Old Castle (Berka in front of the Hainich)
| Old castle | ||
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 The Lang valley and the castle hill - view from the west (summer 1990) |
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| Creation time : | Prehistory | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall, Wall and Graben | |
| Place: | Berka in front of the Hainich | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 3 '30 " N , 10 ° 24' 41" E | |
| Height: | 400 m above sea level NN | |
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The Old Castle is an Outbound prehistoric fortification in the western part of the Hainich National Park .
location
The castle is located about 3 km (as the crow flies) northeast of the center of the village of Berka in front of the Hainich above the Long Valley , through which a medieval road led to Craula. It is located just above the Ortswüstung Sülzrieden .
description
The facility of the Spornburg is 400 m above sea level. NN high mountain spur oriented to the west, on the south-eastern flank of which an old road leads from Berka in front of the Hainich ascending towards Craula and into the Thuringian Basin. The castle was separated from the eastern foreland by steep slopes on three sides and at least three walls and ditches that were still recognizable in sections .
history
The castle complex has been known since the 19th century, but has not yet been explored as it was located in a restricted military area during the GDR era. According to the legend, The Giants from Castle Hill , at the foot of the castle there was a large boulder with indentations in the shape of a hand that could be recognized. The object, which can be addressed as a cult stone , was blown up after Gutbier in the 19th century to be used in road construction.
During the construction of a path to a shooting range in Hainich, the row grave cemetery in the desert of Sülzrieden was discovered in 1936 at the foot of the castle hill. According to Rempel, the grave goods prove that those buried there belong to the Slavic population group.
status
The castle site is a protected ground monument . The area in question is part of the Hainich National Park and is used for tourism.
literature
- Herrmann Gutbier: The Hainich. (Reprint) . Rockstuhl Publishing House , Bad Langensalza 1894.
- Hermann Nebe: Wall castles in West Thuringia . In: The Thuringian Flag . tape 2 . Jena 1932, p. 70-77 .
- Kurt Langlotz: Mountains of Gods around Eisenach . In: The Thuringian Flag . tape 8 . Jena 1939, p. 459 f .
- Municipal administration Berka vdH (Hrsg.): Berka in front of the Hainich. A historical overview . Frisch, Eisenach 2002, p. 40 .
- Dr. Karcher: Large excavations near Berka vd Hainich . In: Eisenacher Tagespost . October 17, 1936.
- Heinrich Rempel : Row graveyards of the 8th-11th centuries Century (catalog, number 111) . In: University of Jena (ed.): Writings of the section for prehistory . tape 20 . Jena 1966.
- Heinrich Rempel: The Slavic period in the south of the GDR . In: excavations and finds . 3, issue 4/5. Berlin 1958, p. 287 .
- Harald Rockstuhl / Frank Störzner : Hainich history book - a hike through the history of a natural heritage , Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza, 3rd revised edition July 31, 2003, ISBN 978-3-932554-15-5