_Riesenbett_. The latter name means Giants' Bed, and it seems probable
that the former should be similarly translated, despite the suggested
connection with the Huns, for a word _Hünen_ has been in use in North
Germany for several centuries with the meaning of giants. A _Hünenbett_
consists of a rectangular (rarely oval or round) hill of earth covering
a megalithic tomb. This is a simple elongated rectangle in shape, made
of upright blocks and roofed with two or more cover-slabs. The great
_Hünenbett_ or Grewismühlen in Mecklenburg has a mound measuring 150
feet by 36 with a height of 5 feet. On the edge of the mound are
arranged forty-eight tall upright blocks of stone.

The _Hünenbetter_ of the Altmark are among the best known and explored.
Here the corridors are usually about 20 feet long, though in rare cases
they reach a length of 40 feet. Each is filled with clean sand up to
two-thirds of its height, and on this lie the bodies and their funeral
deposit. The bodies must have been laid flat, though not necessarily in
an extended position, as there was not room above the sand for them to
have been seated upright. Various implements of flint have been found in
the tombs together with stone hammers and vases of pottery. There is no
certain instance of the finding of metal.


A book printed by John Picardt at Amsterdam in 1660 contains quaint
pictures of giants and dwarfs engaged in the building of a megalithic
monument which is clearly a _Hünenbett_. According to tradition the
giants, after employing the labour of the dwarfs, proceeded to devour
them. _Hünenbetter_ similar to those shown in Picardt's illustrations
are still to be seen in Holland, but only in the north, where over fifty
are known. They are of elongated rectangular form, built of upright
blocks, and roofed with from two to ten cover-slabs. They all widen