MegaDB: A Research Database of Megalithic Monuments in Europe

The database

Currently (work in progress) version: here

Background

MegaDB is a research-focused database originally started for my book project for the systematic study of megalithic monuments in Europe. It aggregates georeferenced site records, typological classifications, structural features, and bibliographic links from a curated set of primary catalogs, community-maintained list articles, and current scholarly publications. The goal is to support quantitative spatial analysis, typological comparison, and reference-driven literature work on a body of monuments that has historically been documented across a fragmented landscape of regional inventories.

Backbone: Sprockhoff and the Wikipedia Community

For Germany, the architectural backbone of the database is Ernst Sprockhoff’s Atlas der Megalithgräber Deutschlands. The Sprockhoff numbering remains the de facto standard identifier for monuments across Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, and beyond, and provides the stable cross-reference key that ties the rest of the data together.

Equally fundamental to MegaDB is the work of the German-language Wikipedia community. The list articles for the federal states have, over many years, added what the printed catalogs largely lack: GPS coordinates for thousands of monuments, photographs documenting their current state, and continuous updates on preservation, destruction, and re-discovery. Without this volunteer effort — much of it involving on-site visits, careful georeferencing, and patient editorial maintenance — a georeferenced megalithic database at this scale would simply not be feasible. The relevant articles include:

A heartfelt thank-you is owed to every editor who has contributed to these resources.

Augmentation Layers

Several scholarly catalogs and datasets are integrated on top of the Sprockhoff/Wikipedia foundation to enrich attributes, extend geographic coverage, and provide detailed architectural data:

  1. Hoika MegaGra Database — J. Hoika (2011), MegaGra: A Megalith Database for Schleswig-Holstein (CAU Kiel, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte), comprising 1,033 records of megalithic graves in Schleswig-Holstein. This forms the primary state-level augmentation for the western Baltic region.
  2. Schuldt 1972 — Ewald Schuldt, Die mecklenburgischen Megalithgräber: Untersuchungen zu ihrer Architektur und Funktion (Berlin: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften). After filtering for sites with both a verified Sprockhoff number and reliable GPS coordinates, 252 Mecklenburg sites are retained in the production database, of which 106 carry detailed architectural data (chamber dimensions, bed type, orientation, stone circle and boulder mound features, antechambers, cupmarks, and excavation observations).
  3. Fritsch et al. 2010 — B. Fritsch, M. Furholt, M. Hinz, L. Lorenz, H. Nelson, G. Schafferer, S. Schiesberg, K.-G. Sjögren, Dichtezentren und lokale Gruppierungen – Eine Karte zu den Großsteingräbern Mittel- und Nordeuropas, Journal of Neolithic Archaeology 12 (2010), DOI: 10.12766/jna.2010.56. The accompanying XLS dataset provides cross-border coverage for the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, and is the single most important resource for international spatial analysis within MegaDB.
  4. Rinne 2025 — Christoph Rinne, Die Megalithgräber im Haldensleber Forst, Landkreis Börde, providing a recent, detailed catalog of monuments in one of the densest concentrations of megaliths in Saxony-Anhalt.

Further key publications are continuously being identified and integrated; the database is intentionally designed as an open, extensible reference framework rather than a closed snapshot.

References

  • Fritsch, B./Furholt, M./Hinz, M./Lorenz, L./Nelson, H./Schafferer, G./Schiesberg, S./Sjögren, K.-G. (2010). Dichtezentren und lokale Gruppierungen – Eine Karte zu den Großsteingräbern Mittel- und Nordeuropas. Journal of Neolithic Archaeology 12. DOI: 10.12766/jna.2010.56.
  • Hoika, J. (2011). MegaGra: Megalith Database. CAU Kiel, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte.
  • Rinne, C. (2025). Die Megalithgräber im Haldensleber Forst, Landkreis Börde.
  • Schuldt, E. (1972). Die mecklenburgischen Megalithgräber: Untersuchungen zu ihrer Architektur und Funktion. Berlin: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften.
  • Sprockhoff, E. Atlas der Megalithgräber Deutschlands.
  • Wikipedia contributors: list articles cited above (German Wikipedia, accessed 2025–2026).