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Northern Europe
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Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. However, narrower definitions may also be used based on geographical factors, such as climate. Greenland, geographically a part of North America, is politically a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, while Northern Europe overlaps with most of Northwestern Europe, north-Central Europe, and Northeastern Europe, it does not border Southern Europe. Countries which are central-western, central-central, or central-eastern are generally considered part of neither Northern Europe or Southern Europe. Historically, when Europe was dominated by the Mediterranean region, everything not near this sea was termed Northern Europe, including southern Germany, all of the Low Countries and this meaning is still used today in some contexts, such as in discussions of the Northern Renaissance. In medieval times, the term Thule was used to mean a place in the extreme northern reaches of the continent. The region has a south west extreme of around 50 degrees north, the entire regions climate is mildly affected by the Gulf Stream. From the west climates vary from maritime and maritime subarctic climates, in the north and central climates are generally subarctic or Arctic and to the east climates are mostly subarctic and temperate/continental. With the exception of the United Kingdom and Ireland, Northern European countries are known for harsh winters with temperatures reaching as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius in some parts. Countries in Northern Europe have large, developed economies and some of the highest standards of living in the world and they often score highly on surveys measuring quality of life, such as the Human Development Index
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Scandinavia
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Scandinavia /ˌskændᵻˈneɪviə/ is a historical and cultural region in Northern Europe characterized by a common ethnocultural North Germanic heritage and mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. The term Scandinavia always includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the remote Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are usually not seen as a part of Scandinavia, nor is Greenland, an overseas territory of Denmark. This looser definition almost equates to that of the Nordic countries, in Nordic languages, only Denmark, Norway and Sweden are commonly included in the definition of Scandinavia. In English usage, Scandinavia sometimes refers to the geographical area, the name Scandinavia originally referred vaguely to the formerly Danish, now Swedish, region Scania. Icelanders and the Faroese are to a significant extent descended from the Norse, Finland is mainly populated by Finns, with a minority of approximately 5% of Swedish speakers. A small minority of Sami people live in the north of Scandinavia. The Danish, Norwegian and Swedish languages form a continuum and are known as the Scandinavian languages—all of which are considered mutually intelligible with one another. Faroese and Icelandic, sometimes referred to as insular Scandinavian languages, are intelligible in continental Scandinavian languages only to a limited extent, Finnish and Meänkieli are closely related to each other and more distantly to the Sami languages, but are entirely unrelated to the Scandinavian languages. Apart from these, German, Yiddish and Romani are recognized minority languages in Scandinavia, the southern and by far most populous regions of Scandinavia have a temperate climate. Scandinavia extends north of the Arctic Circle, but has mild weather for its latitude due to the Gulf Stream. Much of the Scandinavian mountains have a tundra climate. There are many lakes and moraines, legacies of the last glacial period, Scandinavia usually refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Some sources argue for the inclusion of the Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland, though that broader region is known by the countries concerned as Norden. Before this time, the term Scandinavia was familiar mainly to classical scholars through Pliny the Elders writings, and was used vaguely for Scania, as a political term, Scandinavia was first used by students agitating for Pan-Scandinavianism in the 1830s. After a visit to Sweden, Andersen became a supporter of early political Scandinavism, the term is often defined according to the conventions of the cultures that lay claim to the term in their own use. More precisely, and subject to no dispute, is that Finland is included in the broader term Nordic countries, various promotional agencies of the Nordic countries in the United States serve to promote market and tourism interests in the region. The official tourist boards of Scandinavia sometimes cooperate under one umbrella, Norways government entered one year later. All five Nordic governments participate in the joint promotional efforts in the United States through the Scandinavian Tourist Board of North America, Scandinavia can thus be considered a subset of the Nordic countries
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Northern Germany
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Northern Germany is the region in the north of Germany. Its exact area is not precisely or consistently defined but varies depending on one is taking a linguistic, geographic. Northern Germany generally refers to the Sprachraum area north of the Uerdingen and Benrath line isoglosses, however, since World War II and the immigration of expellees from the former eastern territories of Germany, its prevalence has steadily reduced. Besides which, Frisian is spoken in East and North Frisia, from a linguistic and cultural perspective, Northern Germany is linked to the Netherlands, Scandinavia and England. Additionally, Jansen/Janssen, Hansen, and Petersen are the most common surnames in the far north of Germany, which are also some of the most common surnames in Denmark. The key terrain feature of Northern Germany is the North German Plain including the marshes along the coastline of the North and Baltic Seas, as well as the geest and heaths inland. Also prominent are the low hills of the Baltic Uplands, the moraines, end moraines, sandur, glacial valleys, bogs. Likewise the Altmark in Saxony-Anhalt, the Prignitz and Uckermark areas of northern Brandenburg, culturally and socially, Northern Germany is characterized by higher levels of income equality and gender equality, relative to southern and south-western Germany. The traditional Northern German daily diet is centered around boiled potatoes, rye bread, dairy products, cabbages, cucumbers, berries, jams, fish, and pork and beef. A breakfast specialty is the Crispbread or Knäcke, eaten with a variety of such as ham, cheese, fruits. Lentil stews and soups are popular as a working lunch. Regional specialties in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony include Blutwurst or Blood sausage, another Northern German regional specialty are Hackbraten, meatloaves, made from a mixture of ground pork and beef and served with mashed potatoes, brown sauce and lingonberry jam. Many traditional meat-based lunch dishes are served boiled or mashed potatoes. Eating brunch is popular during weekends in the larger towns. In regions nearer to the coast, fish is popular, with Pickled herring. Coffee drinking is strongly rooted in Northern Germany and the Northern provinces on average consume around 8 kilograms of coffee per capita annually and this is fairly more than the 6 kilograms of coffee per capita consumed in the south. Coffee is frequently drunk four times a day, with breakfast, after lunch, in the evening at around 4, and after dinner. Many working people also drink a coffee at the workstation with the start of the days work, besides, there is a strong tradition of taking coffee breaks and visits to the café with friends and acquaintances
4.
Funnelbeaker culture
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The Funnelbeaker culture, in short TRB or TBK was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. Especially in the southern and eastern groups, local sequences of variants emerged, the younger TRB in these areas was superseded by the Single Grave culture at about 2800 BC. The north-central European megaliths were built primarily during the TRB era, the Funnelbeaker culture is named for its characteristic ceramics, beakers and amphorae with funnel-shaped tops, which were found in dolmen burials. The TRB ranges from the Elbe catchment in Germany and Bohemia with an extension into the Netherlands, to southern Scandinavia in the north. With the exception of some settlements such as Alvastra pile-dwelling. It was characterised by single-family daubed houses c.12 m x 6 m and it was dominated by animal husbandry of sheep, cattle, pigs and goats, but there was also hunting and fishing. One find assigned to the Funnelbeaker culture is the Bronocice pot from Poland, primitive wheat and barley was grown on small patches that were fast depleted, due to which the population frequently moved small distances. There was also mining and collection of flintstone, which was traded into regions lacking the stone, the culture imported copper from Central Europe, especially daggers and axes. The houses were centered on a grave, a symbol of social cohesion. Burial practices were varied, depending on region and changed over time, inhumation seems to have been the rule. The oldest graves consisted of wooden chambered cairns inside long barrows, originally, the structures were probably covered with a heap of dirt and the entrance was blocked by a stone. The Funnelbeaker culture marks the appearance of megalithic tombs at the coasts of the Baltic and of the North sea, the megalithic structures of Ireland, France and Portugal are somewhat older and have been connected to earlier archeological cultures of those areas. At graves, the people sacrificed ceramic vessels that contained food along with amber jewelry, flint-axes and vessels were also deposed in streams and lakes near the farmlands, and virtually all Swedens 10,000 flint axes that have been found from this culture were probably sacrificed in water. They also constructed large cult centres surrounded by pales, earthworks, the largest one is found at Sarup on Fyn. It comprises 85,000 m2 and is estimated to have taken 8000 workdays, another cult centre at Stävie near Lund comprises 30,000 m2. Marija Gimbutas postulated that the relationship between the aboriginal and intrusive cultures resulted in quick and smooth cultural morphosis into the Corded Ware culture. By contrast a number of archaeologists in the past have proposed that the Corded Ware culture was a purely local development from Funnel Beaker. Thus the question of continuity versus migration at the cusp of the change was of interest to geneticists specialising in ancient DNA
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Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
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Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a federal state in northern Germany. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the sixth largest German state by area, and the least densely populated, three of Germanys fourteen national parks are in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in addition to several hundred nature conservation areas. Major cities include Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wismar, the University of Rostock and the University of Greifswald are among the oldest in Europe. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was the site of the 33rd G8 summit in 2007, due to its lengthy name, the state is often abbreviated as MV or shortened to MeckPomm. In English, it is translated as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania or literally Mecklenburg-Cispomerania. Inhabitants are called either Mecklenburger or Pomeranians, the form is never used. The full name in German is pronounced and this is because the digraph <ck> marks a preceding short vowel in High German. Mecklenburg however is within the historical Low German language area, another explanation is that the c comes from a mannerism in High German officialese of writing unnecessary letters, a so-called Letternhäufelung. Human settlement in the area of modern Mecklenburg and Vorpommern began after the Ice Age, about two thousand years ago, Germanic peoples were recorded in the area. Most of them left during the Migration Period, heading towards Spain, Italy, in the 6th century Polabian Slavs populated the area. While Mecklenburg was settled by the Obotrites, Vorpommern was settled by the Veleti, along the coast, Vikings and Slavs established trade posts like Reric, Ralswiek and Menzlin. In the 12th century, Mecklenburg and Vorpommern were conquered by Henry the Lion and incorporated into the Duchy of Saxony, all of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was settled with Germans in the Ostsiedlung process, starting in the 12th century. In the late 12th century, Henry the Lion, Duke of the Saxons, conquered the Obotrites, subjugated its Nikloting dynasty, in the course of time, German monks, nobility, peasants and traders arrived to settle here. After the 12th century, the territory remained stable and relatively independent of its neighbours, Mecklenburg first became a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire in 1348. Though later partitioned and re-partitioned within the dynasty, Mecklenburg always shared a common history. The states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz became Grand Duchies in 1815, Vorpommern, litererally Fore-Pomerania, is the smaller, western part of the former Prussian Province of Pomerania, the eastern part became part of Poland after the end of World War II. In the Middle Ages, the area was ruled by the Pomeranian dukes as part of the Duchy of Pomerania, Pomerania was under Swedish rule after the Peace of Westphalia from 1648 until 1815 as Swedish Pomerania. Pomerania became a province of Prussia in 1815 and remained so until 1945, wartime In May 1945, the armies of the Soviet Union and the Western allies met east of Schwerin
6.
Simple dolmen
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The simple dolmen or primeval dolmen is an early form of dolmen or megalithic tomb that occurs especially in Northern Europe. The term was defined by archaeologist, Ernst Sprockhoff, and utilised by Ewald Schuldt in publicising his excavation of 106 megalithic sites in the north German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of neolithic communities. Their emergence and function serve as indicators of social development, in many cases there is no clear distinction between simple dolmens and stone cists. In the necropolis of Brüssow-Wollschow, in the Uckermark region, simple dolmens, the differences consist in the degree to which they are embedded and in the material used for the sidestones. In simple dolmens the sidestones consist of rubble, in stone cists of slabs, whether this was of relevance for neolithic people, remains questionable, because there are also combinations of both materials. The smallest simple dolmens occur on the Danish island of Zealand and this small size led researchers such as Hans-Jürgen Beier, to refuse to give simple dolmens the status of a megalithic site. Whether, however, the very small megalithic tombs fulfil his conditions, is still open to question. This also applies to the development of simple dolmens into extended dolmens, to its variant, the polygonal dolmen. The prototype of the dolmen is the so-called block cist, enclosed on all sides. It has no entrance and is, once closed, difficult for the less skilled user to open. It was therefore intended for a one-time use. On the island of Sylt in Schleswig-Holstein, two simple dolmens were found in a common enclosure, but there is usually only one simple dolmen within an enclosure, lying parallel to the longitudinal axis, the so-called parallel type. In Ulstrup near Gundeslevholm two of the three simple dolmens form a pair next to one another in the enclosure, the block cist in the Tykskov of Varnæs near Aabenraa and the one in the Nørreskov on Alsen lie diagonally within the enclosure. North of the River Eider about 20% of the dolmens are covered by a circular mound. Initial progress - in terms of multiple use - was achieved by the creation of an entrance, in examples that were still dug into the ground the entrance was initially made through the roof - as, for example, at Barkvieren. By dividing the ceiling into a stone and a stone that could be lifted by hand. This variant, however, is not very widespread and this development path was abandoned in favour of options using other axes of entry. The simple dolmen was now buried less deeply and the half of one of the ends was used as access
7.
Dolmen
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A dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more vertical megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone, although there are also more complex variants. Most date from the early Neolithic, Dolmens were typically covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. In many instances, that covering has weathered away, leaving only the skeleton of the burial mound intact. It remains unclear when, why, and by whom the earliest dolmens were made, the oldest known dolmens are in Western Europe, where they were set in place around 7,000 years ago. Archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens, which makes it difficult to know why they did it and they are generally all regarded as tombs or burial chambers, despite the absence of clear evidence for this. Human remains, sometimes accompanied by artefacts, have found in or close to the dolmens which could be scientifically dated using radiocarbon dating. However, it has been impossible to prove that these date from the time when the stones were originally set in place. The word dolmen has a confused history, the word entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour dAuvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his Origines gauloises using the spelling dolmin. The name was derived from a Breton language term meaning stone table but doubt has been cast on this. Nonetheless it has now replaced cromlech as the usual English term in archaeology, granja is used in Portugal, Galicia, and Spain. The rarer forms anta and ganda also appear, in the Basque Country, they are attributed to the jentilak, a race of giants. The etymology of the German, Hünenbett, Hünengrab and Dutch, of other Celtic languages, Welsh, cromlech was borrowed into English and quoit is commonly used in English in Cornwall. Great dolmen Passage grave Polygonal dolmen Rectangular, enlarged or extended dolmen Simple dolmen Korean dolmens exhibit a distinct from the Atlantic European dolmen. The largest concentration of dolmens in the world is found on the Korean Peninsula, with an estimated 35,000 dolmens, Korea alone accounts for nearly 40% of the world’s total. Three specific UNESCO World Heritage sites at Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa by themselves account for over 1,000 dolmens, the Korean word for dolmen is goindol supported stone. Serious studies of the Korean megalithic monuments were not undertaken until relatively recently, after 1945, new research is being conducted by Korean scholars. In 1981 a curator of National Museum of Korea, Gongil Ji, the boundary between them falls at the Bukhan River although examples of both types are found on either side. Korean dolmens can also be divided into three types, the table type, the go-table type and the unsupported capstone type
8.
Rectangular dolmen
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A rectangular dolmen, extended dolmen or enlarged dolmen is a specific type of megalith, rectangular in shape, with upright sidestones and, usually, two capstones. The term rectangular dolmen was coined by Ekkehard Aner and is used especially in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, a more precise term, however, is extended dolmen, used by Ewald Schuldt and Ernst Sprockhoff, because these types of dolmen also occur with trapezoidal ground plans. Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of neolithic communities and their emergence and function are a hallmark of social development. Whilst the simple dolmen as a rule only had one capstone, the rectangular dolmen, once a third capstone is added, it is called a great dolmen in Germany. A sub-grouping of this type of dolmen is based on the ever-present entranceway, within long mounds, rectangular dolmens are usually oriented at right angles to the axis of the enclosure. The proportion of rectangular dolmens in round mounds, compared with simple dolmens, the proportion of mounds is probably higher, because experience has shown that circular mounds leave fewer traces than stone enclosures. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, however two of the 20 extended dolmens surveyed by E. Schuldt were covered by round mounds. Most types of dolmen that form part of the Nordic megalith architecture genre are open at one end, occasionally, a short passage is built in front the chamber, often of just one or two pairs of stones of 1. 0-1.5 metres in length. Even at undisturbed sites, it is often so short that it does not extend out as far as the stones of the enclosure or the stones around the mound, and just forms the ante-chamber to the main chamber. In Denmark and Sweden, the passages could be much longer, in Sicily, Monte Bubbonia dolmen is a chambered tomb 2.20 mt length, made of colossal splinters of rock, with no significant modifications, in rectangular shape. About 145 of these occur in Schleswig-Holstein, where it the most common type of dolmen. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,54 extended dolmens have survived of an estimated 98 formerly, rectangular dolmens also occur in groups within stone enclosures. A far greater number of enclosures, but also a few round mounds, have two dolmens or chambers, Nordic megalith architecture Mamoun Fansa, Großsteingräber zwischen Weser und Ems. Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach,2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3
9.
Passage grave
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A passage grave or passage tomb consists of a narrow passage made of large stones and one or multiple burial chambers covered in earth or stone. The building of tombs was normally carried out with megaliths and smaller stones. Those with more than one chamber may have multiple sub-chambers leading off from the burial chamber. One common layout, the passage grave, is cross-shaped. Sometimes passage tombs are covered with a cairn, especially those dating from later times, not all passage graves have been found to contain evidence of human remains. Passage tombs of the type often have elaborate corbelled roofs rather than simple slabs. Megalithic art has been identified carved into the stones at some sites and this appears to be one of the first uses of the term passage tomb. It is likely that the writers borrowed from the Spanish term tumbas de corredor, which is used for tombs in Cantabria, Galicia, of their list, only passage tombs appear to have widespread distribution throughout Europe. Passage graves are distributed extensively in lands along the Atlantic seaboard of Europe and they are found in Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, northern Germany and the Drenthe area of the Netherlands. They are also found in Iberia, some parts of the Mediterranean, the earliest passage tombs seem to take the form of small dolmens. In Ireland and Britain, passage tombs are found in large clusters. Many later passage tombs were constructed at the tops of hills or mountains, Newgrange. com World Heritage IE - Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth
10.
Great dolmen
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Neolithic monuments are features of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities. Their evolution and function act as indicators of social development, the type of site, called Stordysse in Danish, does not follow the criteria listed below. The antechamber dolmen is found southeast of that, between Demmin and the island of Usedom, several variant, but very rare examples recall the extended or polygonal dolmen types. In Mecklenburg there are 146 great dolmens, of which Ewald Schuldt has investigated 44, there are also two great dolmens in Schleswig-Holstein, several in western Lower Saxony, but quite a few in Saxony-Anhalt. Since the width of northern megalith sites is limited due to the material used. Great dolmens reach an interior size of 14 cubic metres. Great dolmens have up to five capstones lying on eight to twelve supporting stones, several great dolmens were extended using wide piers, on which, in certain cases, even capstones may have been placed. Like passage graves, great dolmens are a type of layout, the 44 great dolmens that have been investigated were found in various configurations. Five were surrounded by rectangular and 8 by trapezoidal frames of standing stones,4 were buried under circular mounds, in one case, the type of mound was not known because it had been removed. The trapezoidally-framed dolmens have guardian stones, sometimes at both ends, the great dolmen of Gaarzerhof, which initially lay within a very short rectangular frame, was eventually covered with a circular mound. New York, de Gruyter Berlin u. a, untersuchungen zu ihrer Architektur und Funktion. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1972, beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3
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Unchambered long barrow
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The term unchambered means that there is no stone chamber within the stone enclosure. In Great Britain they are known as non-megalithic long barrows or unchambered long cairns. Since the 1980s, barrows of the Passy type, part of the Cerny culture, have 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, 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 are trapezoidal or rectangular, East of the River Oder they are often trapezoidal or triangular with rounded tips, mostly, however, without transverse walls dividing them into separate chambers. The site of Kritzow, has guardian stones higher than a man, 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, in the complex of Stralendorf were six such mounds of cobbles, lying transversely and longitudinally, bounded by a 125-metre-long trapezoidal enclosure. Such mounds are found outside the enclosures or are found in or adjacent to barrows in which there are chambers, for example. 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 on the island of Sylt is a barrow that has neither a chamber nor a megalithic enclosure. It clearly represents a transitional type and these so-called Konens Høj type or Niedźwiedź type graves are especially common in the Funnelbeaker culture area east of the River Oder. The 200 or so British earthen long barrows were constructed with an enclosure of wooden posts and they are especially common in Wiltshire and Yorkshire. Three sites lie in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man, the barrows were formed over wooden chambers. In East Scotland there is another chamberless and non-megalithic variant, the chamberless cairn and these only occur in England in Cumbria and Northumberland. The earth mounds or tumuli in Brittany are pre-megalithic, such as the tertres allongés in Landes and they are low, slab-enclosed mounds,15 to 35 metres wide and 40 to 100 metres long. They are rectangular or oval and contain dry walled internal structures for cremation ashes, in the early megalithic period oversized earth mounds emerged, like the tumulus of Carnac, that has ciste-like elements
12.
Cist
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A cist is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East, a cist may have been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a cairn or long barrow. Several cists are sometimes found close together within the cairn or barrow. Often ornaments have been found within an excavated cist, indicating the wealth or prominence of the interred individual
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Polygonal dolmen
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The polygonal dolmen is a visually very attractive megalithic architectural structure and is therefore often depicted as the archetypal dolmen. It is encountered frequently in the north of the Danish island of Zealand, in the Swedish province of Bohuslän and on the Cimbrian Peninsula, for example. In Schleswig-Holstein, there are 11 examples, in Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt they appear are only occasionally. Neolithic monuments are expressions of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities and their emergence and function are indicators of social development. Five to nine supporting stones, or orthostats, shape the plan of the polygonal chamber. A single, sometimes especially large capstone covers them, an externally built entrance passage, whilst obligatory, has often not survived. In Dithmarschen the rectangular and polygonal dolmens of Albersdorf are particularly important, the Brutkamp is one of the most impressive examples of this type. Typologically viewed, the chamber of Hemmelmark, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, stands out, with its unusual dimensions of 2.8 ×2.25 metres, polygonal dolmen occur more rarely within stone enclosures and more frequently in round barrows. Originally it was thought that type of dolmen originated in the west. These views were refuted by research by Ewald Schuldt in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Ancient Stones, The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily, untersuchungen zum Aufbau der Grabanlagen nach neueren Ausgrabungsbefunden. Untersuchungen zu ihrer Architektur und Funktion, deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin,1972. Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach,2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3
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Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
15.
Megalithic entrance
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A megalithic entrance is an architectonic feature that enables access to a megalithic tomb or structure. The design of the entrance has to seal the access to the structure in such a way that it is possible to gain access to the interior again, even after a long time. As the solutions were refined in detail, they all had in common the aim of sealing the structure that its re-opening was possible under difficult, in general the following forms of entrance may be differentiated, Simple dolmens 1. Half-height entrance sealed with a closure stone 4, full height half-width stone Dolmens 5. Additional entrance to the external passage Passage graves 7, low passage entrance in front of a portal Gallery graves and stone cists 10. Round port-hole Variation 7 has its focus in the Swedish Bohuslän, the stones forming the entrance were so selected or fashioned that together they form a triangular entrance. The portal entrance used a lintel, a horizontal block placed over two lower supporting stones in order to out the distance to the capstone. This enabled access, usually only by crawling, through a trilithon opening, an example of this type of construction is the Sieben Steinhäuser in Lower Saxony. Such chambers without passages may be found in the Netherlands and Schleswig-Holstein, the entrance location and size determines, ultimately, whether the structure is a passage grave or a dolmen. Variation 7 is not dissimilar to the so-called port-hole, in which the front stone or, as in the diagram, the slabs were made of a material that enabled contemporary methods and tools to be used to fashion them. This version occurs Central Europe at sites built by the Wartberg and Horgen cultures in Baden-Württemberg, some Swedish so-called megalithic stone cists also have port-holes. In German, such a hole is known as a Seelenloch, in the Bronze and Iron Age sites on Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula, similar openings are found, that are also narrow, but nearer the ground, and apse-like, with embedded closure stones. Another feature of ground-level entrances is a stone sill. This separates the secular or profane area of the passage from the burial chamber. In some cases, it serves to support the closure stone or slab. In some embedded simple dolmens and portal tomb it is so high that it forms a half-height front stone, enabling access above it, Nordic megalith architecture Jürgen E. Walkowitz, Das Megalithsyndrom. Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3
16.
Threshold stone
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A threshold stone or sill stone is a rectangularly dressed stone slab that forms part of the entrance of megalithic tombs of the Funnelbeaker culture, normally those with a passage. The red sandstone slab, up to 0. 1-metre-thick, was buried in the ground to a depth of 0.2 metres at the entrance to the chamber. Cultural sites of other types, such as Domus de Janas, threshold stones are typical of dolmens, gallery graves and passage graves, etc. Usually, however the upper edge of the threshold is not generally higher than 0.1 metres above the level of the floor in dolmens. The length of the threshold in polygonal dolmens and gallery and passage graves is also the width of the entrance which, in the Funnelbeaker culture, rarely exceeds 0.7 metres. As well as separating the chamber from the profane passage. If the passageway was used, e. g. in connexion with secondary burials, for cultic purposes, it was given a covering of flagstones, nordic megalith architecture Ewald Schuldt, Die mecklenburgischen Megalithgräber. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaft, Berlin,1972, beier & Beran, Langenweißbach,2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3. Photograph of the Mürow megalithic tomb with its large threshold stone
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Guardian stones
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Guardian stones are standing stones, always occurring in pairs, at the corners of rectangular and trapezoidally-arranged stone enclosures around a dolmen. They are found especially in Scandinavia, in the German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and they are strikingly large stone blocks that form the corner post of enclosures or project above them like antae and lend the stone enclosures a monumental appearance. Guardian stones are typical of trapezoidal enclosures, in Germany the most impressive examples of trapezoidal sites are Dwasieden, Dummertevitz and Nobbin on the island of Rügen. At the Great Dolmen of Dwasieden, guardian stones of 3.3 and 3.5 metres in height guard the wide end of the dolmen and ones of 1.4 and 1.6 metres high stand sentinel at the narrow end. At the wide end of the enclosure of Nobbin there are guardian stones of 3.3 and 3.4 metres in height. At the narrow end they are 1.5 metres high and weigh just under six tons, on the mainland, only a stone block at the enclosure of Kritzow, Parchim, reaches such a height. The guardian stones of sites in the Altmark are up to 2.8 metres high, at several sites, guardian stones have been so arranged that the corner blocks jut out at an angle from the phalanx of stones. For example, the dolmen of Frauenmark, Parchim county. At the large passage grave of Naschendorf, Nordwestmecklenburg all the blocks at the end are arranged in a concave way. The same shape is seen at the end of the trapezoidal bed of Kruckow. Entirely outside the phalanx of the enclosure are the stones at a number of rectangular enclosures. These blocks are anta-like extensions of the sides of the enclosure. Other guardian stones stand out very little or not at all from the rest of the stone enclosure, examples are the enclosures of Grevesmühlen-Barendorf, Nordwestmecklenburg, Barkvieren, Rostock county and Mankmoos, Nordwestmecklenburg. Investigations of the stones of Dwasieden, Lancken-Granitz 1 and Nobbin revealed that the stones were not erected separately from the remaining blocks in the enclosures. Their bases are located at the height as the other stones in the enclosure and there are or were always links in the shape of dry stone walls. Although value was placed on especially high guardian stones, in general only glacial erratics were used that had a surface on which to stand. This necessity is demonstrated by the stone of the Dwasieden site. The cleared area between the stones of the Nobbin stone enclosure, down to the bedrock, gave no clues as to the specific use of the place
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Coping (architecture)
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Coping consists of the capping or covering of a wall. A splayed or wedge coping slopes in a direction, a saddle coping slopes to either side of a central high point. A coping may consist of stone, brick, tile, slate, metal, in all cases it should be weathered to throw off the water. A diagramatic explanation of copper copings is available, in Romanesque work copings appeared plain and flat, and projected over the wall with a throating to form a drip
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Trilithon
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A trilithon is a structure consisting of two large vertical stones supporting a third stone set horizontally across the top. It is commonly used in the context of megalithic monuments, the most famous trilithons are those of Stonehenge in England, those found in the Megalithic temples of Malta, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the Osirion in Egypt. The word trilithon is derived from the Greek having three stones and was first used by William Stukeley. The term also describes the groups of three stones in the Hunebed tombs of the Netherlands and the three massive stones forming part of the wall of the Roman Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek, Lebanon. Far from Europe and the Middle East, another famous trilithon is the Haʻamonga ʻa Maui in Tonga, the location of the megalithic structures is atop of a hill in the region, known as Tel Baalbek. Numerous archaeological expeditions have gone to the site starting in the 19th century, primarily German and French groups, each one of these stones is 70 feet long,14 feet high,10 feet thick, and weigh around 800 tons. The supporting stone layer beneath features a number of stones which are still in the order of 350 tons and 35 feet wide. In the quarry nearby, two Roman building blocks, which were intended for the podium, even surpass 1,000 tons
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Glacial erratics
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A glacial erratic is a piece of rock that differs from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics take their name from the Latin word errare, and are carried by glacial ice, Erratics can range in size from pebbles to large boulders such as Big Rock in Alberta. Geologists identify erratics by studying the surrounding the position of the erratic. Erratics are significant because, They can be transported by glaciers and their lithographic origin can be traced to the parent bedrock, allowing for confirmation of the ice flow route. They can be transported by ice rafting and this allows quantification of the extent of glacial flooding resulting from ice dam failure which release the waters stored in proglacial lakes such as Lake Missoula. Erratics released by ice-rafts that were stranded and subsequently melt, dropping their load, Erratics dropped by icebergs melting in the ocean can be used to track Antarctic and Arctic-region glacial movements for periods prior to record retention. Also known as dropstones, these can be correlated with ocean temperatures and levels to better understand, and examination of their mineralogical character leads the identification of their sources…. In geology, an erratic is material moved by forces from one location to another. Erratics are formed by ice erosion resulting from the movement of ice. Glaciers erode by multiple processes, abrasion/scouring, plucking, ice thrusting, glaciers crack pieces of bedrock off in the process of plucking, producing the larger erratics. In an abrasion process, debris in the basal ice scrapes along the bed, polishing and gouging the underlying rocks, similar to sandpaper on wood, producing smaller glacial till. In ice thrusting, the glacier freezes to its bed, then as it surges forward, evidence supports another option for creation of erratics as well, rock avalanches onto the upper surface of the glacier. Rock avalanche–supraglacial transport occurs when the glacier undercuts a rock face, the characteristics of rock avalanche–supraglacial transport includes, Monolithologic composition - a cluster of boulders of similar composition are frequently found in close proximity. Commingling of the multiple lithologies normally present throughout the basin, has not occurred. Angularity - the supraglacially transported rocks tend to be rough and irregular, the sides of boulders are roughly planar, suggesting that some surfaces may be original fracture planes. Great size - the size distribution of the boulders tends to be skewed toward larger boulders than those produced subglacially, surficial positioning of the boulders - the boulders are positioned on the surface of glacial deposits, as opposed to partially or totally buried. Orientations - the boulders may be enough that original fracture planes can be matched. Locations of the boulder trains - the boulders appear in rows, Erratic materials may be transported by multiple glacier flows prior to their deposition, which can complicate the reconstruction of the glacial flow
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Red sandstone
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Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earths crust, like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, quartz-bearing sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure, usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. They are formed from cemented grains that may either be fragments of a rock or be mono-minerallic crystals. The cements binding these grains together are typically calcite, clays, grain sizes in sands are defined within the range of 0.0625 mm to 2 mm. The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages, first, a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water or from air. Typically, sedimentation occurs by the settling out from suspension. The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colours will usually be tan or yellow, a predominant additional colourant in the southwestern United States is iron oxide, which imparts reddish tints ranging from pink to dark red, with additional manganese imparting a purplish hue. Red sandstones are seen in the Southwest and West of Britain, as well as central Europe. The regularity of the latter favours use as a source for masonry, either as a building material or as a facing stone. These physical properties allow the grains to survive multiple recycling events. Quartz grains evolve from rock, which are felsic in origin. Feldspathic framework grains are commonly the second most abundant mineral in sandstones, Feldspar can be divided into two smaller subdivisions, alkali feldspars and plagioclase feldspars. The different types of feldspar can be distinguished under a petrographic microscope, below is a description of the different types of feldspar. Alkali feldspar is a group of minerals in which the composition of the mineral can range from KAlSi3O8 to NaAlSi3O8. Plagioclase feldspar is a group of solid solution minerals that range in composition from NaAlSi3O8 to CaAl2Si2O8. Lithic framework grains are pieces of ancient source rock that have yet to weather away to individual mineral grains, accessory minerals are all other mineral grains in a sandstone, commonly these minerals make up just a small percentage of the grains in a sandstone
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Megalithic architectural elements
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This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic structures. In archaeology, a forecourt is the given to the area in front of certain types of chamber tomb. Forecourts were probably the venue for ritual practices connected with the burial, in European megalithic architecture, forecourts are curved in plan with the entrance to the tomb at the apex of the open semicircle enclosure that the forecourt creates. The sides were built up by either large upright stones or walls of stones laid atop one another. Some also had paved floors and some had blocking stones erected in front of them to seal the tomb such as at West Kennet Long Barrow. Their shape, which suggests an attempt to focus attention on the tomb itself may mean that they were used ceremonially as a kind of open air auditorium during ceremonies. Excavation within some forecourts has recovered animal bone, pottery and evidence of burning suggesting that they served as locations for votive offerings or feasting dedicated to the dead, see curb for the roadside edge. In archaeology, kerb or peristalith is the name for a ring built to enclose. European dolmens especially hunebed and dyss burials often provide examples of the use of kerbs in megalithic architecture, kerbs may be built in a dry stone wall method employing small blocks or more commonly using larger stones set in the ground. When larger stones are employed, peristalith is the term more properly used, often, when the earth barrow has been weathered away, the surviving kerb can give the impression of being a stone circle although these monuments date from considerably later. Excavation of barrows without stone rings such as Fussells Lodge in Wiltshire suggests that, in these examples, famous sites with kerbs include Newgrange where many of the stones are etched with megalithic art. An example of the dry stone wall type of kerb can be seen at Parc le Breos in Wales, an orthostat is a large stone with a more or less slab-like shape that has been artificially set upright. Menhirs and other standing stones are technically orthostats although the term is used by archaeologists only to describe individual prehistoric stones that constitute part of larger structures, common examples include the walls of chamber tombs and other megalithic monuments and the vertical elements of the trilithons at Stonehenge. Especially later, orthostats may be carved with decoration in relief, in the latter case, orthostats are large thin slabs of gypsum neatly and carefully formed, for use as a wall-facing secured by metal fixings and carrying reliefs, which were then painted. Many orthostats were a focus for art, as at Knowth in Ireland. In megalithic archaeology a port-hole slab is the name of an orthostat with a hole in it sometimes found forming the entrance to a chamber tomb, the hole is usually circular but square examples or those made from two adjoining slabs each with a notch cut in it are known. They are common in the graves of the Seine-Oise-Marne culture. Portal stones are a pair of Megalithic orthostats, usually flanking the entrance to a chamber tomb and they are commonly found in dolmens
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Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
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Corbel
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In architecture a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a piece of material in the wall. A piece of projecting in the same way was called a tassel or a bragger in the UK. The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a support a projecting wall or parapet, has been used since Neolithic, or New Stone Age. A console is more specifically an S-shaped scroll bracket in the classical tradition, keystones are also often in the form of consoles. Whereas corbel is rarely used outside architecture, console is used for furniture, as in console table. The word corbel comes from Old French and derives from the Latin corbellus, a diminutive of corvus, similarly, the French refer to a bracket-corbel, usually a load-bearing internal feature, as a corbeau. Norman corbels often have an appearance, although they may be elaborately carved with stylised heads of humans, animals or imaginary beasts. Similarly, in the Early English period, corbels were sometimes carved, as at Lincoln Cathedral. Corbels sometimes end with a point apparently growing into the wall, or forming a knot, in the later periods the carved foliage and other ornaments used on corbels resemble those used in the capitals of columns. Throughout England, in work, wooden corbels abound, carrying window-sills or oriel windows in wood. The corbels carrying balconies in Italy and France were sometimes of great size and richly carved, taking a cue from 16th-century practice, the Paris-trained designers of 19th-century Beaux-Arts architecture were encouraged to show imagination in varying corbels. A corbel table is a moulded string course supported by a range of corbels. Sometimes these corbels carry a small arcade under the string course, as a rule the corbel table carries the gutter, but in Lombard work the arcaded corbel table was utilized as a decoration to subdivide the storeys and break up the wall surface. In Italy sometimes over the corbels will form a moulding, in modern chimney construction, a corbel table is constructed on the inside of a flue in the form of a concrete ring beam supported by a range of corbels. The corbels can be either in-situ or pre-cast concrete, the corbel tables described here are built at approximately ten metre intervals to ensure stability of the barrel of refractory bricks constructed thereon. In medieval architecture the technique was used to support upper storeys or a parapet projecting forward from the wall plane and this later became a decorative feature, without the openings. Corbelling supporting upper stories and particularly supporting projecting corner turrets subsequently became a characteristic of the Scottish baronial style, medieval timber-framed buildings often employ jettying, where upper stories are cantilevered out on projecting wooden beams in a similar manner to corbelling
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Mecklenburg
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Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar, the name Mecklenburg derives from a castle named Mikilenburg, located between the cities of Schwerin and Wismar. In Slavic language it was known as Veligrad which also means big castle and it was the ancestral seat of the House of Mecklenburg and for a time divided into Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz among the same dynasty. Linguistically Mecklenburgers retain and use features of Low German vocabulary or phonology. The adjective for the region is Mecklenburgian, inhabitants are called Mecklenburgians, Mecklenburg is known for its mostly flat countryside. Much of the forms a morass, with ponds, marshes and fields as common features. The terrain changes as one moves north towards the Baltic Sea, under the peat of Mecklenburg are sometimes found deposits of ancient lava flows. Mecklenburg has productive farming, but the land is most suitable for grazing purposes, Mecklenburg is the site of many prehistoric dolmen tombs. Its earliest organised inhabitants may have had Celtic origins, by no later than 100 BC the area had been populated by pre-Christian Germanic peoples. The traditional symbol of Mecklenburg, the steers head, with an attached hide. It represents what early peoples would have worn, i. e. a steerss head as a hat, with the hide hanging down the back to protect the neck from the sun, and overall as a way to instill fear in the enemy. From the 7th through the 12th centuries, the area of Mecklenburg was taken over by Western Slavic peoples, most notably the Obotrites, the 11th century founder of the Mecklenburgian dynasty of Dukes and later Grand Dukes, which lasted until 1918, was Nyklot of the Obotrites. In the late 12th century, Henry the Lion, Duke of the Saxons, conquered the region, subjugated its local lords, from 12th to 14th century, large numbers of Germans and Flemings settled the area, importing German law and improved agricultural techniques. However, elements of certain names and words used in Mecklenburg speak to the lingering Slavic influence, an example would be the city of Schwerin, which was originally called Zuarin in Slavic. Another example is the town of Bresegard, the portion of the town name deriving from the Slavic word grad. Since the 12th century, the territory remained stable and relatively independent of its neighbours, during the reformation the Duke in Schwerin would convert to Protestantism and so would follow the Duchy of Mecklenburg. Like many German territories, Mecklenburg was sometimes partitioned and re-partitioned among different members of the ruling dynasty, in 1621 it was divided into the two duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow. With the extinction of the Güstrow line in 1701, the Güstrow lands were redivided, part going to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, life in Mecklenburg could be quite harsh
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Zealand
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Zealand is the largest and most populated island in Denmark with a population of 2,267,659. It is the 96th-largest island in the world by area and the 35th most populous and it is connected to Funen by the Great Belt Fixed Link, to Lolland, Falster by the Storstrøm Bridge and the Farø Bridges. Zealand is also linked to Amager by five bridges, Zealand is linked indirectly, through intervening islands by a series of bridges and tunnels, to southern Sweden. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is located partly on the shore of Zealand. Other cities on Zealand include Roskilde, Hillerød, Næstved and Helsingør, the island is not connected historically to the Pacific nation of New Zealand, which is named after the Dutch province of Zeeland. In Norse mythology as told in the story of Gylfaginning, the island was created by the goddess Gefjun after she tricked Gylfi and she removed a piece of land and transported it to Denmark, which became Zealand. The vacant area was filled with water and became Mälaren, however, since modern maps show a similarity between Zealand and the Swedish lake Vänern, it is sometimes identified as the hole left by Gefjun. Zealand is the most populous Danish island and it is irregularly shaped, and is north of the islands of Lolland, Falster, and Møn. The small island of Amager lies immediately east, Copenhagen is mostly on Zealand but extends across northern Amager. A number of bridges and the Copenhagen Metro connect Zealand to Amager, Zealand is joined in the west to Funen, by the Great Belt Fixed Link, and Funen is connected by bridges to the countrys mainland, Jutland. Gyldenløveshøj, south of the city Roskilde, has a height of 126 metres, Zealand gives its name to the Selandian era of the Paleocene. Urban areas with 10, 000+ inhabitants, North Zealand Media related to Zealand at Wikimedia Commons Zealand travel guide from Wikivoyage
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Brownshill Dolmen
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The Brownshill Dolmen is a megalithic portal tomb situated 3 km east of Carlow, in County Carlow, Ireland. It lies just off the R726 regional road and is visible from the road. The capstone at Brownshill, weighing an estimated 100 metric tons, is reputed to be the heaviest in Europe, the tomb is listed as a National Monument. Officially known as the Kernanstown Cromlech, it is spelled as Browneshill Dolmen. It is sited on a hill on which sits the former house of the Browne family from which the hill takes its name. It was built between 4000 and 3000 BC by some of the earliest farmers to inhabit the island. It is also known as Brownshill Portal Tomb, so-called because the entrance to the chamber was flanked by two large upright stones supporting the granite capstone, or roof, of the chamber. The capstone is thought to have been covered by an earthen mound, at Brownshill both portal stones and the gate-stone are still in situ, the capstone lies on top of the portals and gate-stone and slopes to the ground away from the entrance. Not much additional information is available on Brownshill because it has never been excavated, a fourth upright stands close by and could be the remains of a forecourt. The extent of the chamber cannot be determined, Dolmen List of megalithic sites Photosynth of Brownshill Dolmen
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County Carlow
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County Carlow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Carlow, which lies on the River Barrow, Carlow County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 54,612 according to the 2011 census, Carlow, or Ceatharlach originally part of the Norman Palantine-county of Leinster, became a separate county probably around 1306. At that time it was larger than today, extending to and including the area around Arklow. These areas were given over to County Wicklow in 1606-07 There are seven historic baronies in the county, Carlow, Forth, Idrone East, Idrone West, Rathvilly, St Mullins Lower and St Mullins Upper. Local government in County Carlow is governed by the Local Government Acts, the top tier of the structure consists of Carlow County Council. The second tier of government consists of town councils. Outside the borough, the county council is responsible for local services. Two towns in the county have town councils, Carlow and Muine Bheag, There are 21 councillors in the county council who are returned from five local electoral areas, Borris, Carlow East, Carlow West, Muine Bheag and Tullow. As the county is part of the South-East Region, some county councillors are also representatives on the South-East Regional Authority, for elections to Dáil Éireann, Carlow is part of the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency which returns 5 TDs. The present form of the constituency was created for the 1948 general election, F. C. Carlow are the local soccer team who compete in the A Championship Carlow GAA are the countys Gaelic Athletic Association body which fields both hurling and football teams. Pierce Butler - soldier, planter, and statesman, recognized as one of United States Founding Fathers and he represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress and the United States Senate. Myles Keogh - American Civil War military officer and later Captain of Company I, U. S. 7th Cavalry Regiment - Fought in Indian Wars and was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 and he was born in Orchard, Leighlinbridge in 1840. William Dargan - engineer, often seen as the father of Irish railways, richie Kavanagh - comic songwriter, from Raheenwood, Fenagh, Co. John Tyndall - the 19th century scientist who was the first to explain why the sky is blue, derek Ryan - Country music singer & former member of Pop band D-side Saoirse Ronan - Oscar and Golden Globe nominated actress. Samuel Haughton - polymath, in 1866 published a formula for calculating the drop needed to cause death at hangings. Peter Murphy - radio and television broadcaster, presented RTÉs Cross Country Quiz, was born in Carlow Sean OBrien Leinster, frank OMeara, Carlow-born Irish artist known for his Impressionist, plein air landscape painting
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Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
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Charente
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Charente is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the province of Angoumois, west. Prior to the creation of the department, the area was not a natural unit, the accelerating pace of industrial and commercial development during the first half of the nineteenth century led to a period of prosperity, and the departments population peaked in 1851. Economic ruin came to many in the Charentais wine industry with the arrival in 1872 of phylloxera, the relatively relaxed pace of economic development in the twentieth century encouraged the immigration of retirees from overseas. It is part of the Aquitaine Basin for its major part, the Charente flows through it and gave its name to the department, along with Charente-Maritime. It is composed with the region of Angoumois and contains part of the regions of Saintonge, Limousin, Périgord. The department is part of the current region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and it is surrounded by the departments of Charente-Maritime, Dordogne, Haute-Vienne, Vienne and Deux-Sèvres. The inhabitants of the department are called Charentais, the President of the General Council is Michel Boutant of the Socialist Party. Cognac and pineau are two of the agricultural products of the region, along with butter. The Charentaise slipper is another traditional product. Cantons of the Charente department Communes of the Charente department Arrondissements of the Charente department Charente
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
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Clay
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Clay is a fine-grained natural rock or soil material that combines one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure. Clays are plastic due to water content and become hard, brittle. Depending on the content in which it is found, clay can appear in various colours from white to dull grey or brown to deep orange-red. Although many naturally occurring deposits include both silts and clay, clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size, silts, which are fine-grained soils that do not include clay minerals, tend to have larger particle sizes than clays. There is, however, some overlap in size and other physical properties. The distinction between silt and clay varies by discipline, geologists and soil scientists usually consider the separation to occur at a particle size of 2 µm, sedimentologists often use 4–5 μm, and colloid chemists use 1 μm. Geotechnical engineers distinguish between silts and clays based on the plasticity properties of the soil, as measured by the soils Atterberg limits, ISO14688 grades clay particles as being smaller than 2 μm and silt particles as being larger. These solvents, usually acidic, migrate through the rock after leaching through upper weathered layers. In addition to the process, some clay minerals are formed through hydrothermal activity. There are two types of deposits, primary and secondary. Primary clays form as residual deposits in soil and remain at the site of formation, secondary clays are clays that have been transported from their original location by water erosion and deposited in a new sedimentary deposit. Clay deposits are associated with very low energy depositional environments such as large lakes. Depending on the source, there are three or four main groups of clays, kaolinite, montmorillonite-smectite, illite, and chlorite. Chlorites are not always considered to be a clay, sometimes being classified as a group within the phyllosilicates. There are approximately 30 different types of clays in these categories. Varve is clay with visible annual layers, which are formed by deposition of those layers and are marked by differences in erosion. This type of deposit is common in glacial lakes
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Flint
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Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks, inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white or brown in colour, and often has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white, from a petrological point of view, flint refers specifically to the form of chert which occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Similarly, common chert occurs in limestone, the exact mode of formation of flint is not yet clear but it is thought that it occurs as a result of chemical changes in compressed sedimentary rock formations, during the process of diagenesis. One hypothesis is that a gelatinous material fills cavities in the sediment, such as bored by crustaceans or molluscs. This hypothesis certainly explains the shapes of flint nodules that are found. The source of dissolved silica in the media could be the spicules of silicious sponges. Certain types of flint, such as that from the south coast of England, pieces of coral and vegetation have been found preserved like amber inside the flint. Thin slices of the stone often reveal this effect, puzzling giant flint formations known as paramoudra and flint circles are found around Europe but especially in Norfolk, England on the beaches at Beeston Bump and West Runton. Flint sometimes occurs in large flint fields in Jurassic or Cretaceous beds, flint was used in the manufacture of tools during the Stone Age as it splits into thin, sharp splinters called flakes or blades when struck by another hard object. This process is referred to as knapping, flint mining is attested since the Palaeolithic, but became more common since the Neolithic. When struck against steel, a flint edge will produce sparks, the hard flint edge shaves off a particle of the steel that exposes iron which reacts with oxygen from the atmosphere and can ignite the proper tinder. Prior to the availability of steel, rocks of pyrite would be used along with the flint. These methods are popular in woodcraft, bushcraft, and among those who wish to use traditional skills, a later, major use of flint and steel was in the flintlock mechanism, used primarily in flintlock firearms, but also used on dedicated fire-starting tools. The sparks ignite the powder and that flame, in turn, ignites the main charge, propelling the ball, bullet. While the military use of the flintlock declined after the adoption of the cap from the 1840s onward, flintlock rifles. Flint and steel used to strike sparks were superseded by ferrocerium and this man-made material, when scraped with any hard, sharp edge, produces sparks that are much hotter than obtained with natural flint and steel, allowing use of a wider range of tinders. Because it can produce sparks when wet and can start fires when used correctly, ferrocerium is used in many cigarette lighters, where it is referred to as flint
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Gravel
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Gravel /ˈɡrævəl/ is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel is categorized by the Udden-Wentworth scale into granular gravel and pebble gravel, one cubic metre of gravel typically weighs about 1,800 kg. Gravel is an important commercial product, with a number of applications, many roadways are surfaced with gravel, especially in rural areas where there is little traffic. Globally, far more roads are surfaced with gravel than with concrete or tarmac, both sand and small gravel are also important for the manufacture of concrete. Large gravel deposits are a geological feature, being formed as a result of the weathering. The action of rivers and waves tends to pile up gravel in large accumulations and this can sometimes result in gravel becoming compacted and concreted into the sedimentary rock called conglomerate. Where natural gravel deposits are insufficient for human purposes, gravel is often produced by quarrying and crushing hard-wearing rocks, such as sandstone, limestone, quarries where gravel is extracted are known as gravel pits. Southern England possesses particularly large concentrations of them due to the deposition of gravel in the region during the Ice Ages. As of 2006, the United States is the leading producer and consumer of gravel. The word gravel comes from the Breton language, adding the -el suffix in Breton denotes the component parts of something larger. Thus gravel means the stones which make up such a beach on the coast. Many dictionaries ignore the Breton language, citing Old French gravele or gravelle, Gravel often has the meaning a mixture of different size pieces of stone mixed with sand and possibly some clay. American English also allows small stones without sand mixed in also known as crushed stone, types of gravel include, Bank gravel, naturally deposited gravel intermixed with sand or clay found in and next to rivers and streams. Also known as Bank run or River run, bench gravel, a bed of gravel located on the side of a valley above the present stream bottom, indicating the former location of the stream bed when it was at a higher level. Creek rock, this is rounded, semi-polished stones, potentially of a wide range of types. It is also used as concrete aggregate and less often as a paving surface. Crushed stone, rock crushed and graded by screens and then mixed to a blend of stones and fines and it is widely used as a surfacing for roads and driveways, sometimes with tar applied over it. Crushed stone may be made from granite, limestone, dolomite, also known as crusher run, DGA QP, and shoulder stone
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Gneiss
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Gneiss is a common distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. The foliations are characterized by alternating darker and lighter colored bands, the word gneiss comes from the Middle High German verb gneist. It has occurred in English since at least 1757, gneissic rocks are usually medium- to coarse-foliated, they are largely recrystallized but do not carry large quantities of micas, chlorite or other platy minerals. Gneisses that are metamorphosed igneous rocks or their equivalent are termed granite gneisses, diorite gneisses, gneiss rocks may also be named after a characteristic component such as garnet gneiss, biotite gneiss, albite gneiss, etc. Orthogneiss designates a gneiss derived from a rock, and paragneiss is one from a sedimentary rock. Gneissose rocks have properties similar to gneiss, gneiss appears to be striped in bands, called gneissic banding. The banding is developed under high temperature and pressure conditions, the minerals are arranged into layers that appear as bands in cross section. The appearance of layers, called compositional banding, occurs because the layers, the darker bands have relatively more mafic minerals. The lighter bands contain relatively more felsic and these forces stretch out the rock like a plastic, and the original material is spread out into sheets. Another cause of banding is metamorphic differentiation, which separates different materials into different layers through chemical reactions, not all gneiss rocks have detectable banding. In kyanite gneiss, crystals of kyanite appear as random clumps in what is mainly a plagioclase matrix, henderson gneiss is found in North Carolina and South Carolina, US, east of the Brevard Shear Zone. It has deformed into two sequential forms, the second, more warped, form is associated with the Brevard Fault, and the first deformation results from displacement to the southwest. Most of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland have a formed from Lewisian gneiss. In addition to the Outer Hebrides, they form basement deposits on the Scottish mainland west of the Moine Thrust and on the islands of Coll and Tiree. These rocks are igneous in origin, mixed with metamorphosed marble, quartzite and mica schist with later intrusions of basaltic dikes. Gneisses of Archean and Proterozoic age occur in the Baltic Shield, in antiquity, gneisses were also utilized in architectural construction. They were used to erect the Sphinx of Taharqo in the Nile Valley, list of rock types Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy. Petrology, Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, 2nd ed. Freeman, mcKirdy, Alan, Roger Crofts and John Gordon
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Slate
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Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock, foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering, but instead is in planes perpendicular to the direction of metamorphic compression. The foliation in slate is called slaty cleavage and it is caused by strong compression causing fine grained clay flakes to regrow in planes perpendicular to the compression. Slate is frequently grey in color, especially when seen, en masse, Slate is not to be confused with shale, from which it may be formed, or schist. The word slate is used for certain types of object made from slate rock. It may mean a single roofing tile made of slate, or a writing slate and this was traditionally a small smooth piece of the rock, often framed in wood, used with chalk as a notepad or noticeboard, and especially for recording charges in pubs and inns. The phrases clean slate and blank slate come from this usage, before the mid-19th century, the terms slate, shale and schist were not sharply distinguished. In the context of underground mining in the United States. For example, roof slate referred to shale above a coal seam, occasionally, as in the purple slates of North Wales, ferrous reduction spheres form around iron nuclei, leaving a light green spotted texture. These spheres are sometimes deformed by a subsequent applied stress field to ovoids, Slate can be made into roofing slates, a type of roof shingle, or more specifically a type of roof tile, which are installed by a slater. Slate has two lines of breakability – cleavage and grain – which make it possible to split the stone into thin sheets, when broken, slate retains a natural appearance while remaining relatively flat and easy to stack. Slate is particularly suitable as a material as it has an extremely low water absorption index of less than 0. 4%. In fact, this natural slate, which requires only minimal processing, has the lowest embodied energy of all roofing materials, natural slate is used by building professionals as a result of its beauty and durability. Slate is incredibly durable and can last several hundred years, often little or no maintenance. Its low water makes it very resistant to frost damage and breakage due to freezing. Natural slate is also fire resistant and energy efficient, Slate roof tiles are usually fixed either with nails, or with hooks as is common with Spanish slate. In the UK, fixing is typically with double nails onto timber battens or nailed directly onto timber sarking boards, nails were traditionally of copper, although there are modern alloy and stainless steel alternatives. Both these methods, if used properly, provide a long-lasting weathertight roof with a lifespan of around 80–100 years, Slate roofs are still used today
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Sassen, Germany
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Sassen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg, whose seat is in the like-named municipality, the municipality’s name, Sassen, is derived from the German word Ansassen or Beisassen, words once used to designate people who were not local, but rather had come from elsewhere to settle. The area around Ülmen and Ürsfeld was already settled when others came along to settle at the now known as Sassen. Another explanation, however, is that the name arose from transplanted Saxons brought to the Eifel by Charlemagne. A Carthusian monk wrote in an account that Charlemagne also removed Franks from the Eifel to the Saxons’ homeland as part of his campaign to break Saxon resistance once and for all. Sassen lies on the slopes of the Hochkelberg, the High Eifel’s third highest mountain, in a hollow with an elevation of about 550 m above sea level. In feudal times, which ended in 1794 with the French occupation, under Prussian administration, it was a municipality in the Bürgermeisterei of Kelberg in the Adenau district. Below the village lay a farm, which may have been the “seed” for the first settlement in what is now the municipality. The oldest houses are all built out of Rhenish brick. The front door opens straight into the kitchen, above the stove was the smoke hood for smoking meat. Sassen was once held by the Counts of Nürburg, tithes were paid to the castle there and to Nürburg. On the Hohe Acht, a height near the village, lay two fields, one named Zehntanwand and the other Freianwand, references to paying tithes, at the south end of the village stands a small chapel, which features Stations of the Cross. It was built in 1807, a date engraved above the door, the village’s great age makes itself known in the many legends told hereabouts. One tells of a time in the Thirty Years War when the Swedes plundered the village, on the nearby Hochkelberg once stood, supposedly, a castle of the Knights Templar, and people speak of a treasure that is supposed to be hidden there. Ecclesiastically, Sassen once belonged to the parish of Ürsfeld, the council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. Sassen’s mayor is Thomas Saxler, and his deputy is Werner Nohner, the German blazon reads, Unter silbernem Schildhaupt, darin ein durchgehendes, schwarzes Balkenkreuz, in Rot ein silbernes Antoniuskreuz mit zwei daran hängenden silbernen Pilgerglöckchen. The municipality’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus, Gules a cross tau with a bell hanging from each arm argent. Until 1794, Sassen belonged as part of the Amt of Nürburg to the Electorate of Cologne, the cross in the chief recalls this time
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Cuxhaven (district)
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Cuxhaven is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Stade, Rotenburg, Osterholz and Wesermarsch, the city of Bremerhaven, the district was established in 1977 by merging the former districts of Land Hadeln and Wesermünde. The town of Cuxhaven lost its status as a district-free town, the district is often nicknamed Cuxland. It is located on the coast of the North Sea and is enclosed by the mouths of Elbe. The coasts are part of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park, the arms display Saint Nicholas, who is the patron saint of fishermen. The coast of the North Sea is symbolised at the bottom of the arms
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Stade
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Stade is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. It is the seat of the named after it. The city was first mentioned in a document from 994 and it includes the urban districts of Bützfleth, Hagen, Haddorf and Wiepenkathen which have a district council of their own with some autonomous decision making rights. Stade is located on the lower Elbe river and the German Timber-Frame Road, the first human settlers came to the Stade area in 30,000 BC. Since 1180 Stade belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, in early 1208 King Valdemar II of Denmark and his troops conquered Stade. In August Valdemar IIs cousin being in enmity with the king, in 1209 Emperor Otto IV persuaded his ally Valdemar II to withdraw into the north of the Elbe, and the deposed Prince-Archbishop Valdemar took Stade. On 2 May 1209 Otto IV granted important town privileges to Stade, Otto IV confirmed the burghers to be personally free and recognised them constituting a political entity of their own law, the burgenses and optimi cives of Stade. Property within the boundaries could not be subjected to feudal overlordship and was to be freely inherited without feudal claims to reversion. Fair juridical procedures were constituted and maximal fines fixed, Otto IV obliged himself to prevent burghers from being taken as hostages and to liberate captured burghers. After Otto IV had changed his mind and reinvested Prince-Archbishop Valdemar with the See in 1211, in 1213 Ottos elder brother Count Palatine Henry V of the Rhine, reconquered Stade for the Prince-Archbishop. In 1215 Henry repelled another Danish attack on Stade, in the winter of 1216 Valdemar II and his Danish troops, unable to take the city of Stade, ravaged the County of Stade. From then on Stade remained a part of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, in medieval times, Stade was a prominent member of the Hanseatic League, but was later eclipsed by Hamburg. In 1611 the city signed a contract with Sephardic Jews, allowing the foundation of a community, in 1648, by the Treaty of Westphalia, the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen underwent a constitutional transformation from a prince-bishopric into a monarchy, the Duchy of Bremen. The duchy and the neighboured Principality of Verden, colloquially referred to as Bremen-Verden, were granted by the Treaty of Westphalia as an appanage to the Swedish crown, Stades heyday lasted until the Thirty Years War. In 1628 Tilly conquered the town, shortly thereafter, Sweden took possession of it until 1636. After a period of Danish occupation, Sweden finally recaptured it in 1643 and was officially granted possession of it, together with the Archbishopric of Bremen. Two-thirds of the town were razed in the town fire on 26 May 1659. The town was again to the same plan
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Funen
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Funen, with an area of 3,099.7 square kilometres, is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world and it is in the central part of the country and has a population of 466,284. The main city is Odense which is connected to the sea by a seldom-used canal, the citys shipyard, Odense Steel Shipyard, has been relocated outside Odense proper. Funen belongs administratively to the Region of Southern Denmark, from 1970 to 2006 the island formed the biggest part of Funen County, which also included the islands of Langeland, Ærø, Tåsinge, and a number of smaller islands. Funen is linked to Zealand, Denmarks largest island, by the Great Belt Bridge which carries both trains and cars, two bridges connect Funen to the Danish mainland, Jutland. The Old Little Belt Bridge was constructed in the 1930s shortly before World War II for both cars and trains, the New Little Belt Bridge, a suspension bridge, was constructed in the 1970s and is used for cars only. Apart from the city, Odense, all major towns are located in coastal areas. Beginning in the north-east of the island and moving clockwise, they are Kerteminde, Nyborg, Svendborg, Fåborg, Assens, Middelfart, the highest natural point on Funen is Frøbjerg Bavnehøj. Broholm Egeskov Castle Fynske Livregiment Horne Church Hvedholm Castle Korshavn, Denmark Skrøbelev Gods The Funen Village Funen brachteate in the collections of the National Museum of Denmark, official tourist information site for Funen
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North Bohemia
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North Bohemia, is a region in the north of the Czech Republic. North Bohemia roughly covers the present-day NUTS regional unit of CZ04 Severozápad, from an administrative perspective, North Bohemia is made up of the present day Ústí nad Labem Region, Karlovy Vary Region and Liberec Region. It is a popular tourist destination, much of which had been inaccessible until recently, the Jizera and Lusatian Mountains are protected landscape areas. The summits of the Jizera Mountains climb to heights of about 1,000 metres above sea level, the national nature reserve of the Jizera Mountain Beechwood Forest contains the largest beech woodland in the Czech Republic, covering 27 square kilometres. Major cities and towns in North Bohemia include Česká Lípa, Děčín, Jablonec nad Nisou, Liberec, Litoměřice, Most and Teplice. In the administrative system of the former Czechoslovakia there was a North Bohemia province from 1960-1990 that consisted of the region of Ústí nad Labem. Bohemia Central Bohemian Uplands North Bohemian Basin
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Louny
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Louny is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It is situated on the River Ohře, the city was founded in the 12th century. The Church of St Peter stands on the site of the original fort, the original name was Luna, which is retained in the name of a local park, Pramen Luna, and accounts for the Moon as part of the towns emblem. The town developed and expanded during the reign of Ottokar I of Bohemia, the second half of the 19th century witnessed the economic growth of the area. Until 1918, LAUN - LOUNY was part of the Austrian monarchy, in the district of the same name, the former state company has now been privatized, but remains the towns largest employer with a workforce of 750. Other industries include a brewery and a factory making porcelain electrical insulators for power cables, the towns architecture was formed mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries when many old buildings were torn down. Nevertheless, the most important architectural feature is Roman Catholic St. Nicholas Church, one of the architects was Benedikt Rejt. It incorporates a tower from a church which was otherwise destroyed along with most of the town by a major fire in 1517. Parts of the city remain, as does the Žatec gate which dates from 1500 but was reconstructed in 1872. An Open-Air Museum of Archeology is located in nearby Březno, johann Aloys Schlosser, publisher and biographer, author of the first biography of Ludwig van Beethoven in 1827. The Gymnázium V. Hlavatého is named after him
