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In the area of present-day Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, up to 5,000 megalith tombs were erected as burial sites by people of the Neolithic Funnelbeaker (TRB) culture. More than 1,000 of them are preserved today and protected by law. Though varying in style and age, megalith structures are common in Western Europe, with those in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern belonging to the youngest and easternmost—further east, in the modern West Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland, monuments erected by the TRB people did not include lithic structures, while they do in the south (Brandenburg), west (Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein) and north (Denmark). Though megaliths are distributed throughout the state, their structure differs between regions. Most megaliths are dolmens, often located within a circular or trapezoid frame of singular standing stones. Locally, the dolmens are known as ''Hünengräber'' ("giants' tombs") or ''Großsteingräber'' ("large stone tombs"), their framework is known as ''Hünenbett'' ("giants' bed") if trapezoid or ''Bannkreis'' ("spellbind circle") if circular. The materials used for their construction are glacial erratics and red sandstones. 144 tombs have been excavated since 1945. The megaliths were used not only by the bearers of the TRB culture, but also by their successors, and have entered local folklore. ==Origin== The megaliths in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were erected as burial sites in the Neolithic, by the bearers of the Funnelbeaker (TRB) culture,〔Holtorf (2000-2008), (1.1. )〕〔Kehnscherper (1983), p. 127〕 between 3,500 and 3,200 BC.〔Schirren (2009), p. 60〕 Initially, the TRB people buried their dead in pits, often covered with mounds of clay.〔 Later, they erected dolmens for this purpose,〔 but also continued the use of flat graves.〔 All megaliths were erected during a relatively short time period, spanning about 200 years or about seven generations, with the oldest ones dating to phase C of the Early Neolithic, while most were built in the beginning of the Middle Neolithic.〔 The dolmens were built from glacial erratics, with the gaps filled with red sandstone.〔(LAKD MV: Großsteingräber. )〕 Presumably, standing stones were transported to the site using rollers, slides, levers and ropes, and the interior of the unfinished dolmens was filled with clay to form a ramp to enable the movement of the cover stones into their final position.〔 After removing the clay from the interior, a barrow (tumulus) was then raised on top of the dolmen, which remained accessible through a passage made from smaller stones.〔 In addition, single standing stones were sometimes placed around the dolmen, forming either a rectangular or trapezoidal shape (''Hünenbett''),〔 or a stone circle (''Bannkreis'').〔Kehnscherper (1983), p. 130〕 Sometimes, large singular "guardian stones" (''Wächterstein, Bautastein'') were placed adjacent to these shapes.〔 The interior of the dolmen was usually divided into small compartments by slabs of red sandstone, standing upright.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Megaliths in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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