Großsteingrab Stöckheim, Neolithic dolmen in Rohrberg, Germany
Großsteingrab Stöckheim is a Großdolmen-type megalithic tomb of the Neolithic Tiefstichkeramik culture, lying on a flat north-south oriented mound just south of Stöckheim. Its trapezoidal chamber, 9.2 m long and 1.8 to 2.2 m wide, was built from 16 supporting stones and four capstones; two supports have fallen and the three southern capstones are toppled. The northern capstone, 4.5 m long, 2.9 m wide and about 22 tonnes, remains in place, with over 80 cup marks worked into its surface.
The tomb belongs to the Neolithic Tiefstichkeramik culture and was first documented in 1843 by Johann Friedrich Danneil. In 1883 Hermann Dietrichs and Ludolf Parisius visited and published a report, and in the 1890s Eduard Krause and Otto Schoetensack recorded the Altmark tombs again. Since 1972 the association "Junge Archäologen der Altmark" has cleaned the site annually, and in 2003–04 it was surveyed in a joint project of the state heritage office, the Danneil Museum and the association.
Local legends give the tomb a cultural life: one names it the grave of the biblical giant Goliath, who supposedly fled to Stöckheim and whose golden chain cut the deep groove on the northern capstone. Another tells of underground beings living in the chamber and swapping an Ahlum steward's daughter for a changeling.
The site sits in a rural setting south of Stöckheim village and can be reached by walking through fields and along local paths. Good visibility of the structure is easiest during seasons when vegetation is thinner around the stone blocks.
The northern covering stone, the largest preserved capstone of any megalithic tomb in the Altmark, still lies in its original position. It measures 4.5 m long, 2.9 m wide and 0.8 m thick, and weighs about 22 tonnes. Its surface carries over 80 carved cup marks, and a deep groove at its southwest corner is popularly called a "blood groove".
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