Overview

In this electronic monograph, in which I have been guided by an object-orientated approach (see Holtorf 1995), I am exploring and interpreting the meanings of megaliths in later prehistoric Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany.

My work revolves around three themes in particular:

• The ways in which the megaliths of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were (and are!) socially and culturally meaningful in many different ways.
  
  
• The significance of history cultures and cultural memories to megaliths in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the acquiring of specific meanings and cultural values in later prehistoric periods.
  
  
• The possibility that, in later prehistoric periods, people in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern interpreted megaliths by connecting them with other ancient monuments and finds, with themselves and their ancestors, with particular interests, concepts and ideas, and with their cultural memory and history culture, as well as with wider worldviews.

These ideas unfold in detail and are elaborated throughout many different pages — I am inviting you to join the intellectual adventure in which I was involved when writing this work by reading it in the same spirit: explore, interpret, link!

My ambition is to present a sophisticated interpretation of megaliths in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which opens up new avenues for future research and has wider implications regarding the roles and meanings of ancient monuments in human societies.

Literature

Holtorf, Cornelius J. (1995) 'Object-orientated' and 'problem-orientated' approaches of archaeological research—reconsidered. Hephaistos 13, 7-18.

© Cornelius Holtorf