Rebala Heritage Reserve is a heritage conservation area in

Jõelähtme Parish Jõelähtme Parish () is a municipality in Estonia. It was established in 1992 and is administratively part of the Harju County, in northwestern Estonia. The parish has a population of 6,969 and an area of , the population density is The admini ...

, east of

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

's capital,

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. It covers around 70 square kilometres and contains more than 300 archaeological remains, most of which are prehistoric stone-cist graves and cup-marked stones. Artifacts are on display in the Rebala Heritage Reserve Museum.

Description

Rebala Heritage Reserve is located around the village of Rebala,

Harju County Harju County ( or ''Harjumaa''), is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the southeast, Rapla Count ...

, in northern

, near the city of

. It was formed in 1987 mainly as an archaeological preservation area, and was the only protected area outside of Estonia's towns. It covers around 70 square kilometres and comprises 350 recorded archaeological sites, most of which are stone-

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

graves and cup-marked stones of the Bronze and Pre-Roman Iron Ages. In addition, several settlement sites and remains of ancient fields have been found here, including villages that were established in the Viking Age. The stone-cist graves and the cup-marked stones tend to be clustered and form groupings with clear visual boundaries. The cup-marked stones are fairly large and are clearly visible on the landscape. The heritage area also includes a number of pit grave cemeteries, as well as a medieval stone chapel, a church, and a large number of old farm buildings.

Jõelähtme burial field

In the centre of the reserve in

Jõelähtme Jõelähtme () is a village in Jõelähtme Parish, Harju County, northern Estonia. (retrieved 27 July 2021) Gallery File:Jõelähtme postijaama peahoone1.jpg, Post office File:Jõelähtme rahvamaja juulis 2018.jpg, Community centre File:Vabadus ...

is a burial field with 36 cist graves on display. The stone graves were covered with limestone slabs and surrounded by circular stone walls. The graves were discovered in 1985 in the course of a road extension and were moved twenty metres out of the way. In Joelahtme, by the Narva Road, is the Rebala Heritage Reserve Museum opened in 1994. It tells the visitor about the history of Rebala area and contains displays about the ancient settlement sites and fields, together with collections of the various artefacts found.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Rebala Heritage Reserve
Rebala Heritage Reserve Museum
at ''Visit Estonia''
Jõelähtme stone barrows
at ''Visit Estonia'' Archaeological sites in Estonia Jõelähtme Parish Museums in Estonia