Drawehn
The Drawehn is a partly wooded, partly agriculturally used hilly landscape in the northeast of Lower Saxony . It lies between the districts of Lüneburg and Uelzen in the west and Lüchow-Dannenberg in the east. The ridge forms the eastern end of the (over) natural area Lüneburg Heath ("Ostheide") to the neighboring natural area Wendland and Altmark .
Emergence
The old moraine landscape of Lower Saxony was created in the course of four large glacier advances from the Scandinavian ice sheets 350,000 to 130,000 years ago - one during the Elster and three during the Saale Ice Age . The glaciers of the youngest, the Vistula Ice Age, only reached the northeastern edge of today's Elbe valley, so that the existing terminal moraine was only affected periglacial , for example in the form of solifluction over the frosty soil, through meltwater erosion and sediments or through shifting of drifting sand. In particular, the last two advances during the Ice Age, the Drenthe II and Warta stages, unfolded the East Hanoverian terminal moraine. It is geomorphologically younger than the Geest in western and central Lower Saxony, but significantly older than the young moraine landscape in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Ostholstein as part of the northern ridge .
Spatial description of the landscape
The ridge extends from the edge of the Elbe valley near Neu Darchau ("Klötzie") in a southerly direction over a length of about 40 kilometers. At Zernien it reaches its highest point, the " Hohen Mechtin ", at 142 meters above sea level . Southeast of a line between the towns of Clenze and Schnega flattens the hitherto quite steilkuppige profile and goes into the ground moraine of "Jeetzel-Silly-clay plate" and finally into the Stupid lowlands over. Further to the south-east, the terminal moraine season is continued in the Hellbergen of the Altmark , the Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide , all located in Saxony-Anhalt, and the Fläming (Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg - see also: southern land ridge ).
In terms of culture, the Drawehn is largely part of the Wendland . The exact delimitation is not clear: Sometimes the name is used synonymously for the ridge of the eastern Hanoverian terminal moraine , then again only for its southern part - in this case the northern part is called "Göhrde". Following sources from the 14th to 16th centuries, however, the entire Hohe and Niedere Geest west of the Jeetzel lowlands and east of the Uelzen-Bevenser basin and the Dahlenburg basin are to be considered Drawehn. In this sense, the term here defines the main ridge of the East Hanoverian terminal moraine including its foothills and the flatter eastern slope to the fluvial Lüchower lowland. The eastern Hanoverian terminal moraine can also be subdivided in its northern part into the sub-areas Göhrde and Klötzie - with flowing transitions or overlaps. The northern edge of the ridge between Hitzacker (Elbe) and Neu Darchau , which slopes up to 70 meters steeply to the Elbe - glacial valley, is called "Klötzie" (also: "Elbhöhen") . " Göhrde " is understood here, deviating for example from municipal boundaries, only the more or less closed forest complex of the " Staatsforstes Göhrde ", which is located on a wavy plateau in the northwest of the ridge.
High drawehn
The Drawehn can be divided topographically and hydrologically into the High and Low Drawehn. The 50 m NN isohypse is helpful as a guide: Above this contour line is the Hohe Drawehn with steep peaks and mostly remote locations. The sandy to loamy soils, interspersed with scree and boulders , made up of glacial and partly aeolian deposits, are mostly covered with drier pine forest or locally with fresh mixed deciduous forest; flatter areas are used for arable farming. From a natural history point of view, poor and dry grasslands with rare grasses, herbs and lichens are worth mentioning. To the west, the ridge delimits the clay-bottomed "Uelzener-Bevens Basin".
Numerous streams emerge along the eastern flank at around 50 meters above sea level. This is hillside pressure water that is fed by precipitation on the west side and the ridges of the ridge. Almost all brooks on this source horizon flow in an easterly direction from the ridge to finally flow into the Elbe tributary Jeetzel , which is about 11 to 18 m above sea level. NN is located. Due to the relatively large height difference over a short stretch of the trail, the streams have a very high flow speed. As a result , extensive valleys eroded into the Pleistocene underground on the eastern flank of the ridge . Humans made use of water power here early on and built water mills on the streams. Almost all of them have the suffix “- Mühlenbach ”.
Lower Drawehn
Fire lily on sandy, heat-favored arable site
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The Mühlenbach valleys are the most striking feature of the Lower Drawehn . Unlike the High Drawehn here can be found on glaciofluvial sands and glacial cover sands many groundwater near locations that are in Talrinnen as fens , for example in the form of alder break forest , ausprägten. (A different specialty is the “ Maujahn ” moor , which has formed in a sinkhole .) In addition to arable farming, there is also grassland farming in the more humid locations. However, due to hydraulic drainage measures and excessive groundwater abstraction - especially for field irrigation in the Uelzen district - many former wetlands have now dried up. To the east, the Lower Drawehn runs out into the Jeetzel lowlands. The greatest expansion is achieved in the south between Clenze and Lüchow , while in the north, towards the Elbe, more abrupt transitions between Hoher Geest and the river plains of Jeetzel and Elbe can be observed.
On sandy, heat-favored arable sites with particularly extensive cultivation, arable tiger lilies can still be found in places . At the village of Govelin on the edge of the Göhrde, a "field lily path" has been set up for viewing.
Cultural-historical aspects
The name "Drawehn" was already used in the Middle Ages and was first mentioned in connection with the place Clenze in 1004 as Drevani . Drawehn probably means "woodland" (cf. Sorbian drjewo , "wood"). The Slavic settlers from the Polabian tribe (colloquially also Wenden ) called their district there “Drawey” . Contemporary German sources speak of the land of the "Drevener" (also "Drawänen" or "Drewjanen"). The landscape is the border and overlap area between the Teutons ( Saxons ) and Slavs , who immigrated to the area in the 9th century. Strange village names in Wendland today testify to the Slavic influence: Waddeweitz , Meuchefitz , Middefeitz , Mammoißel , Guhreitzen , Tolstefanz , Dickfeitzen , Salderatzen and many others. The Slavic language of the Wends in the Hanoverian Wendland only disappeared towards the end of the 18th century.
Another special feature of the area is the type of settlement called the Rundling . The half-timbered buildings of a village are arranged in an almost closed circle around a central village square. Ideally, this round is only interrupted by a general driveway. The yard areas ( hooves ) widen outwards in a wedge shape. Church, school and inn are - if available - in front of the village. Round lumps are particularly common in the Lower Drawehn between Lüchow and Clenze, where arable soils are more favorable. Well-known tourist examples are the villages of Schreyahn , Lübeln and Satemin .
The Elbufer-Drawehn Nature Park, which was founded in 1968 and has been known as the Elbhöhen-Wendland Nature Park since 2006, made the Drawehn mountain range more well known to tourists .
literature
- Klaus Duphorn and Ulrich Schneider: On the geology and geomorphology of the Elbufer-Drawehn nature park . In: Treatises of the Natural Science Association in Hamburg. New episode Volume 25: Middle Elbe and Drawehn - habitats, flora and fauna in the Hanoverian Wendland. 1983, ISBN 3-490-14096-6 , pp. 9-40
- Lisel Gillandt, Eckhard Grimmel and Johannes M. Martens: Natural spatial structure of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district from a biological point of view. In: Treatises of the Natural Science Association in Hamburg. New episode Volume 25: Middle Elbe and Drawehn - habitats, flora and fauna in the Hanoverian Wendland. 1983, ISBN 3-490-14096-6 , pp. 133-150
- Wolfgang Jürries and Berndt Wachter (Eds.): Wendland-Lexikon . Volume 1: A-K . Series of publications by the local history working group Lüchow-Dannenberg, Volume 12, Lüchow 2000 (2nd edition 2008), ISBN 978-3-926322-28-9
- HB-Verlag (Ed.): Elbufer-Drawehn Nature Park. Nature magazine outside , No. 9, Hamburg 1980.
- Dieter Knabenschuh: Wendland, Elbufer, Drawehn. FDNF Fahrradtouristik GbR, Gartow, 1997, ISBN 3-930431-10-6
- Hansjörg Küster: History of the landscape in Central Europe. From the ice age to the present. Verlag CH Beck, Munich, 1995/1999, ISBN 3-406-45357-0
- Richard Pott: Lüneburg Heath, Wendland and Middle Elbe Valley National Park. Cultural landscapes excursion guide, Ulmer-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8001-3515-9
- Wolfgang Jürries, Berndt Wachter (ed.): Drawehn in: Wendland Lexikon. Volume 1: AK 2nd edition. Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Köhring & Co., Lüchow 2008, ISBN 978-3-926322-28-9 , p. 158
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 2 ′ 39 ″ N , 10 ° 54 ′ 34 ″ E