A 26-meter long gallery grave with a floor of stone slabs

Inside a chamber with a lining of fired flint, ancient secrets slumber. These Großsteingräber bei Flehm rose from Schleswig-Holstein soil between 3500 and 2800 BC. Located 500 meters south-southwest of Flehm along Rührsberger Weg, the first site features a long gallery grave 26 meters long and 8.5 meters wide. Oriented northeast and southwest, its earthen mound still reaches to the top edge of the enclosure stones. Charcoal remains were discovered in the mound.

Architecture shifts into the Holstein chamber subtype. This trapezoidal space measures 5.2 meters long, with a height of 1.50 meters. Five supporting stones stand on each long side. A closing stone lingers in the southwest narrow end, yet its northeast partner is missing. Three capstones remain: one in the southwest and two in the northeast. Entry requires navigating a 3-meter passage on the southeastern side. Two pairs of wall stones frame a 1.25-meter inner sealing plate. Outside, large slabs and rolling stones were embedded in a clay packing.

This chamber hosted the remains of several human skeletons scattered irregularly on a floor paved with stone slabs and small rolling stones. Excavation in 1953 by Ernst Sprockhoff revealed four amphorae, ten cups, and six bowls. Artifacts included three transverse arrowheads, a flint dagger, and seven amber beads. While the first grave marks the road, a second megalithic site rests 1.4 kilometers southeast at a forest edge. A third grave was discovered on the grounds of the Schweizerhof, though its exact position is unknown.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons