Sacrificial Stone (Eisenberg)

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The sacrificial stone on the Eisenberg is a natural monument on the southwest slope of the Eisenberg in the Knüll Mountains in northern Hesse . The stone is located in a bend on Kreisstraße 34 ("Eisenbergstraße") between Willingshain and Raboldshausen , approx. 1.2 km north of Willingshain and approx. 450 m southwest of the Feriendorf Eisenberg.

Sacrificial stone

The quartz sandstone rock is 3.5 m long, 2 m wide and 1.4 m thick and cuboid. The rock lying on the edge of the mixed forest was artificially excavated in a circular shape 0.5 m deep and 1 m wide. Because of the hollow on its surface and the five grooves (often called "blood grooves" in the vernacular), it is widely assumed that it is an old Germanic sacrificial stone . An excavation in the area of ​​the stone in order to scientifically prove a prehistoric and ritual use of the stone has not yet been carried out. Plants and probably animals were sacrificed on such sacrificial stones. Ceremonial sacrifices were among other things. a. for the luck of the hunt, the sparing of natural disasters, the absence of illness or the repulsion of demons . Miraculous effects through ritual acts were requested or oaths were sworn on the stone.

For the forest workers in the area, the stone served as a resting place during their work breaks. Today it is a hiking destination, marked by a wooden sign. The hiking car park "Röhnblick" as the entrance to the Eisenberg hiking trail is located nearby.

legend

Here too, as with many other large boulders, there is the legend of an angry giant's stone throwing. A giant is said to have tried to throw the stone from Wallenstein Castle onto Herzberg Castle out of anger at the lords of Burg Herzberg in order to destroy it. The stone got caught in his sleeve and fell to the ground near Willingshain. The five grooves in the stone are said to have come from the giant's fingers.

Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 43.5 "  N , 9 ° 30 ′ 23"  E

Footnotes

  1. ^ Holiday facility of the state capital Hanover for school classes and youth groups ( Feriendorf Eisenberg ).
  2. ↑ Several burial mounds on the Eisenberg from the Bronze Age (1600 to 1200 BC) attest to the settlement of the area as early as this time.
  3. ↑ There is no evidence for the assumption, especially widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries, that such stones were associated with a bloody sacrificial cult and, in particular, with human sacrifices by the Teutons .

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