Menhirs of Wethau

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Menhirs of Wethau
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Menhirs of Wethau (Saxony-Anhalt)
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Coordinates 51 ° 8 '32.4 "  N , 11 ° 50' 39.3"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 8 '32.4 "  N , 11 ° 50' 39.3"  E
place near Wethau , Saxony-Anhalt , Germany

The menhirs of Wethau were two prehistoric menhirs near Wethau in Burgenlandkreis , Saxony-Anhalt , of which only one still exists today. The name “The High Stone” has been handed down for both stones.

location

The two stones were originally quite close to each other on a field path that, coming from Kroppental , led in a westerly direction along the municipal boundary between Wethau and Naumburg (Saale) to the road that connected the two places. This dirt road no longer exists today, today the road is federal road 87 or federal road 180 . The menhir II originally stood 80 m before the confluence with the road on the left side of the dirt road, menhir I stood a little further to the east. Menhir II was later moved to the western side of the road and is now in the middle of an industrial park . The parcel “Am Hohen Stein” is named after the stones , from which the name of a settlement or today's industrial area and a street name were later derived.

description

Menhir I.

Little information is available about menhir I. Its material and dimensions are unknown, as is the time of its destruction. What is certain is that it was erect and used as a nail stone .

Menhir II

Menhir II consists of gray-yellow quartzite and is plate-shaped. It has a height of 1.0 m, a width of 0.85 m and a thickness of 0.32 m. There are no signs of previous nailing.

Finds from the area around the menhirs come from the Band Ceramic Culture , the Cord Ceramic Culture and from the Iron Age .

The menhirs in regional sagas

The menhirs of Wethau were associated with the legendary figure Martin Pumphut . This magician is said to have driven nails into the stones with his pointed hat.

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 1. Wilkau-Haßlau 1991, p. 67.
  • Johannes Groht : Menhirs in Germany. State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2013, ISBN 978-3-943904-18-5 , pp. 462–463.
  • Hermann Großler : Old Holy Stones in the Province of Saxony. In: New Years Papers. No. 20, 1896, pp. 9-10, 24.
  • 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. 63–65.

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