On the burial ground there is, with only approx. 100 m. Spacing, 2 quarries and one of Denmark's largest giant living rooms around a central plant - the so-called cult house. The nozzles and the giant room have been known since their construction by virtue of their visibility, but it was only through extensive excavations in 1954-57 that detailed knowledge of the individual plant and its connection with the hitherto unknown cult house was clarified. When the burial ground was in use almost 5,000 years ago, the landscape looked very different. It was then covered with dense deciduous forest...

On the burial ground there is, with only approx. 100 m. Spacing, 2 quarries and one of Denmark's largest giant living rooms around a central plant - the so-called cult house. The nozzles and the giant room have been known since their construction by virtue of their visibility, but it was only through extensive excavations in 1954-57 that detailed knowledge of the individual plant and its connection with the hitherto unknown cult house was clarified. When the burial ground was in use almost 5,000 years ago, the landscape looked very different. It was then covered with dense deciduous forest that the Stone Age people began clearing small clearings into fields. Hevring river - which today is only a small stream - was then a winding river, which only a few kilometers downstream had its outlet in the fjord system that connected Kolindsund with the Kattegat via Randers Fjord and at that time the fjord opening at Hevring Hede. The moraine hills from Ørsted to Udbyhøj were then a large island in the Stone Age, and the coasts of Djursland at that time were more of an archipelago with countless small islands, healthy, noses, fjords and islets. At the Tustrup burial ground, the 5 x 5.5 m large open house (1) with an open northeast gable has probably been the center of the burial site's activities. With its stone-walled casket walls and large stones along the back wall as well as a lack of fireplace, the building style of the house is far more reminiscent of the large stone tombs than the wooden-built residential houses of the Traktbæger culture. On the floor up to the southwest facing back wall, the excavation revealed swaths of 28 beautiful clay vessels, which are identical to the pottery that partly gave the name of the funnel cup culture and was partly used for, among other things. the offerings in front of and in the nozzles and the giant room. The house is therefore interpreted as a kind of temple, where e.g. the deceased have been located while the graves were being built and around which the cultic acts have been centered. Tustrup was the first place such a house was found. Similar cult houses have since emerged in several other places, among others. at Ferslev in North Jutland. The excavations were carried out by the Moesgård Museum. In the museum exhibition you can see the finds from the site, and in the nearby ancient park a reconstruction (2) of the cult house has been erected. Southwest of the cult house is the large giant room (3), which with its 3 x 10 m large burial chamber is among the largest in Denmark. The giant lodges are the greatest burial form of the Stone Age people. It is listed as a common grave and was usually used repeatedly by both the hopper culture and later cultures. A 6 m long passage leads to the burial chamber. Originally, the hallway was roofed with large stones just like in the burial chamber. It is impressive large stones (4) used for construction, and of the great large stone tombs at Tustrup, in particular, the giant room represents a tremendous work effort as well as a thoughtful investment of both materials and manpower. A total of 40 large boulders between ½ and approx. 20 tons for construction. Of the many building details in the giant room, in particular, the vertical sills at the transition between the corridor and the chamber, as well as the "keystone" lying above, which distributes the pressure from the chamber's cover stone in the hallway, should be noted. In both the hallway and the burial chamber, massive "dry walls" of stacked flat stones fill the spaces between the bricks, and on the floor at the northern end of the burial chamber is seen a frame of edged flat stones, marking a special area that may have been reserved for the burial of special persons. Perhaps the greatest experience of the giant room today - and a safe "hit" for children in particular - is to crawl into the so-called hive chamber (5) with a flashlight. The opening for this can be found in the southwest corner of the main chamber between two bricks and in here the dark and fantastic construction of the big stone tomb is intensely felt. Similar beehives are found in only 26 of the more than 700 giant living rooms left in Denmark. The beehive is erected at the same time as the other giant room, and there must be an idea or thought behind: It was perhaps here that the chief family for the local area was buried! The other two large stone tombs at Tustrup are both quarries with polygonal - so-called polygonal - burial chambers. The nozzles are traditionally considered to be predecessors to the great giant chamber, but the ceramic finds at the excavations of the graves were of the same character as in both the cult house and the giant chamber, which is why the tombs have been in use at the same time. North-west of the cult house is a freestanding nozzle chamber (6) with 5 originally 6 bricks and a short southwest facing chamber passage with 2 bricks. In the floor of the passage between the corridor and the chamber lies a so-called "threshold stone" (7), which marks where the inner wooden or stone door to the chamber has been. The very nice circular nozzle (8) southeast of the cult house is without chamber passage. The opening to the chamber is here only a gap between two of the carrier blocks of the chamber 5. The circular nozzle was restored and rebuilt in 1994 according to the previous excavations in order to give the visitor an experience of an intact circular nozzle in contrast to the rather broken freestanding nozzle chamber. Along the foot of the mound (9) that surrounds the burial chamber stand 13 large curbs with a beautiful dry wall. The paving stone over the chamber and parts of the dry wall and earth mound were added in 1994, and outside the chamber opening is a stone from the nozzle with clear cleft marks from recent rock carvings in the area. Large stones have always been a sought after building material - perhaps already for the construction of the nearby quarry stone church (10) in Nørager or for use as cuttings in nearby roads or railways. In addition to the ancient monuments, the Tustrup area offers beautiful scenery with marked trails and a primitive accommodation area close to the information building at the westernmost parking lot. The area, in collaboration between the County of Aarhus and the municipality of Rougsø, owns the area, is still under natural conservation with the aim of recreating a vegetation that harmonizes best with the Stone Age vegetation and to make visible the area's varied landscape. Just northeast of the burial ground, for example. a now overgrown marsh (11) which stood with an open water level when the burial ground was in use, and which therefore also holds significant archaeological and botanical interests. Source: www.fortidsmindeguide.dk