<< Our Photo Pages >> Midlum Henkenstein - Chambered Tomb in Germany in Lower Saxony, Bremen
Submitted by Martin_L on Tuesday, 30 October 2007 Page Views: 4832
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Midlum Henkenstein Alternative Name: Sprockhoff 606Country: Germany Land: Lower Saxony, Bremen Type: Chambered Tomb
Nearest Town: Wurster Nordseeküste Nearest Village: Midlum
Latitude: 53.743068N Longitude: 8.667431E
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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DrewParsons would like to visit
CharcoalBurner89 visited on 9th Nov 2021 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Easy to get to and beautifully located, apart from the noise of the nearby motorway.
johnstone visited on 24th Jun 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4
Harald_Platta visited on 22nd Jul 2016 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4
Martin_L have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 4 Access: 4
This is the western end of a larger neolithic chambered tomb. One large capstone and 3 orthostats are still in place letting the remains look like a simple dolmen, although they are not. Some significant remains of the barrow are preserved.
According to Sprockhoff et al. (Atlas der Megalithgräber Teil 3, Textband Page 3) the tomb originally had a length of 6-8m.
Nowadays it is situated in a mixed wood, close to a motorway.
Nevertheless the place has an impressive gloomy atmosphere even at daylight.
The name of the tomb is of particular interest as it is not just named "Hünengrab" (meaning "Giant’s tomb") as most other sites in Germany, but has a historic name "Henkenstein". While the meaning of "Stein" is obvious (translates as "Stone") the term "Henken" is a matter of discussion. Andreas contributed some knowledgeable information regarding this (hopefully translated correspondingly by me):
In German "Henker" means "Hangman" and "henken" can mean "to hang sb.". Now the general question is if "Henken" really refers to an actual historic usage of the site as a place of execution, or the site is just believed to be "pagan" or thirdly just refers to the way the capstone leans on its orthostats ("hängen"/"to hang" in the sense of "to impend").
According to literature from the late 19th century the local population historically regarded the tomb as a pre-christian altar. Same literature gives no evidence of a later use of the site as a place of execution. Analysis of the settlement geography also hints, that a place of execution at an insomuch faraway location would be quite unlikely. Hence the names’ origin cannot be clarified with any certainity.
According to a comment by a local an family with the name 'Henken' lived in the area and the locality has been known as 'Henken's Heide' (Henken's heather) in historic times.
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Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
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