The Wotanstein ( en, Wotan's stone), also known as 'Wodanstein' or earlier on 'Malstein', is a small

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found ...

situated close to the village of Maden,

Schwalm-Eder-Kreis Schwalm-Eder-Kreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Kassel, Werra-Meißner, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Vogelsberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, and Waldeck-Frankenberg. History In 1821 districts were create ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Geographical Location

The megalith is situated on the south-west corner of the village of Maden, on an elevation between the streams of the Goldbach to the east and Henkelborn to the west. The land on which it stands has an elevation of . It is on the east side of the road that goes to Obervorschütz.

Composition, Dimensions, and Geometry

The stone is c. high, wide, and thick. The above-ground volume is thus and given quartzite has a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of , the above-ground stone weighs c. . For comparison, the above-ground

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

of Riesenstein near Wolfershausen is ten times more. The excavation during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

(see below) discovered the stone is as deep underground as it is high above-ground. Therefore, its mass is closer to c. . It is composed of Neogene

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

(from to )

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

. In contrast to quartzites produced by

metamorphism Metamorphism is the transformation of existing rock (the protolith) to rock with a different mineral composition or texture. Metamorphism takes place at temperatures in excess of , and often also at elevated pressure or in the presence of ch ...

, the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

quartzites were the product of intense

weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs ''in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement) ...

of local

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...

Buntsandstein The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsandst ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s in a tropical climate. The quartzite does not locally outcrop (the next outcrops are near Fritzlar, Borken and

Melsungen Melsungen () is a small climatic spa town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. In 1987, the town hosted the 27th ''Hessentag'' state festival. Geography Melsungen lies on the river Fulda in the North Hesse Highlands. The str ...

), so that the stone must have been brought to this place and erected. The stone's longest horizontal axis strikes N065 ± 5° and it stands vertically. Therefore, the largest

faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

are directed towards c. 155°, i.e. south-south-east and 335°, north-north-west.

History

It is not known for certain when the megalith was erected or for what reason it was placed in this location. However it is presumed from finds at other similar megaliths in the area (e.g. Riesenstein) that it was erected in the 3rd Century BC. Later, around the 1st Century BC, it was most probably used by the

Chatti The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser (''Visurgis''). They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in the va ...

to worship Odin, known in

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

as "Wôtan" or "Wodan". In 1407 the stone was mentioned in documents as ''deme langen steyne zu Madin'' ( en, the long stone at Madin (Maden)). According to

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

, during the

(1756-1763) it was excavated because it was rumoured that treasure was buried under it, but remains of human bones were found instead. They also discovered the stone was as deep as it is high.

Legend

The first Christian church in Fritzlar was built by Saint Boniface from the wood of the

Donar's Oak Donar's Oak (also Thor's Oak or, via ''interpretatio romana'', Jove's Oak) was a sacred tree of the Germanic pagans located in an unclear location around what is now the region of Hesse, Germany. According to the 8th century ''Vita Bonifatii auct ...

. It is said that the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

, who lived on Mader Stein (or the nearby Lamsberg hill), wanted to destroy the church with a stone. There are two different versions of the next part: # Either the stone caught in his sleeve, or # the stone was deflected by the upheld shield of the

archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

. Either way it fell in a field on the onskirts of Maden. The stone was called Wotanstein. The marks and scratches on the stone were caused by the devil's claws.

Literature

External links

{{Commons category, Wotanstein in Maden, Wotanstein (Hesse)
Photographs of menhirs in Germany by Johannes Groht (in German)

Information about Wotanstein on the Gudensberg website (in German)

More information about Wotanstein (in German)

Neolithic Prehistoric sites in Germany Megalithic monuments in Germany Buildings and structures in Schwalm-Eder-Kreis Menhirs