Megalithic Tombs
SEAC 2001
Annual Meeting of the
Society for European Astronomy in Culture
Stockholm, August 27-30, 2001
Swedish megalithic tombs at Falbygden
In the area known as Falbygden in
Västergötland there were many settlements and 203 known chamber tombs
belonging to the Funnel Beaker Culture of the Middle Neolithic period
(built ca 3300 BCE). The large number of tombs and their monumental construction
witness to a relatively dense population in the area with a well-developed
social organisation. The tombs were built during a few generations only
and were meant for multiple interments. The same technique and plan were
used, and each monument consisted of a chamber entered through a covered
passage, both made of upright monoliths. In the later examples large stone
blocks covered both chambers and passages. The largest, both in Sweden
and in Scandinavia, is at Karleby and has a chamber measuring 17 m. and
a passage of 13 m. Old burials could be pushed aside to make room for
new ones. In well-preserved examples the dead were placed in small areas
marked off by small stones or in stone coffins along the walls. The tombs
were usually covered under a mound of earth that could be surrounded by
an outer ring of stones. Considerable quantities of sherds from offering
vessels were often found just outside the entrance to a passage.
The megalithic tombs of Sweden are related to
those in Denmark, which together constitute a northern variant of the
European megalithic grave culture.
The orientation of the passages could be measured
for 140 of the known 203 graves in Falbygden, without new excavations.
After correction for magnetic deviation, the azimuths were changed to
declinations taking into account the solar and lunar parallaxes and normal
refraction. It was assumed that the builders tried to direct the passage
towards the first visible rays of the sun, which means that the upper
limb of the sun was at the horizon. Analysis showed a very significant
peak at the solar declination -17.0°, which corresponds to Midwinter Day.
The peaks in the distribution of declinations correspond to orientations at sunrise 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 days before and after the Winter Solstice with
1/5 being oriented towards the rising sun at Midwinter Day, February 2nd
at the time the tombs were built.
Midwinter Day was very important in the old Swedish
calendar and both months and quarters seem to have been increments used
for dividing the year.
Photos © Göran Henriksson