Scharzfeld stone church
Coordinates: 51 ° 37 '59.9 " N , 10 ° 22" 38.6 " E
The stone church Scharzfeld in the Harz is a cave in the Herzberg district of Scharzfeld in the district of Göttingen in southern Lower Saxony .
It is a round arched cave in dolomite rocks. It is about 28 m long, 6 to 8 m high and just as wide. In the Paleolithic the cave was used as a storage place for reindeer hunters. In the Middle Ages it became a church interior with a cemetery forecourt , which was forgotten from the 16th century.
Geographical location
The stone church Scharzfeld is located in the Harz Nature Park . It is located on the south-southwest slope of the Steinberg (approx. 341 m above sea level ), which rises north above the Herzberg district of Scharzfeld between the Bremke valley in the east and the Mönchetal in the east. The cave, located at a height of around 290 m , is located within the Steinberg nature reserve near Scharzfeld . The karst hiking trail leads past .
history
Early history
An archaeological excavation of the cave floor and the outer forecourt took place from 1925 to 1928. Paleolithic finds from the period between 15,000 and 8,000 BC were found. BC salvaged. During the excavation, this was the oldest archaeological material that had been discovered in Lower Saxony until then. The finds were flint knife , a bone needle and animal bones. Based on comparable finds in France, the finds can be attributed to reindeer hunters in a late Ice Age environment. They had created a resting place for themselves here. Even then took groups of hunters the place for short stays so Mesolithic v Forest hunters by 5000. And people during the pre-Roman Iron Age around 500 BC. Chr.
middle Ages
From the 9th century the cave served as a church . A pulpit carved into the rock at the entrance attests to this . In addition, a niche for an altar was carved out of the stone . At that time the cave entrance was closed with a porch. Found remains of foundations and roof tiles indicate this.
In the forecourt in front of the cave, around 100 burials took place in the ground between the Middle Ages and the 16th century . The period could be determined on the basis of coin finds. Most of the dead were buried in wooden coffins. In contrast to this, a grave site was a pure stone grave that had been dug into the stone underground. It was directly in front of the pulpit of the stone church and contained the skeleton of a woman. The cave was mentioned for the last time in 1586.
Say
A number of sagas and legends have grown up around the stone church . The missionary Boniface is said to have hewn the cave out of the rock with a wooden hammer in the 8th century. In the nearby Or he Gentiles baptized .
Another legend brings a unicorn into play as a mythical animal , after which the unicorn cave near Scharzfeld is named. In pagan times an old and wise woman lived in the cave-like stone church, who probably helped those seeking advice as a fortune teller . One day they were driven out by a monk in a black robe accompanied by Frankish warriors. A unicorn is said to have protected them from their pursuers. The woman joined the witch community . Then the black monk disappeared into a hole in the ground, which led to the discovery of the unicorn cave.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Steinberg with the stone church Scharzfeld in the south-southwest on a topographical map ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (DTK 25; for mountain height / altitude of the cave see large map enlargement), on natur-erleben.niedersachsen.de
- ↑ Stone church near Scharzfeld / Harz , on karstwanderweg.de
- ↑ Die Steinkirche , information board, on showcaves.com
literature
- Adolf Francke: The stone church near Bad Harzberg a. Resin. A resin poem . B. Francke, Leipzig undated (approx. 1900).
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : Natural monuments of Lower Saxony . Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1980, ISBN 3-7842-0227-6 .
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich: The stone church near Scharzfeld , pp. 6-8, in: If stones could talk , Volume II, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1992, ISBN 3-7842-0479-1 .
Web links
- Ralf Nielbock : Stone church near Scharzfeld / Harz , description with photo and map, State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology Lower Saxony, on lbeg.de (PDF; 532.1 kB)
- Stone church near Scharzfeld / Harz , on karstwanderweg.de
- The "shaft" in the cave church Steinkirche near Scharzfeld , description of the excavation, on karstwanderweg.de
- Stone church , photos of the cave complex, on hgstump.de
- Stone church , information and interior photos, on showcaves.com
- Steinkirche Scharzfeld, "Das Avalon des Harzes", a cultural-historical report , information with cave and surrounding photos, on hgnord.de
- Ancient place of worship: stone church in the Harz Mountains , description with slide show, on magisch-reisen.de