Menhir (standing stone)The Bronze Age
Hunnenstein
DatedEst. 2800–1800 BCE
Photo Tschumi von www.erratiker.ch · CC BY-SA 2.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Hunnenstein is a menhir near Niederdossenbach, in the municipality of Schwörstadt in the district of Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The granite monolith is 2.5 m high and stands among firs in the Gewann Krosilienwald. The catalogue gives 2800 to 1800 BCE as a typological estimate of its date.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Hunnenstein
SettingSources for this section
Sources for this section
The menhir stands not far from the boundary with Dossenbach, on the gentle eastern slope of one of the numerous flat knolls (420 m) that characterise the Muschelkalk plateau of the eastern Dinkelberg. The menhir of Dossenbach stands 680 m to the north-north-east.
The stone is a slender, spindle-shaped monolith of grey granite with slightly rounded edges.
DescriptionSources for this section
Sources for this section
The stone is a slender, spindle-shaped monolith of grey granite with slightly rounded edges. It is 2.50 m high and 0.30 m in diameter at the tip and 0.50 m in the middle.
NameSources for this section
Sources for this section
The name Hunnenstein (Huns’ stone) was probably chiselled into one broad side of the monolith in the 19th century. It is certainly not a name native to the place but a half-learned new formation introduced among the people.
Later historySources for this section
Sources for this section
In 1953 the menhir was re-erected in the Pfarrwald at the instigation of the forestry office of Säckingen. Before this, local people had several times dug it out, laid it down and carried it away, since in a limestone area hard stone is naturally much in demand, but at the instigation of the forestry authority it was brought back to its old place as often. In the spoil of the last construction pit a few Roman sherds were collected: several wall sherds of simple Roman pottery and the rim of a collared bowl.
ContextSources for this section
Sources for this section
Outside the Atlantic fringe, menhirs also occur across central and southern Europe. In the Czech Republic there are about 40 real menhirs, and the Czech menhirs are probably the last outcrop of a tradition that ran across northern Germany.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Central and southern European menhirs
Outside the Atlantic fringe, menhirs also occur across central and southern Europe. In the Czech Republic there are about 40 real menhirs and dozens of stones that could also be menhirs, and others have been erected recently. The largest real menhir is Kamenný pastýř, the "stony shepherd", near Klobuky, 3.3 metres high; the Czech menhirs are probably the last outcrop of a tradition that ran across northern Germany. Some of the Czech stones in the Atlas may be natural boulders.
Italy has its most famous menhirs in Sardinia, where at least 332 standing stones can be seen. They include elaborate "statue-menhirs" that show a human face at the top and gendered symbols on the flat front; over a hundred of this standardised type have been found, mostly around the village of Laconi. In the Sardinian language they are called perdas fittas or perdas lungas. In Switzerland, in the canton of Vaud, several menhirs form linear patterns at Clendy in Yverdon-les-Bains, and date back to the third millennium BCE.
A statue menhir is a carved standing stone of the later European Neolithic, in which a slab or pillar has a stylised human figure cut into it, sometimes with hints of clothing or weapons. They are most commonly found in southern and western France, Catalonia, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy and the Alps.
Menhirs are usually difficult to date, and those without excavation can only be given a broad range. A stone's present position is not always its original one.
When visiting, check whether a stone stands in its original position and look for signs of shaping.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: List of menhirs, Wikipedia: Statue menhir · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1953
„1953 wurde im Pfarrwald Distr.
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Photographs
4 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 2800–1800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for menhirs in Germany; this site has not been dated itself. Standing stones are associated with the Beaker people of the European late Neolithic and early Bronze Age c. 2800-1800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Germany
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 47°36′48″ N, 7°52′26″ EFor a GPS or map app: 47.61337, 7.87384
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Menhir von Dossenbach2800–1800 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Iron Age tumulus group
Gmeiniwald, Neolithic dolmen grave- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Leiwald, Iron Age burial mounds
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Hinterer Hardwald, Iron Age burial mounds
Tiengen Chindlistein2800–1800 BCEPhoto: 11:52, 20 June 2015 (UTC) GerhardSchuhmacher ( talk ) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Steinkreise am Schluchsee3300–2500 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Born, burial mound of unknown date
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1637972wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Hunnenstein01.jpgTschumi von www.erratiker.chCC BY-SA 2.0
- Hunnenstein Niederdossenbach 1.JPGZieglharCC BY-SA 4.0
- Hunnenstein Niederdossenbach 4.JPGZieglharCC BY-SA 4.0
- Hunnenstein Niederdossenbach 3.JPGZieglharCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Menhir von Dossenbach0.7 km N
- Iron Age tumulus group19 km SE
- Gmeiniwald, Neolithic dolmen grave26 km SW
- Leiwald, Iron Age burial mounds27 km SW
- Hinterer Hardwald, Iron Age burial mounds28 km S
- Tiengen Chindlistein30 km E
- Steinkreise am Schluchsee31 km NE
- Born, burial mound of unknown date32 km S
- Egishard34 km SE
- Eichlibann, Iron Age burial mounds34 km S
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Hunnenstein (Niederdossenbach)" (German), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors