Large stone sculptures

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Large stone sculptures is a collective term for rock formations that seem to have relief-like, larger-than-life "images" of faces, people or animals. The thesis that these are man-made “works of art” from the Upper Palaeolithic was represented in particular by Elisabeth Neumann-Gundrum (1981). This interpretation, which has only found fertile ground in right-wing and Germanophile circles, is consistently rejected by specialist scientists and the corresponding "researches" are regarded as pseudoscience .

overview

The “preliminary work” on this topic was done by the racial mystic Karl Maria Wiligut (“Himmler's Rasputin”, alias Weisthor), who was sponsored by Heinrich Himmler and his “ Ahnenerbe ” foundation and Richard Anders , SS member and member of the racist Neutempler order ( ONT). Wiligut first came up with the idea that certain face-like rock formations could not be the whims of nature, but works of art from primeval history in Europe. Richard Anders photographed what he called “stone sculptures”, which he viewed as relics of a more than 20,000 year old European primal religion from which all other cultures had their origins - such alleged monuments from the most ancient times should remind Germany that it again called to the spiritual guidance of the whole world.

Elisabeth Neumann-Gundrum took a similar view in 1981 in her illustrated book, which is riddled with mysticism that is difficult to understand. In her opinion there are Upper Palaeolithic large stone sculptures on rock formations in various regions of Europe, which mainly show huge faces, among which the author claims to have repeatedly recognized the religious symbols of the "dichotomy" and the "breath birth". She dated these alleged sculptures between 35,000 and 10,000 years BC. In the middle of the last glacial period .

The Marburg Germanist Elisabeth Neumann-Gundrum was born on March 16, 1910 in Gelsenkirchen (father Julius Neumann, miners' surgeon from Gelsenkirchen; mother Meline Euker from Marburg) and went to school in Gelsenkirchen-Buer, Potsdam and Gladbeck. She studied history, German literature and philosophy in Basel, Marburg, Leipzig and Münster, and completed her studies with a doctorate on Rainer Maria Rilke . Neumann-Gundrum worked as a teacher in Kassel and Kirchhain and was also a lecturer in fine arts there for a few semesters. She only adopted the middle name Gundrum, the maiden name of her mother, later. Since 1970 she has devoted herself exclusively to her research on large stone sculptures in Germany and other European countries. In 1981 she published her illustrated book on this subject.

A comprehensive discussion of the alleged large stone sculptures with a site guide to the corresponding rock formations was prepared by Winfried Katholing (May 2001, Publisher: Books on Demand GmbH), who expressed certain doubts about Neumann-Gundrum's theses.

Examples of alleged large stone sculptures and their "discoverers"

  • Klusfelsen near Goslar (the Nazi esotericist Karl Maria Wiligut ; Hemerding et al., 1995, who suspects this is a cult site of the Atlanteans )
  • Bruchhauser Stones (Elisabeth Neumann-Gundrum, 1981)
  • "The old man from the mountain" on the Kästeklippe (Okertal) in the Harz near Goslar (Rogge, 1985)
  • The "guard" at the Lichtenstein castle ruins in Lower Franconia (Machalett, 1965, a well-known "Germanophile" author)
  • The "Rufer" at the Externsteinen in the Teutoburg Forest (Machalett, 1970; Neumann-Gundrum, 1981; Niedhorn, 1995)
  • Heidenfelsen near Landstuhl as well as the Kriemhildenstuhl and the Teufelsstein near Bad Dürkheim in the Palatinate (Richard Anders, a similar dubious figure with a Nazi past like Wiligut)
  • Sample photo of a large sculpture in the form of a so-called archetype near Dro , north of Lake Garda, where a face can be clearly seen in the middle of the limestone rock; Another animal figure in the form of a dog protrudes above the plastic prehistoric head sculpture. Regardless of the ideological discussions about the authenticity of such three-dimensional archetypes carved out in rock formations and boulders, there is still no chair for three-dimensional prehistoric sculptures and monuments in archeology - which required an intensive college of geology, art and archeology.

  • “The old man from the mountain”, Kästeklippe

  • Externsteine

  • Large sculptures by Dro (Italy)

criticism

On the part of academic science, the rock formations in question are viewed as purely natural in origin and the similarities with faces or animals are unanimously viewed as natural chance formations. When viewed impartially, the photos in Neumann-Gundrum's illustrated book show that their interpretation is hardly comprehensible. Apparently there is also no convincing evidence of targeted processing by people. The report printed in Neumann-Gundrum's illustrated book, with the alleged evidence of traces of processing on the rock formations, does not come from a suitably qualified archaeologist, but only from an unknown stonemason and is to be assessed as extremely dubious.

The controversial theses found a certain acceptance in esoteric circles of the right-wing extremist scene, to which the majority of the authors who have dealt with the topic of large stone sculptures can also be assigned - according to Walther Machalett from the “ Walther Machalett Working and Research Group for und Frühgeschichte eV ”, which also belonged to the“ Armanen-Orden ”, which regards“ the Germanic people as the main tribe of the white race ”.

literature

Note: Most of the literature listed here includes pseudoscientific work from the right environment, as specialist scientists rarely deal with this topic!

  • Anonymous: Large sculptures in the rock examined - Marburg scientist turns 90 , Oberhessische Presse, March 16, 2000.
  • Hemerding, Siegfried & Lassen, Nis & Rab, Eva: The magicians from "Klus" - The Klusfelsen in Golar as a place of mysteries , Ars-Regia Kultstätten-Führer, Wedemark-Mellendorf 1995.
  • Katholing, Winfried: The large stone sculptures - cult sites of the Stone Age? , Books on Demand , o. O. 2001, 233 pages, ISBN 3-8311-1782-9 .
  • Machalett, Walter: The Lichtenstein near Ebern in Lower Franconia , contributions to prehistory and early history, vol. 11, special issue 1, Maschen 1965.
  • Machalett, Walter: The Externsteine ​​- The Center of the Occident. Vol. 2 , Maschen 1970.
  • Meier, Gert: The early days of Germany were completely different. Location determination of the prehistory of the Germans , Grabert-Verlag , Tübingen 1999, 557 pages, ISBN 3-87847-175-0 .
  • Meier, Gert & Zschweigert, Hermann: The high culture of the megalithic age - Secret testimonies from Europe's great past , Grabert-Verlag , Tübingen 1997, 511 pages, ISBN 3-87847-159-9 .
  • Neumann-Gundrum, Elisabeth: Europe's culture of large sculptures: archetypes / archetypal knowledge of a European mental structure , Schmitz, Gießen 1981, 484 pages, ISBN 3-87711-039-8 .
  • Neumann-Gundrum, Elisabeth: Europe's culture of large sculptures. The essence of the megalithic , o. O. 1981 (?), ISBN 3-9802235-4-X
  • Niedhorn, Ulrich: Mega-Sculptures on the Externsteinfelsen - Evidence of Germanic Shamanism , Isenhäger Studies on Early Sculpture, Vol. 6, Frankfurt / Main 1995.
  • Rogge, Bert: The face of old Europe and the secret of its rock paintings , self-published, Alfeld 1985.

See also

Web links