Bacon side (Aschersleben)
| Bacon side (Aschersleben) | |||
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 The bacon side in Aschersleben |
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 44 '59.9 " N , 11 ° 28' 46.8" E | ||
| place | Aschersleben , Saxony-Anhalt , Germany | ||
The bacon side is a prehistoric menhir in Aschersleben in the Salzlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt .
Location and description
The stone is located in the southwest of Aschersleben, immediately south of Schierstedter Straße, about 100 m east of the level crossing. He stands there on a natural hill, on which an artificial burial mound was built, which was crowned by the menhir. The stone, which had overturned several times, was erected again in 1575 and 1720. Archaeological excavations took place in 1885 and 1932. It was found that he was standing directly on a stone packing grave . Since it did not contain any additions, it could only be dated generally to the end Neolithic or the early Bronze Age . Other graves around the bacon side date from the Middle Ages .
The menhir consists of lignite quartzite . Its height is 190 cm (of which only 90 cm protrude from the ground), the width 190 cm and the depth 20 cm. It is oriented roughly north-south, has the shape of an irregular plate and has numerous nails on the broad sides, especially on the western one. The stone may have been turned more recently, as Waldtraut Schrickel located most of the nails on the south side in the 1950s.
Finds from around the stone come from the Linear Pottery , the Baalberge group , the Bernburg Culture , the Corded Ware culture , the Bell Beaker Culture , the Unetice culture , the full Bronze Age , the La Tène period and the Middle Ages.
The name of the stone is said to derive from both its shape and its shiny surface. Gauge dishes were held here in the Middle Ages.
The menhir in regional sagas
A legend has grown up around the bacon side, which is related to the once widespread superstition that stones become soft in a thunderstorm. To appease the pagan gods, nails are said to be driven into the stone. This custom was practiced in a modified form until the Middle Ages: Wandering journeymen were supposed to prove their skill here by driving nails into the stone without bending them. Gradually, however, this custom got out of hand and young carters and horse drivers were forced to prove their skills. If they didn't succeed, they were beaten and had to repeat the nailing until they succeeded or they bought themselves free. A variant of this legend reports that two journeymen were held down by a horde of bullies and forced to drive a nail into the stone without it bending. Should they fail, their lives will be forfeited. The two journeymen prayed to God, whereupon they not only passed their test, but also received tremendous strength and thus were able to put the bullies to flight.
literature
- Heinrich Becker: The bacon side at Aschersleben. In: Journal of the Harz Association for History and Antiquity. Volume 22, 1889, pp. 377-406 ( online ).
- Max Franz: Pictures from the legend and history of the city of Aschersleben - A home book for school and home. Quedlinburg 1915, p. 21ff.
- Paul Grimm : The bacon side at Aschersleben. A menhir on a Late Stone Age-Early Bronze Age barrow In: Nachrichtenblatt für die Deutschen Vorzeit. Volume 9, Issue 4, 1933, pp. 95-96.
- Paul Grimm: Of upright stones (menhirs) in Central Germany. In: Mitteldeutsche Volkheit. Volume 3, Issue 4, 1936, pp. 68-69.
- Johannes Groht : Menhirs in Germany. State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2013, ISBN 978-3-943904-18-5 , p. 410, 444–445.
- 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 in 1955, No. 9, Wiesbaden 1955, p. 177.
- 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. 7–8.
- Erhard Schröter : soil monuments of the Halle district. In: Annual publication for Central German prehistory. Volume 69, 1986, p. 65.
- Britta Schulze-Thulin : Large stone graves and menhirs. Saxony-Anhalt • Thuringia • Saxony . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2007, p. 81.