Megalithic gate
The Hünenpforte is a limestone cliff in the Hagen district of Holthausen in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany. It is located within the Hünenpforte nature reserve and is above Hohenlimburger Straße ( B 7 ) at the end of the mass limestone range on which the Raffenburg is also located. The view from the Hünenpforte extends over the Lennetal to the Hohensyburg and into the Ruhr valley .
The name describes the appearance of the rock: the natural limestone arch is about five to seven meters high and looks like a gate for a giant . There are many legends, myths and stories about the giants and robber barons.
In fact, the megalithic gate is the portal and the remains of a huge collapsed cave. This collapse cave was probably formed as a result of karst rivers when the cave ceiling collapsed or perhaps an earthquake. The time of the collapse cannot yet be proven.
Tools from the Upper Palaeolithic were discovered in the remains of the cave at the Hünenpforte . The leaf cave is directly opposite the Hünenpforte . There skeletons of people from the early Mesolithic and from the Michelsberg culture were discovered. Although the scientific investigation of this and other caves in the area of the Hünenpforte is still in progress, this area is already considered to be one of the most important find regions in Germany and Europe.
On one side of the gate, the terrain slopes steeply to the main road. On the other side there is a level that was still freely accessible a few years ago and that is surrounded by huge beech trees. There are the remains of the wall and buildings of the Rücklenburg . As can be reconstructed by archaeological finds, this was laid out in the 13th century and probably destroyed at the same time as the neighboring Raffenburg in the same century. The Alte Statt hall is located between the Hünenpforte / Rücklenburg and the Raffenburg massif . Traces of Stone Age use and remains of settlement from the High and Late Middle Ages were discovered there.
literature
- Kai Olaf Arzinger: "Walls, castles, mansions", a historical hiking guide. 72 p., With numerous sketches and photos, Hagen-Hohenlimburg 1991
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 51 ° 21 '25.7 " N , 7 ° 33' 11.7" E