Heidenkrippe

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Heidenkrippe
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Heidenkrippe (Saxony-Anhalt)
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Coordinates 52 ° 14 ′ 37 "  N , 11 ° 10 ′ 57"  E
place Erxleben , Saxony-Anhalt , Germany
Emergence 3500 to 2800 BC Chr.

The large stone grave Heidenkrippe is a megalithic Neolithic grave complex near Erxleben in the district of Börde ( Saxony-Anhalt ).

location

The grave is located north-northwest of Erxleben in a wooded area and can be reached via a forest path that branches off the road between Bregenstedt and Klein Bartensleben . There are numerous other large stone graves some distance away: 7.5 km to the southwest is the large stone grave Marienborn 1 . 11 km east-northeast are the megalithic graves in the Haldensleber Forest , the largest collection of megalithic graves in Central Europe.

description

From the heavily damaged complex there are still nine stones left, which are probably eight wall stones and a cap stone. None of the stones are in their original position; More precise information on the original appearance and the dimensions of the system is therefore not possible. One of the stones has a noticeable depression.

The grave in regional sagas

According to a legend , the conspicuous depression on one of the stones, in which rainwater collects, should never dry out.

The name "Heidenkrippe" goes back to this deepening. A Christian general is said to have assured his soldiers before a battle against pagan Wends : "We will beat our enemies, as long as I will certainly water my horse from this stone." Thereupon he spurred his horse on and it struck in with a hoof deep hole in the still soft stone. The battle was victorious and the general was now able to soak in the depression in which rainwater had now collected. This legend is also passed down in the form of a ballad from 1827.

A variant of this legend also tells of a battle against Wenden, but revolves around two Christian brothers who fight together in the battle. When one of the brothers is wounded, the other carries him to the heather crib, but finds nowhere to wash his brother's wounds and to quench his thirst. When he finally kneels on the stone and prays to God, water suddenly flows in large quantities from the depression.

literature

  • Hans-Jürgen Beier : The megalithic, submegalithic and pseudomegalithic buildings as well as the menhirs between the Baltic Sea and the Thuringian Forest. (= Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Volume 1). Beier & Beran, Wilkau-Haßlau 1991.
  • Wilhelm Blasius : Prehistoric monuments between Helmstedt, Harbke and Marienborn. Braunschweig 1901, p. 226 ( online ).
  • Ulrich Fischer : The Stone Age graves in the Saale region. Studies on Neolithic and Early Bronze Age grave and burial forms in Saxony-Thuringia . Publisher Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin 1956.
  • Britta Schulze-Thulin : Large stone graves and menhirs. Saxony-Anhalt • Thuringia • Saxony . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2007, ISBN 978-3-89812-428-7 , p. 57.

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