The Cruel and Twisted Discoveries at Germany's Stonehenge

[Nevilledog]

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The Daily Beast
@thedailybeast
Their bodies of women and children were thrown indiscriminately into pits, leading some to suggest that they had been ritually sacrificed.

The Cruel and Twisted Discoveries at Germany’s Stonehenge
Researchers uncovered macabre finds, in particular the dismembered remains of ten children and women.
thedailybeast.com
10:30 PM · Jun 19, 2021

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-cruel-and-twisted-discoveries-at-germanys-stonehenge

When you think of Stonehenge what do you think of? England? Druids? Partygoers celebrating the solstice? A unique piece of ancient heritage? Chances are that you don’t think of Germany. As it turns out, however, Saxony-Anhalt has its own Early Bronze Age wooden henge—Ringheiligtum Pömmelter—and recent excavations have added more detail to its dark and distinctive history.

The reason that you might not have heard of Ringheiligtum Pömmelter is that it was only discovered in 1991. The monument, which is located near the village of Pömmelte, in the district of Salzlandkreis, was discovered when aerial photography of the region revealed the outline of the structure. Like Wiltshire’s Stonehenge, it is concentric and is made up of seven rings of raised banks, ditches, and palisades in which wooden posts were positioned. If you visit the 380-feet-wide circle today you can see the attractive reconstructed monument. The painted wooden posts erected at the site give tourists a sense of what it was like in its heyday.

Like Stonehenge the orientation of the site appears to have been determined by the summer and winter solstices. Thus, until recently, archaeologists assumed that Ringheiligtum was a ritual site that was used for religious purposes, stargazing, and the celebration of seasonal festivals. It was essentially a sacred flex space. Now excavations begun last month and reported this week by Heritage Daily, have revealed that people actually lived there. During the course of the May 2021 excavations scientists have discovered 130 dwellings (80 of which are complete), 20 ditches, and two burials. The newly discovered structures were built between 2800 BCE and 2200 BCE, with most of the houses dating to the latter period.

What makes the presence of homes especially noteworthy is the character of the religious rituals performed at Ringheiligtum. Between 2005 and 2008 excavations sponsored by the State Office for Cultural Heritage Management in Baden-Württemberg and the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg (both in Germany) probed the secrets of the site. It was these excavations that discovered the three-hundred-year period of use and the post holes for the wooden fences and poles that have since been rebuilt. Other objects—including, grinding stones, millstones, stone axes, ceramic vessels, and animal bones were found in the pits.

*snip*

[GulfCoast66]

1. I'm hardly studied on these early cultures.

But I thought it agreed that human sacrifice was a part of their religion.

I know Caesar’s account of the taking of Gaul is considered propaganda, but I still thought human sacrifice was not uncommon.

It was in many other early religions. Certainly in the Americas.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. These were longer before Caesar than Caesar was before us

The connections between inhabitants of what is now Germany, between 2800 and 2200 BCE, and the Gauls of 50 BCE are almost impossible to know.

[GulfCoast66]

7. Right. I did not do my math.

Did not, we think, the celts overwhelm the culture that built Stonehenge? Or a preceltic culture. I was already a ruin when the Romans took Britain.

[canetoad]

2. Very timely post

Find the exact time of your summer (my winter) solstice here.

https://www.archaeoastronomy.com/2021.html

(It's 20:32, 20th June)

[Delphinus]

3. Thanks!

That's handy to have. Ours is 23:32 - cool number.

[Klaralven]

4. Apparently the sacrifices didn't work

2200 BC - 'Major VOLCANIC eruption'. (possibly in/around Iceland, disrupting the North Atlantic and/or Arctic circulations).
Bitterly COLD winters & indifferent, occasionally poor summers.

https://premium.weatherweb.net/weather-in-history-400-to-100bc/

[mopinko]

5. men given nice burials but women and children tossed in a pit.

sounds like seti- widow suicide, only worse.

wonder what dna would show.