Unchambered long barrow

Since the 1980s, barrows of the Passy type, part of the Cerny culture, have been discovered in the French département of Essonne in the Paris Basin. These are not, however, megalithic structures.

Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities. Their emergence and function are a hallmark of social development.

Unchambered long barrows of the Funnelbeaker culture

In the region occupied by the peoples of the Funnelbeaker culture (TBK), unchambered long barrows fall into the megalith category because, in many cases, their generally very low mounds, which are located mainly along the lower reaches of the rivers Elbe (Lower Elbe), Oder and Vistula, have an enclosure of megaliths, about one metre high. Due to their small dimensions they were not suitable for constructing chambers, which is why there are no chambers made of large stone blocks. The enclosures (see Nordic megalith architecture) are trapezoidal or rectangular. East of the River Oder they are often trapezoidal or triangular with rounded tips, (Mound 9 at Sarnowo, near Konin, Poland) mostly, however, without transverse walls (megalithic and non-megalithic) dividing them into separate chambers. The site of Kritzow (Ludwigslust-Parchim), has guardian stones higher than a man. Apart from the sites researched by Ewald Schuldt in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Gnewitz, Rothenmoor and Stralendorf there are a further 11 in the area and five more examples in the forest of Sachsenwald. One group of three grave sites was first discovered in 1969 in the Alt Plestliner Holz, Vorpommern-Greifswald. One of these enclosures is 80 metres long. Five unchambered barrows were investigated in the 19th century by J. Ritter in the county of Hagenow.

All these sites are characterized by clearly defined mounds of stone (cobbles), which are covered beneath the mound with packed boulders. In the complex of Stralendorf (Ludwigslust-Parchim county) were six such mounds of cobbles, lying transversely and longitudinally, bounded by a 125-metre-long trapezoidal enclosure. Such mounds are sometimes found outside the enclosures or are found in or adjacent to barrows in which there are chambers, for example, in two of the four barrows of Grundoldendorf. The barrow of Alter Hau in the forest of Sachsenwald has a length of 154 metres and is one of the longest sites in Nordic megalith architecture.

The Tinnum long barrow (Langbett von Tinnum) on the island of Sylt is a long barrow that has neither a chamber nor a megalithic enclosure, but is constructed of stones about the size of a football. It clearly represents a transitional type.

If one considers sites without stone enclosures, whose mound had an enclosure of wooden posts in the past, of which there is now little trace, then the category of unchambered long barrows widens further, for example, to include the Tinnum long barrow, Barkjær (in Djursland) or Danica Nørremark (on Jutland). These so-called "Konens Høj type (Danish) or Niedźwiedź type graves (Polish) are especially common in the Funnelbeaker culture area east of the River Oder.