Lohra

Lohra is a community in Marburg-Biedenkopf district in the administrative region of Gießen in Hesse, Germany.

Geography

Lohra's municipal area, measuring 49 km², stretches across the middle Salzböde valley and the Versgrund. Among its neighbouring communities are Weimar an der Lahn in the northeast, Fronhausen in the southeast and in the northwest Gladenbach, all in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district, as well as the town of Lollar, Wettenberg and Biebertal in Gießen district, and Bischoffen in Lahn-Dill district.

The community of Lohra is found in the so-called Marburger Land. Together with the communities of Fronhausen, Weimar and Ebsdorfergrund, Lohra forms the southern part of Marburg-Biedenkopf. The community of Lohra is sometimes wrongly said to be part of the Hessisches Hinterland, but not even any of the old villages now belonging to Lohra were part of the old Biedenkopf district, and therefore they were not part of the Hinterland; they had been part of the old Marburg district since days of yore.

Lohra (megalithic tomb)

The Lohra tomb (German: Steinkammergrab von Lohra) was a megalithic monument outside Lohra near Marburg in north central Hesse, Germany. It is one of the lesser known among its type in Central Europe. It dates to the late Neolithic, probably just after 3000 BC. It belongs to the gallery graves of the Wartberg culture, but is unique among them because of its rich ceramic assemblage.

Discovery and excavation

The tomb was discovered accidentally in 1931 by the farmer Jakob Elmshäuser who encountered an obstacle when ploughing a field. It turned out to be a large rectangular sandstone block, sitting just below the surface. Professor Gero von Merhart, specialist for prehistoric monuments in the area, was contacted. As a result, the site was excavated by students from the University of Marburg under the direction of Otto Uenze.

Tomb architecture

The sunken rectangular chamber measured c. 5 x 2.2m (internal measurements), narrowing somewhat towards the back. Although most of its orthostaths were missing, it was still possible to reconstruct its rectangular plan from the foundation trenches. The individual slabs reached a length of 60 cm to 1m, were 40 cm wide and about 80 cm high. Their weight varied between 800 and 1,000 kg.