Rectangular dolmen

A rectangular dolmen (German: Rechteckdolmen), extended dolmen (German: erweiteter 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, where dolmens with this type of ground plan primarily occur. 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 (e.g. the Gnewitz).

Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of neolithic communities. Their emergence and function are a hallmark of social development.

Whilst the simple dolmen as a rule only had one capstone (but could have two), the rectangular dolmen, which differs primarily in the orientation of its support stones (standing) from the simple dolmen (lying), usually had two capstones (but also can have just one). Once a third capstone is added, it is called a great dolmen (Großdolmen) in Germany. A sub-grouping of this type of dolmen is based on the ever-present entranceway, which, for example, could be designed with a roof-height half stone or single-angle (einwinkelnd) support stones.

Within long mounds, rectangular dolmens are usually oriented at right angles to the axis of the enclosure. The proportion of rectangular dolmens in round (including oval) mounds, compared with simple dolmens, increases in Schleswig-Holstein from 20% to at least 27%. The proportion of mounds is probably higher, because experience has shown that circular mounds leave fewer traces than stone enclosures. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, however only 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 (i.e. are accessible). 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. The place in the enclosure where one would have expected there to be a gap is closed, so that the stone in the row forming a side of the enclosure would have to be removed in order the get into the dolmen.

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