Devil stones (pagans)
| Devil stones Düwelsteene | |||
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 50 '1 " N , 6 ° 58' 42.3" E | ||
| region | North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany | ||
| Emergence | 3470 to 2760 BC Chr. | ||
| Sprockhoff no. | 985 | ||
The Teufelsteine ( Low German and vernacular : Düwelsteene ) are the most south-westerly - preserved in the core area - megalithic complex of the funnel beaker culture (TBK), originated between 3470 and 2760 BC. Chr. The large stone grave bears the Sprockhoff no. 985th and is the landmark of the municipality of Heiden in the district of Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia , which is three kilometers west of the stones.
You can find them in the coat of arms of the municipality. Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of Neolithic societies. Their origin and function are considered to be the hallmarks of social development.
description
The devil stones are a Neolithic passage grave ( megalithic grave ) made of cold-age boulders . The stones were brought with the ice from the Scandinavian region to Westphalia during the Saale glaciation . The megalithic grave is located in a pine-covered dune landscape that was created around 50,000 years ago during the last glacial period , when northern Germany was no longer covered by ice, but because of the prevailing cold, there was no vegetation cover that could have held the light sandy soil.
During the younger Stone Age around 5,000 years ago, the boulders , which weighed up to seven tons and were ground by the ice, were put together to form a passage grave 11.5 m long and around 1.7 m wide. The boulders were brought to the "construction site". There they were raised up using levers and muscle power. The builders chose stones that were flat on one side for the roof of the megalithic complex. In this way, a closed chamber was created with an inner cavity of around 1.5 m, the floor of which was paved with stone slabs.
Except for the indefinite number of capstones (seven to nine), the bearing stones have either been preserved or added in the 18th century. The access is assumed to be between the second and third wall stone on the southeast side. The complex was originally framed by a stone wreath that fortified a round hill. This stone ring has not been preserved.
The devil stones were used as a collective grave for a long time. The grave contained remains of burials. The dead had been given food supplies in artfully shaped and decorated clay pots. It is not known where the builders of the devil stones lived. However, from finds near other large stone graves one can say that they were farmers and cattle keepers of the TBK who built the passage grave between 3500 and 2800 BC. They lived in rectangular post houses and grew wheat and barley.
The facility was examined in detail by Jodocus Hermann Nünning (1675–1763) at the beginning of the 18th century . The grave complex was later plundered for building purposes and severely damaged in the process. In 1932 the Ramsdorf and Borken Heimatvereine carried out excavations and restored the prehistoric site. Human remains and ceramic shards were found.
The arrangement of the stones is uncertain because of the undocumented reconstruction in the 18th century. Recently, cracks have formed in the largest stone, so the stone had to be secured with concrete bollards. The area around the Teufelsteine was redesigned in 2005/2006.
Natural-landscape allocation
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In terms of nature , the Teufelsteine is located in the western area of the Hülsten-Rekener Kuppen on the southern slope of the Rekener Berge , both parts of the over-unit Hohe Mark , which, together with the northwesternmost mountain range, The Mountains , are grouped under Rekener Kuppen .
The forest area around the megalithic tomb is known as Die Uhlen .
Legends and customs
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According to a legend , the devil's stones got their name after an encounter between the devil and a local cobbler boy in Heiden. The devil, who on the way to Aachen was to the local cathedral to destroy, carried on his back a big bag with the past here today stones. The person opposite was carrying twelve pairs of tattered shoes. He asked him how far it was to Aachen. The shoemaker's boy saw the stones, recognized the devil by his horse's foot, and suspected bad intentions. That's why he showed the devil the shoes and explained that he had just come from Aachen himself and that he had torn all his shoes on the way to Heiden because it was so far away. The devil would have been so discouraged that he threw the stones on the ground and pulled them from there.
It's not just children who like to tell that they should count the stones. If you count them a second time, the result will certainly be different. It is said that in the meantime the devil has removed a stone or put it back again.
It is also claimed that no one can remove the stones from their place and destroy them without damage. Once a farmer got a flat capstone and used it as a plate for his new oven. In the witching hour of the following night there was a rumble and noise in the whole house, the cows had broken loose in the barn, the pigs ran around like mad in the barn and the chickens fluttered from their bars in horror. On closer inspection, one found the new oven collapsed. But the following day the flat stone was back in its original place in the company of the other devil stones.
See also
literature
- Kerstin Schierhold , Bernhard Stapel : The Düwelsteene near Heiden, Borken district (= megalithic graves in Westphalia. Volume 3). Antiquities Commission for Westphalia, Münster 2018 ( online ).
- Ernst Sprockhoff : Atlas of the megalithic tombs of Germany. Part 3: Lower Saxony - Westphalia. Rudolf-Habelt Verlag, Bonn 1975, ISBN 3-7749-1326-9 , p. 151.
- Renate Wiechers-Weidner: Great stone graves in Westphalia. Münster 1985.
Web links
- The saga of the devil stones on the website of the municipality of Heiden
- Düwelsteene in the Ruhr Guide
- Düwelsteene engl.
Individual evidence
- ^ Anna L. Brindley : The typochronology of TRB West Group pottery. In: Palaeohistoria. Volume 28, 1986, pp. 93-132 ( online ). Annual figures corrected according to Moritz Mennenga : Between Elbe and Ems. The settlements of the funnel beaker culture in northwest Germany (= early monumentality and social differentiation. Volume 13). Habelt, Bonn 2017, ISBN 978-3-7749-4118-2 , p. 93 ( online ).
- ↑ a b c See display board on the grave complex.
- ↑ J. Müller In: Varia neolithica VI 2009 p. 15