”klokkehøj” at Bøjden. A dolmen with preserved primary grave from southwest Funen.

Abstract

»Klokkehøj« at Bøjden. A dolmen with preserved primary grave from southwest Funen

The dolmen »Klokkehøj« at Bøjden, at the tip of the peninsula Horneland near Fåborg, was investigated and restored in 1977. Its condition prior to the investigation is shown in fig. 1.

The chamber

The chamber, which is oriented WNW-ESE, originally had five orthostats: two in each long side and an enormous inclined end stone in the west gable, fig. 2. A high entrance stone in the east gable comprises the fourth wall of the chamber. The south long side lacks one stone while the other stone (B) had tumbled into the chamber. Three stones (D-E-F) bear large scars from attempts at blasting. The lintel is missing. The stones of the long walls are set on packings of smaller stones to make them stand at approximately the same level as the floor of the chamber. However, the inclined stones of the gable ends are buried 10-30 cm beneath the floor level and lean against the stones of the long walls.

The building process can be reconstructed on the basis of observations made at the excavation. The four stones of the long sides must have been erected first. As they were placed in balance, it was easy to support them so that they would not topple. Their height and stability was regulated with small blocks and the support of stone wedges at the foot of each orthostat. The stones of the short sides were then put in place, supported by the already erected stones. Finally, the height was adjusted by digging under the inclined stones.

The obtuse angle between the stones in one of the long sides seems to have been necessitated by the construction; the shortest side determined the length of the chamber, which was, in principle, a rectangle. Where the opposite pair of stones was wider, the two stones had to be placed so that the long sides were more or less bent.

The construction with inclined end stones allowed for a relatively large floor area in relation to the ceiling surface which determined the size of the lintel.

The chamber was an irregular oval with an area of about 1.0 - 1.9 X 3. 10 m. The height to the ceiling was originally 1.75 m. The height of the opening between the lintel and the high entrance stone had been 0.6-0. 7 m.

A good deal of the solid dry-wall construction was preserved between all the stones, fig. 2-3. Investigation of the preserved remainder of the barrow showed that the walls of the chamber were covered by a layer of clay which had apparently served as a binder material between the slabs. In other words, there was a sort of walling in which the slabs were laid with a plastic clay material.

The floor was an extremely solid compound construction. At the bottom there was a layer of flat sandstone slabs laid directly on the light sandy subsoil, fig. 2-3. Above this was a thin layer of small beach pebbles filling out alle the cracks between the slabs. Then came a 1-5 cm thick layer of clay, the surface of which bore traces of fire. This clay layer was partially covered by a thin layer of crushed white-burnt flint.

The dolmen type

»Klokkehøj« may be considered a special variant of the extended dolmen. This variant is primarily characterized by an enormous inclined end stone and an equally inclined high entrance stone. Both of these stones are supported by the two upright stones in each long side. In principle the ground plan is rectangular, but as the support stones in the one long side often form an obtuse angle, the maximum width of the chamber is most frequently at the middle of the chamber.

There seem to have been many dolmens of this type in the region around Fåborg. A nearby dolmen chamber, »Klokkestenen« on Lyø, gives a good impression of the original appearance of »Klokkehøj«, fig. 5.

This dolmen type also appears throughout the southwestern area of distribution of the extended dolmen: south Jutland and Holstein. However, it seems to be absent, or at least less apparent, on Zealand and Lolland-Falster.

The burials

Besides the nearly complete skeleton of the primary grave, the chamber contained more than 500 single bones. The majority of the bones, most of which were broken, lay scattered or in small piles in a 0.4-0.5 m thick sand layer, fig. 11. Beneath this layer, resting on the clay floor of the chamber, lay the skeleton of the primary grave.

Fig. 11 shows all of the bones which were plotted. It appears that the bones were mainly found in the northern part of the chamber, where there seem to have been no significant disturbances. In the south half there are traces of considerable digging (compare fig. 7) which probably occurred in connection with the partial destruction of the chamber some time before 1885. The skeletal material represents at least twenty-two individuals. The oldest burials must be dated to the transition from the early to the middle Neolithic period, while the secondary use of the dolmen chamber occurred in the closing phase of the Funnel Beaker culture (MN V) or possibly the transition to the Single Grave culture.

Primary grave layers: Fig. 6-7 show the relatively complete skeleton of the primary grave. Its placement indicated that the corpse had been stretched out on its back. The neck may have rested against the stone which was found in a corner of the chamber.

The buried person was a 20-35 year-old man, 175-180 cm tall. The skeleton has been carbon-14 dated (K-2954): 2600 B.C. C-14 (3370 B.C. calibrated). A relatively high C13 value (- 18,1 0/00) indicates that a considerable percentage of man's diet came from the sea.

By the skeleton's left wrist was a dagger-shaped bone implement, fig. 8, which had been placed on the outer side or edge of the wrist, point upwards. Aside from a similar Danish find from Dragsholm, the closest parallels are three male graves from Brseść Kujawski in Poland, where similar ornamented bone plates were placed as in the two Danish graves. The bone plates can hardly be daggers. Their presence in a male grave and by the left wrist makes it tempting to interpret these implements as wrist protecters for archers. However, this interpretation may be called into question by the fact that the Danish finds seem to have been placed on the outer side of the wrist, and the presumed traces of wear on the »Klokkehøj« piece run up along the edges.

Close to the north side of the skeleton of the primary grave lay the cranium of a 5 year-old child, fig. 7,6. The find conditions indicate a relationship with the buried man.

The ground plan, fig. 7, shows that the man's grave and the presumable related child's grave lay north of the central axis of the chamber. This raises the question of whether there might also be burials in the southern half of the chamber. Although there is no certain evidence to this effect, a small collection of bones found by the right upper arm of the male skeleton, fig. 7, 7, indicates that this may have been the case. The bones derive from the left shoulder and arm of a single adult but were not found in the proper anatomical relationship to one another.

The east corner of the chamber yielded both a collared flask, fig. 7,3, the body of which was filled with burnt flint, fig. 10, and two funnel beakers, fig. 7,2 and 7,4.

The material and ornamentation of the fluted funnel beaker (fig. 9 A) were so alike that the pieces are thought to comprise a set with a common origin. This theory seems confirmed by the fact that the clay of both seems similar, with regard to type and tempering. However, the tempering material of the bottle contained fire-brick, whereas only crushed granite was used for the funnel beaker. The clay used for the other funnel beaker was so dissimilar that this vessel must have an entirely different origin from that of the two others.

The clay vessels are dated to the transition between the early and the middle Neolithic period, and the fluting argues for a dating of the bottle and the matching funnel beaker to the Fuchsberg phase.

Aside from the finds already mentioned, the level of the primary grave layer contained about twenty small bones or bone fragments together with an amber disc, fig. 13,7; there were also two transverse arrows, fig. 13, 1-2, one of which was found beneath the collarbone of the skeleton. Whether these finds should be attributed to the special conditions inherent in burials in an accessible earth-free grave or to recent disturbances is impossible to determine. It is also conceivable that some of the finds come from earlier burials. In this case the term primary grave is misleading.

Secondary grave layers: Prior to the excavation, the chamber was partially filled with a layer of boulders up to 0.5 m thick. Various recent objects were found among these stones. Beneath the layer was a 0.4-0.5 m thick sand layer, in which the systematic surface excavation turned up over five hundred objects, mostly broken bones and about twenty artifacts, mainly sherds, fig. 11.

In the light sand fill of the secondary grave layer were three large concentrations of bones, fig. 12, I-III. One of these heaps (I) can hardly be very old, while the two others are presumed to have been deposited in the closing phase of the Funnel Beaker culture.

Predominant among the sixty bones and bone fragments in bone heap I were craniums and the largest limb bones. This heap included two complete thigh bones and twenty-one thigh bone fragments together with ten shin-bone fragments, while the more fragile fibula was represented by only a single fragment. One of the complete thigh bones could with certainty be ascribed to the skeleton of the primary grave. This means that bone heap I is in all probability later than the recent digging in the south part of the chamber.

Bone heaps II and III appeared in the part of the chamber where no traces of later disturbances could be detected. In both cases the greatest number of bones was found close to the orthostats. Bone heap II was comprised of slightly more than fifty bones or bone fragments (43 find numbers); bone heap III was more than twice as large (113 find numbers). At both places all of the large limb bones and craniums were broken to pieces whereas the small and medium-sized bones were often completely preserved.

In bone heap II a number of bones lay in the proper anatomical relationship to each other. An example is the four vertebrae of a child. In other cases there were small bundles of ribs arranged parallel to one another. There were some cases of connected vertebrae.

The physical anthropological examination proved that the bone heaps are not special units constituted only of one or very few skeletons. Nor did the heaps include all the bones from the skeletons which were represented. For example, it appeared that bone heap II contained the remains of at least six persons: no less than two adults and four children (aged 5-6 years, 7-8 years, »over 7« years, and 14 years). Of these, the »over 7« year-old was represented by the connected vertebrae, a thigh bone, and a shin bone. The 14 year­old was represented by the left upper arm, a left elbow bone, a radius, and what was presumably a thigh bone and a shin bone. A vertebrae and a hip bone, which with great probability can be identified as belonging to, respectively, the child and the teenager, are found in the compact part of bone heap III. The vertebra from bone heap III in fact fits together with the set of vertebrae from bone heap II.

The total bone material represents at least twenty-two persons: thirteen adults and nine children -most probably the highest number known from any Danish dolmen. By far the majority of these must be attributed to the secondary burial phase. Three C-14 datings (K-3012-4) of thigh bones chosen at random from each of the three bone heaps (2300, 2250, and 2190 B. C. - C-14) ascribed the secondary burials to the closing phase of the Funnel Beaker period (MN V), possibly the transition to the Single Grave culture.

In the disturbed part of the chamber fill appeared the finds in fig. 13, 3-6, and fig. 14, together with seven unornamented sherds and four animal bones (cow, calf, and sheep). The band-ornamented sherds, fig. 14, 1-5, come from one or more of the bowls of the Troldebjerg phase (MN la). However, the two sherds, fig. 14, 7-8, belong to the closing phase of the Funnel Beaker culture (MN V).

Comparison of the scientific and archaeological datings indicates that burials were carried out in the dolmen in two -and probably only two- relatively brief phases.

The grave types: A survey of older dolmen finds confirms that the dolmen builders lay the dead extended supine and that clay vessels were most often placed by the feet of the corpse. In chambers with openings for the entrance the corpse seems as a rule to have been placed with its head facing away from the entrance, which is why the clay vessels are most often found just inside the entrance or threshold stone. It is therefore concluded that the primary grave of »Klokkehøj« represents a typical dolmen grave; furthermore, that this grave form does not seem to differ significantly from those which characterize the early Neolithic earth graves.

Similarly, the secondary grave layers of »Klokkehøj« are characteristic of the burial form known from the late Funnel Beaker culture in the passage graves which probably are cases of bone deposition but not of actual burials. Skeletization seems to have occurred outside the chamber, as indicated by a striking lack of small bones. In fact, only about fifteen foot bones were found out of a possible eight hundred and only six hand bones, also out of a possible eight hundred.

The two burial phases of »Klokkehøj« seem to represent two widely differing burial forms; thus they testify to a radical change in funerary customs at some time in the course of the middle Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture. The lack of undisturbed primary burials in the passage graves indicates that this change took place at the same time or shortly after the building of the passage graves commenced. The earth graves from the oldest part of the middle Neolithic thus become the latest evidence of the old grave forms of the Funnel Beaker culture, while the stone heap graves must be considered parallel with the bone depositions in the passage graves.

The finding of the fragmented human skeletons in connection with the so-called fortified complex structures and their undoubted function as ceremonial structures should most probably also be fit into a new evaluation of the death cult and grave types of the Passage Grave period.

POSTSCRIPT

While this article was in preparation bones were provided -with the assistance of the Anthropological Laboratory- for a C-14 dating of the skeleton from the Kellerød dolmen (see note 61).

This skeleton is considered to represent a primary burial in a closed, cist-shaped chamber, constructed of 6 equally high supporting stones.

The result was to hand in April 1981:

K-3515 Human bones (C¹³ = - 19.2%)                 4490 ± 65 B.P. (1950)

  2450 B.C. C-14

  3300 B.C. Calibrated

The alost contemporary datings from the presumed primary burials in Kellerød and Klokkehøj (2600 B.C. C-14) seem prima facie in opposition to the theory of a gradual, unidirectional, typological development, and rather to support an interpretation of Kellerød's closed, cist-shaped chamber as contemporary with the large, open chamber of Klokkehøj.

Sven Thorsen