rest of history is ignored to the detriment of the sites and their preservation. But, as I said before, and in spite of all that, wonderful sites there are all over Germany, and on a massive scale. The Dutch keep a cute little display on the long high ridge that is the Honsrug but that may be because it's all they have. Most of the Netherlands was water 5000 years ago and there were no borders that distinguished those groups from the huge bulk of the hunebetts further east.
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