Rævehøj

Facts

Stone Age engineers

By Svend Illum Hansen , Bachelor i forhistorisk arkæologi Konservator Tagdækker Sømand (13 stories)

Near Dalby two burial mounds stand out in the landscape. One, Vagthøj (Guard Mound") has never been excavated, so its contents are unknown. The other, Rævehøj ("Fox Mound"), contains one of Denmark's largest and best-preserved passage graves. On entering, the visitor has to duck down through the seven metre long entrance with its stone thresholds and doorframes. But once inside, the ceiling is 2.5 metres high, and visitors experience a completely intact burial chamber constructed almost 5,300 years ago. A stone in the wall is decorated with rock carvings in the shape of a sun symbol and wheel cross. "

Public place

Selected entry

Denmark's oldest masonry

Story written by Svend Illum Hansen

Time / Periode -3250 -3250

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The Rævehøj barrow has been investigated several times. It was excavated in 1914, when it produced large numbers of skeletal parts in both the chamber itself and passageway. But the mound outside the passage grave also contained graves from later eras. This passage grave was used for burials for two millennia. Again in 1997, further fascinating discoveries were made. In one of the well-preserved dry sandstone walls, folded birch bark was found, presumably placed as a kind of membrane which had kept the chamber dry until the present day. Radiocarbon dating of the bark revealed that the grave was constructed around 3250 BC.

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Comments to the story (2)

Arne Eckmann , a year ago

In need of an answer I had to re-read B-Joe's fine booklet on the Øm Passage Grave, from which I will translate and quote here: "Four times they bears the bones into the chamber. Progenitors mix. One from each generation. The Shaman. The Leader. In a certain spot they place the femur bones in other spots the shin, the forearms, the upper arms, the skulls, the finger bones ... places separated by upright slabs in the pavement ... Small enclosures ... Finally they shut the tomb off. Seal it with both rock and soil. Let it be. "

Arne Eckmann , a year ago

At our visit to this magnificent passage grave, Tue Jensen and I (Arne Eckmann) was wondering about the function of two thin stones in the one end of the chamber that sort of came out of the floor and almost marked a separation of a small rectangle from the rest of the chamber - what is the function of this semi separations ?