Speckseite

The Speckseite is a prehistoric menhir in Aschersleben in Salzlandkreis in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. It stands in the southeast of the town, immediately south of Schierstedter Straße, about 100 m east of the railway crossing. The stone was set on a natural rise within a man-made burial mound, with the menhir crowning the mound.

The Speckseite is made of Braunkohlenquarzit. It measures 190 cm high, although only 90 cm rises above the ground, and is 190 cm wide and 20 cm deep. It is oriented roughly north to south and shaped like an irregular slab. Numerous nail holes appear on its broad faces, especially the western one, although most were recorded on the south side in the 1950s.

The stone was toppled and re-erected in 1575 and 1720. Archaeological excavations in 1885 and 1932 found that it stood directly over a stone-packed grave. Because the grave contained no grave goods, it could only be dated generally to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age; a typological estimate places the menhir between 2800 BCE and 1800 BCE. Nearby burials belonged to the Middle Ages.

The name is said to refer both to the stone’s shape and its shiny surface. A local legend says that nails were driven into it to calm pagan gods in response to the belief that stones softened during thunderstorms. In later medieval practice, travelling journeymen were made to hammer nails into the stone without bending them. Medieval courts were also held here, and finds around the stone span many periods from the Bandkeramik to the Middle Ages.

Speckseite is a menhir (standing stone) in Aschersleben, Germany. Wikidata describes it as: menhir in 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 "Speckseite (Aschersleben)", shown in the original language.