Altar stones near Dransfeld
The altar stones near Dransfeld in the district of Göttingen in Lower Saxony are located on the eastern slope of the Hengelsberg, in the depression between the mountain and the eastern Hohen Hagen . Outcrops of quartzite blocks can be found here in close proximity . The age of the designation "altar stones" is unknown.
description
Some of the blocks show traces of human processing. 14 bowl-shaped depressions, mostly 7-10 cm in diameter and 1-5 cm deep, were carved into the surface of the northern block, which was broken into two parts . A bowl is 20 cm in diameter. The usually round bowls stand out clearly from the depressions on the stone surface caused by weathering. A neighboring stone shows several elongated, artificially worked grooves on the surface . The four shallow bowl-like depressions next to the grooves could also have been created by human hands. A deep cylindrical hole in one of the blocks shows the intention to shatter the stone.
archeology
Archaeological investigations were carried out on the striking group of stones at different times. Based on the results of his excavations at the quartzite impact point Voßküppel at Bühren FB Jünemann examined the area between the stones and was a large number of discounts and equipment salvage of quartzite. He came to the conclusion that the Paleolithic people extracted and prepared the material for their stone tools here.
From 1966 to 1969 the wealth of finds was repeated during excavations by K. Golzio. Stratigraphically indistinguishable, besides pieces that cannot be processed by humans, a number of chips, scratches, scrapers , drills and blades made of quartzite were recovered. The discovery of a large hand ax is remarkable . Some of the finds can be assigned to the Middle Paleolithic ( Moustérien ) according to type and shape . During the last ice age, between about 100,000 and 30,000 BC. BC, groups of hunters are likely to have sporadically visited the stone blocks to extract raw materials and manufacture equipment. At that time, the stone blocks in the tree-free tundra were visible from afar.
The depressions correspond to the bowls as found in monuments of the Bronze Age , e.g. B. from the nearby shell stone of Wiershausen , are known. The grooves could also have been created at an unknown point in time as part of cultic acts. Such a tradition has been proven for the high Middle Ages.
On the southern slope of the Hengelsberg you will find some small, hard-to-see barrows .
See also
literature
- K. Golzio: New finds from the paleolithic impact point on the altar stones near Dransfeld . In: Göttinger Jahrbuch 1970 pp. 7–22
- K. Golzio: Hand ax and palaeolithic accompanying inventory from the altar stones near Dransfeld . In: Die Kunde NF 19, 1968 pp. 2–27
- Fritz Bertram Jünemann: Observations at quartzite strike sites in southernmost Lower Saxony . In: Die Kunde NF 10, 1959 pp. 170–181
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The altar stone on the Hengelsberg , pp. 19-21, in: If stones could talk. Volume I, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1989, ISBN 3-7842-03973 .
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 37.8 " N , 9 ° 45 ′ 12.6" E