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= = Service history = =
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Following her commissioning on 1 October 1914 , Markgraf conducted sea trials , which lasted until 12 December . By 10 January 1915 , the ship had joined III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet with her three sister ships . On 22 January 1915 , III Squadron was detached from the fleet to conduct maneuver , gunnery ... |
In the aftermath of the loss of SMS Blücher at the Battle of Dogger Bank , Kaiser Wilhelm II removed Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl from his post as fleet commander on 2 February . Admiral Hugo von Pohl replaced him as commander of the fleet ; von Pohl carried out a series of sorties with the High Seas Fleet throughou... |
Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer became commander in chief of the High Seas Fleet on 18 January 1916 when Admiral von Pohl became too ill from liver cancer to continue in that post . Scheer proposed a more aggressive policy designed to force a confrontation with the British Grand Fleet ; he received approval from the Kais... |
= = = Battle of Jutland = = =
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Markgraf was present during the fleet operation that resulted in the Battle of Jutland which took place on 31 May and 1 June 1916 . The German fleet again sought to draw out and isolate a portion of the Grand Fleet and destroy it before the main British fleet could retaliate . Markgraf was the third ship in the German... |
Shortly before 16 : 00 the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group encountered the British 1st Battlecruiser Squadron under the command of Vice Admiral David Beatty . The opposing ships began an artillery duel that saw the destruction of Indefatigable , shortly after 17 : 00 , and Queen Mary , less than half an hour later ... |
Markgraf opened fire on the battlecruiser Tiger at a range of 21 @,@ 000 yards ( 19 @,@ 000 m ) . Markgraf and her two sisters fired their secondary guns on British destroyers attempting to make torpedo attacks against the German fleet . Markgraf continued to engage Tiger until 18 : 25 , by which time the faster battl... |
Shortly after 19 : 00 , the German cruiser Wiesbaden had become disabled by a shell from the British battlecruiser Invincible ; Rear Admiral Paul Behncke in König attempted to position his four ships to cover the stricken cruiser . Simultaneously , the British III and IV Light Cruiser Squadrons began a torpedo attack ... |
Markgraf then fired on the battlecruiser Princess Royal and scored two hits . The first hit struck the 9 @-@ inch armor covering " X " barbette , was deflected downward , and exploded after penetrating the 1 @-@ inch deck armor . The crew for the left gun were killed , the turret was disabled , and the explosion cause... |
Around 19 : 30 , Admiral John Jellicoe 's main force of battleships entered the battle ; Orion began firing at Markgraf at 19 : 32 ; she fired four salvos of 13 @.@ 5 @-@ inch Armor @-@ Piercing , Capped ( APC ) shells and scored a hit with the last salvo . The shell exploded upon impacting the armor protecting the No... |
Shortly after 20 : 00 , the German battleships engaged the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron ; Markgraf fired primarily 15 cm shells . In this period , Markgraf was engaged by Agincourt 's 12 @-@ inch guns , which scored a single hit at 20 : 14 . The shell failed to explode and shattered on impact on the 8 @-@ inch side armo... |
Around 02 : 45 , several British destroyers mounted a torpedo attack against the rear half of the German line . Markgraf initially held her fire as the identities of the destroyers were unknown . But gunners aboard Grosser Kurfürst correctly identified the vessels as hostile and opened fire while turning away to avoid... |
The High Seas Fleet managed to punch through the British light forces without drawing the attention of Jellicoe 's battleships , and subsequently reached Horns Reef by 04 : 00 on 1 June . Upon reaching Wilhelmshaven , Markgraf went into harbor while several other battleships took up defensive positions in the outer ro... |
= = = Subsequent operations = = =
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Following repairs in July 1916 , Markgraf went into the Baltic for trials . The ship was then temporarily assigned to the I Scouting Group for the fleet operation on 18 – 19 August . Due to the serious damage incurred by Seydlitz and Derfflinger at Jutland , the only battlecruisers available for the operation were Von... |
Markgraf was present for the uneventful advance in the direction of Sunderland on 18 – 20 October . Unit training with the III Squadron followed from 21 October to 2 November . Two days later , the ship formally rejoined III Squadron . On the 5th , a pair of U @-@ boats grounded on the Danish coast . Light forces were... |
= = = Operation Albion = = =
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In early September 1917 , following the German conquest of the Russian port of Riga , the German navy decided to eliminate the Russian naval forces that still held the Gulf of Riga . The Admiralstab ( Navy High Command ) planned an operation to seize the Baltic island of Ösel , and specifically the Russian gun batteri... |
Opposing the Germans were the old Russian pre @-@ dreadnoughts Slava and Tsesarevich , the armored cruisers Bayan , Admiral Makarov , and Diana , 26 destroyers , and several torpedo boats and gunboats . Three British C @-@ class submarines where also stationed in the Gulf . The Irben Strait , the main southern entranc... |
The operation began on 12 October , when Moltke and the four König @-@ class ships covered the landing of ground troops by suppressing the shore batteries covering Tagga Bay . Markgraf fired on the battery located on Cape Ninnast . After the successful amphibious assault , III Squadron steamed to Putziger Wiek , altho... |
Markgraf struck a pair of mines in quick succession while in the Irben Strait and took in 260 metric tons ( 260 long tons ; 290 short tons ) of water . The ship continued on to Kiel via Neufahrwasser in Danzig ; she then went on to Wilhelmshaven , where the mine damage was repaired . The work was completed at the Impe... |
= = = Fate = = =
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Markgraf and her three sisters were to have taken part in a final fleet action at the end of October 1918 , days before the Armistice was to take effect . The bulk of the High Seas Fleet was to have sortied from their base in Wilhelmshaven to engage the British Grand Fleet . Scheer — by now the Grand Admiral ( Großadm... |
Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918 , most of the High Seas Fleet ships , under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter , were interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow . Prior to the departure of the German fleet , Admiral Adolf von Trotha made clear to von Reuter that he could not all... |
The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Treaty of Versailles . Von Reuter believed that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919 , which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty . Unaware that the deadline had been extended to the 2... |
Markgraf was never raised for scrapping , unlike most of the other capital ships that were scuttled . Markgraf and her two sisters had sunk in deeper water than the other capital ships , which made any salvage attempt more difficult . The outbreak of World War II in 1939 put a halt to all salvage operations , and afte... |
= Coldrum Long Barrow =
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The Coldrum Long Barrow , also known as the Coldrum Stones and the Adscombe Stones , is a chambered long barrow located near to the village of Trottiscliffe in the south @-@ eastern English county of Kent . Constructed circa 4000 BCE , during Britain 's Early Neolithic period , today it survives only in a ruined state... |
Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe . Although representing part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe , the Coldrum Stones bel... |
Built out of earth and around fifty local sarsen megaliths , the long barrow consisted of a sub @-@ rectangular earthen tumulus enclosed by kerb @-@ stones . Within the eastern end of the tumulus was a stone chamber , into which human remains were deposited on at least two separate occasions during the Early Neolithic... |
After the Early Neolithic , the long barrow fell into a state of ruined dilapidation , perhaps experiencing deliberate deposition in the late medieval period , either by Christian zealots or treasure hunters . Local folklore grew up around the site , associating it with the burial of a prince and the countless stones ... |
= = Name and location = =
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The Coldrum Stones are named after a nearby farm , Coldrum Lodge , which has since been demolished . The monument lies in a " rather isolated site " north @-@ east of the nearby village of Trottiscliffe , about 500 metres from a prehistoric track known as the Pilgrim 's Way . The tomb can be reached along a pathway kn... |
= = Context = =
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= = = Early Neolithic Britain = = =
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The Early Neolithic was a revolutionary period of British history . Beginning in the fifth millennium BCE , it saw a widespread change in lifestyle as the communities living in the British Isles adopted agriculture as their primary form of subsistence , abandoning the hunter @-@ gatherer lifestyle that had characteris... |
Between 4500 and 3800 BCE , all of the British Isles came to abandon its former Mesolithic hunter @-@ gatherer lifestyle , to be replaced by the new agricultural subsistence of the Neolithic Age . Although a common material culture was shared throughout most of the British Isles in this period , there was great region... |
= = = The tomb building tradition = = =
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Across Western Europe , the Early Neolithic marked the first period in which humans built monumental structures in the landscape . These were tombs that held the physical remains of the dead , and though sometimes constructed out of timber , many were built using large stones , now known as " megaliths " . Individuals... |
The Early Neolithic people of Britain placed far greater emphasis on the ritualised burial of the dead than their Mesolithic forebears had done . Many archaeologists have suggested that this is because Early Neolithic people adhered to an ancestor cult that venerated the spirits of the dead , believing that they could... |
In Britain , these tombs were typically located on prominent hills and slopes overlooking the surrounding landscape , perhaps at the junction between different territories . Archaeologist Caroline Malone noted that the tombs would have served as one of a variety of markers in the landscape that conveyed information on... |
Archaeologists have differentiated these Early Neolithic tombs into a variety of different architectural styles , each typically associated with a different region within the British Isles . Passage graves , characterised by their narrow passage made of large stones and one or multiple burial chambers covered in earth... |
= = = The Medway Megaliths = = =
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Although now all in a ruinous state and not retaining their original appearance , at the time of construction the Medway Megaliths would have been some of the largest and most visually imposing Early Neolithic funerary monuments in Britain . Grouped along the River Medway as it cuts through the North Downs , they cons... |
They can be divided into two separate clusters : one to the west of the River Medway and the other on Blue Bell Hill to the east , with the distance between the two clusters measuring at between 8 and 10 km . The western group includes Coldrum Long Barrow , Addington Long Barrow , and the Chestnuts Long Barrow . The e... |
The Medway long barrows all conformed to the same general design plan , and are all aligned on an east to west axis . Each had a stone chamber at the eastern end of the mound , and they each probably had a stone facade flanking the entrance . The chambers were constructed from sarsen , a dense , hard , and durable sto... |
Such common architectural features among these tomb @-@ shrines indicate a strong regional cohesion with no direct parallels elsewhere in the British Isles . For instance , they would have been taller than most other tomb @-@ shrines in Britain , with internal heights of up to 10 ft . Nevertheless , as with other regi... |
It seems apparent that the people who built these monuments were influenced by pre @-@ existing tomb @-@ shrines that they were already aware of . Whether those people had grown up locally , or moved into the Medway area from elsewhere is not known . Based on a stylistic analysis of their architectural designs , Stuar... |
= = Design and construction = =
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The monument originally consisted of a sarsen stone chamber , covered by a low earthen mound , which was bounded by prostrate slabs . As such , the archaeologist Paul Ashbee asserted that the monument could be divided into three particular features : the chamber , the barrow , and the sarsen stone surround . It is loc... |
It had been built using about 50 stones . The barrow is sub @-@ rectangular in plan , and about 20 meters ( 64 feet ) in length . At its broader , eastern end , where the chamber is located , the monument measures 15 metres ( 50 feet ) , while at the narrower , western end , it is 12 metres ( 40 feet ) in breadth . As... |
The chamber of the monument measures 4 @.@ 5 metres ( 13 feet ) in length , and 1 @.@ 7 metres ( 5 feet 6 inches ) in width , although it was potentially much larger when originally constructed . The chamber 's internal height would have been at least 2 metres ( 6 feet 6 inches ) . In its current state , the northern ... |
It is possible that there was a facade in front of the chamber , as is evident at other chambered tombs in Britain , such as West Kennet Long Barrow and Wayland 's Smithy . It is also possible that there was a portal stone atop the chamber , as was apparent at Kit 's Coty House and Lower Kit 's Coty House . Many of th... |
The earthen mound that once covered the tomb is now visible only as an undulation approximately 1 foot , 6 inches in height . In the nineteenth @-@ century , the mound was higher on the western end of the tomb , although this was removed by excavation to reveal the sarsens beneath during the 1920s . It is likely that ... |
The kerb @-@ stones around the tomb display some patterning ; those on the northern side are mostly rectilinear , while those on the southern side are smaller and largely irregular in shape . It is probable that there was an ancillary dry @-@ stone wall constructed using blocks of ironstone from the geological Folkest... |
A concave line of abrasion and polishing can be found on both one of the central kerb @-@ stones on the western end of the monument and a kerb @-@ stone on the south @-@ east of the monument . These have been attributed to the sharpening of flint and other stone axe @-@ blades on these sarsens . It is possible that th... |
Coldrum Long Barrow is comparatively isolated from the other Medway Megaliths ; in this it is unique , given that the other surviving examples are clustered into two groups . However , it is possible that another chambered tomb was located nearby ; a razed , elongated earthen mound with an east @-@ west orientation is... |
= = Human remains = =
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= = = Demographics = = =
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Ashbee suggested that given its size and comparisons with other long barrows , such as Fussell 's Lodge , the Coldrum tomb could have housed the remains of over a hundred individuals . Excavations conducted in the early 20th century have led to the methodical discovery and removal of what was believed to be the remain... |
A subsequent re @-@ analysis of the bones was conducted in the early 21st century , and published in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society in 2013 : the project presented " osteological analysis , Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates , and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to inform on the demography... |
Keith had suggested that the crania he examined displayed similar features , which he attributed to the different individuals belonging to " one family - or several families united by common descent . " Similar observations had been made regarding the crania from other long barrows in Britain , although osteoarchaeolo... |
Wysocki 's team noted that in all but one case , the fracture morphologies are consistent with dry @-@ bone breakage . Three of the skulls exhibited evidence that they had experienced violence ; a probable adult female had an unhealed injury on the left frontal , while an adult of indeterminate sex had an unhealed fra... |
Isotope analysis of the remains revealed δ13C values that were typical of those found at many other Southern British Neolithic sites , albeit with significantly higher values of δ15C , which grew over time . Although this data is difficult to interpret , it was identified as probably reflecting a terrestrial diet high... |
Radiocarbon dating of the remains suggested Early Neolithic activity began at the site during 3980 – 3800 calibrated BCE ( 95 % probability ) or 3960 – 3880 cal BCE ( 68 % probability ) , when the first human remains were buried at the site . It then suggested that after an interval of either 60 – 350 years ( 95 % pro... |
= = = Post @-@ mortem deposition = = =
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Cut @-@ marks were identified on a number of the bones ( two femora , two innominates , and one cranium ) , with osteoarchaeological specialists suggesting that these had been created post @-@ mortem as the bodies were dismembered and the bones removed from their attached ligaments . However , they further suggested t... |
This cut @-@ marked human bone assemblage represented the largest yet identified from within a Neolithic long barrow in Southern Britain , although similar evidence for dismemberment has been found from a number of other Neolithic British sites , such as West Trump , Eyford , Aldestrop , and Haddenham . There are two ... |
The inclusion of occupational debris over the bones was not unique to the site but common in chambered tombs from southern England . On the basis of an example discovered at Kit 's Coty House , Ashbee thought it apparent that the contents of the Coldrum 's chamber would have been compartmentalised by medial slabs , wh... |
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