Hexenstein near Dötlingen

The Hexenstein near Dötlingen , formerly known as “De breede Steen” or “brede Stehen” (broad stone), is a boulder and shell stone in the Neerstedt district of the municipality of Dötlingen in the Lower Saxony district of Oldenburg . The stone is one of the largest boulders in the Wildeshauser Geest . It is a natural monument in Dötlingen .

description

The Hexenstein is located in the northern Wildeshauser Geest between the towns of Dötlingen and Kirchhatten near Neerstedt, south of the “Wehe” forest. In the vicinity there are a number of prehistoric sites such as the large stone grave of the court and the Dötlinger stone grave . The stone is a large boulder made of reddish Scandinavian granite , most of which lies in the soil of a field . It protrudes 1.2 meters above the surface of the earth. The actual dimensions are 4.3 meters by 3.1 meters. The volume is estimated at 15 m³ and the weight at 39 tons.

Bowl

Mark the bowls with chalk

Small bowls on the stone surface, colored in the photo

The surface of the stone has three large and 47 smaller depressions that are a few millimeters to 2 cm deep. They were pecked or scraped into the granite in the shape of a hollow. The exact number of the actual bowls is not known because individual wells can be of natural origin. Some indentations reveal geometrical arrangements as groups of three and four, as well as pairs and rows, the meaning of which is not known.

It is not known when the bowls were placed in the stone. Archaeologists usually date the cup stones, which are widespread in large parts of Northern Europe and especially in Scandinavia , to the Bronze Age . According to archaeologists, the bowls have recently been ground out further, which could be related to the fact that rituals are supposedly still performed on the stone on certain days .

Surname

There are different explanations for naming it as a witchstone. One is based on the fact that witches allegedly flew from Stein to Bremen and back on Midsummer Night . The three deep bowls were marks for a witch's spinning wheel . According to other traditions, dwarfs would have lived under the stone and ate from the bowls.

literature

K. Michaelsen: Monuments Stone Age cult customs in: Nordwest-Heimat (supplement of the Nordwest-Zeitung) No. 1, 1952, p. 3
H. Lübing: Oldenburgische Sagen , Oldenburg, 1968, pp. 218-220
J. Eckert: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany , Oldenburg, 1995, pp. 157–159
Hery A. Lauer: "Hexenstein" near Neerstedt. In: Oldenburger Landesverein für Geschichte, Natur- und Heimatkunde eV, State Museum for Natural History and Prehistory Oldenburg (Ed.): Archaeological Monuments between Weser and Ems (= Oldenburg Research. New Part 13 = Archaeological Messages from Northwest Germany. Supplement. 34). Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2000, ISBN 3-89598-752-2 , pp. 350–351.