Blaue Gans

Blaue Gans is a menhir, or standing stone, near Aschersleben in Salzlandkreis, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. It stands about 4 km north of Aschersleben, surrounded by trees in the middle of a wind park. The stone is listed as a ground monument in the local monument registers of both Aschersleben and Giersleben.

The menhir is made of Braunkohlenquarzit and has the form of an irregular slab. It measures 184 cm high, 188 cm wide, and 60 cm deep, with several nails on its broad sides. It was overturned in 1945 during an attempt to remove it and was still lying there when Waldtraut Schrickel found it in the 1950s; it has since been re-erected.

The stone is dated by typological estimate to 2800 BCE to 1800 BCE. Finds from its surroundings belong to the Bandkeramik, Baalberger Kultur, Bernburger Kultur, Schnurkeramikkultur, Glockenbecherkultur, Aunjetitzer Kultur, Vollbronzezeit, La-Tène-Zeit, and the Middle Ages. A second menhir, the Speckseite, lies 5,6 km to the south.

The name “Blaue Gans” may indicate that the menhir served as a court site in the Middle Ages, since “Blaue Steine” was often used for court stones. The site’s original purpose and the precise meaning of its name are not established. More widely, menhirs occur beyond the Atlantic fringe across central and southern Europe, although the exact circumstances of Blaue Gans’s erection remain unknown.

Blaue Gans is a menhir (standing stone) in Giersleben, Germany. Wikidata describes it as: menhir near Aschersleben, Germany. A typological estimate: 2800 BCE to 1800 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the German article "Blaue Gans", shown in the original language.