Menhir of Geusa
| Menhir of Geusa Puppenstein, Püppchenstein, Totenstein | |||
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 19 '43.9 " N , 11 ° 56' 39.4" E | ||
| place | Merseburg , OT Geusa , Saxony-Anhalt , Germany | ||
The menhir of Geusa (also called Puppenstein , Püppchenstein or Totenstein ) is a prehistoric menhir near Geusa , a district of Merseburg in the Saalekreis in Saxony-Anhalt .
Location and description
The stone is located about 300 m behind the southern exit of Geusa, directly on the road to Beuna . In historical times, it served as a boundary stone between the dioceses of Halberstadt and Magdeburg or the Burgwart districts of Merseburg and Müchi .
The menhir is made of quartzite . Its height is 80 cm, the width 110 cm and the depth 60 cm. It is block-shaped and almost pentagonal. Traces of a previously attached sign can still be seen.
Finds from the area around the stone date from the Neolithic (including perforated stone axes) and the Middle Ages .
The menhir in regional sagas
There are several legends about the stone: The name “Totenstein” could be traced back to the fact that corpse bearers placed coffins, which they transported from Geusa to Beuna, on the stone to rest. According to a second legend, the death stone is said to mark the grave of a French officer. The latter had harassed the daughter of a farmer and was killed by her in self-defense with a crucible. At night she and her father buried the French in secret and rolled the stone on his grave. The name "Puppenstein" goes back to the belief that Sunday children could see puppets dancing here at witching hour. Other people who want to see this, on the other hand, are banned here at witching hour. Furthermore, nocturnal hikers should go astray on the stone, constantly circle it and only find the right path again in the morning. Another legend tells that the residents of Geusa fetched the stone from Donkey Mountain to bring it to the village. But halfway through it fell off the car and could no longer be charged.
literature
- Johannes Felix , Max Näbe : About relationships of stone monuments and erratic blocks to cult, to legends and folk customs. In: Meeting reports of the Natural Research Society in Leipzig. Volume 42, 1915, p. 11.
- Johannes Groht : Menhirs in Germany. State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2013, ISBN 978-3-943904-18-5 , pp. 431, 452–453.
- Horst Kirchner : The menhirs in Central Europe and the menhir thought. Academy of Sciences and Literature, Treatises of the Humanities and Social Sciences Class, Born 1955, No. 9, Wiesbaden 1955, p. 179.
- Waldtraut Schrickel : Western European elements in the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age of Central Germany. Part I. Catalog. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory Dresden, Volume 5, VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1957, pp. 10-11.
- Erhard Schröter : soil monuments of the Halle district. In: Annual publication for Central German prehistory. Volume 69, 1989, p. 79.
Web links
- The Megalithic Portal: Puppet Stone