The Ankum Heights (german: Ankumer Höhe), also called the Fürstenau Hills (''Fürstenauer Berge''), are a ridge of hills up to 140 m high in the western part of the state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

on the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balt ...

Geography

The densely forested Ankum Heights, which are about long and only a few kilometres wide, lies roughly north-northwest of the city of

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a populat ...

on the boundary of the districts of

Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinf ...

and

between Herzlake to the northwest and Bramsche to the southeast, Fürstenau in the southwest and

Bersenbrück Bersenbrück (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Bessenbrügge'') is a town in the district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Hase, approx. 30 km north of Osnabrück. Bersenbrück is the seat of the ''Samtgemeinde' ...

in the northeast. The southeastern foothills of the ridge, which form the northwestern part of the North Teutoburg Forest-Wiehen Hills Nature Park reach almost as far as the Alfsee lake. East of the Ankum Heights are the Damme Hills, to the southeast are the west-northwestern outliers of the

Wiehen Hills The Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long finger away from the main upland area of the Lower Saxon ...

, to the south is Tecklenburg Land and the northwestern outliers of the

Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; german: Teutoburger Wald ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed th ...

, to the west the Lingen Heights and the

, in the northwest the Hümmling and to the north the Oldenburg Münsterland.

Geology

The Ankum Heights are part of a series of

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

end moraines from the early part of the Saale glaciation, the so-called ''Drenthe I'' stage. The Lingen Heights, the Damme Hills, the Kellenberg and the Brelinger Berg also belong to this push moraine, also called the ''Rehburg Phase'', which can be dated to about 230,000 years ago. The Rehburg Hills by the lake of the Steinhuder Meer, are not, however, part of the moraine. Together with their almost symmetrical counterpart, the Damme Hills, the Ankum Heights display the most marked glacial lobes of this push moraine. It filled the lowland bay of the

Artland is a Japanese animation studio. It has produced numerous noted anime series, including the award-winning '' Mushishi'' and epic '' Legend of the Galactic Heroes''. It is also well known for producing the anime adaptation of ''Katekyō Hitman ...

History

Several

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or '' kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones b ...

indicate that the Ankum Heights were already occupied in

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times.

Transport links

The Ankum Heights may be reached from the B 68 federal road, which passes the ridge to the east, the B 218, which runs along the southwestern edge of the feature, the

214 Year 214 ( CCXIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Messalla and Suetrius (or, less frequently, year 967 ''Ab urbe con ...

, which crosses it from west to east, and the B 402, which runs west of the Ankum Heights. A number of local ''

Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'') are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are roads ...

n'' and ''

Kreisstraße A Kreisstraße (literally: "district road" or "county road") is a class of road in Germany. It carries traffic between the towns and villages within a '' Kreis'' or district or between two neighbouring districts. In importance, the ''Kreisstraße ...

n'' roads branch off the B roads and lead to the ridge.

Hills

The highest

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

s in the Ankum Heights are the Trillenberg, which is high and is located in the southeastern part, and the Queckenberg, which has a northwestern summit and a southeastern peak and lies in the centre of the range.

Waterbodies

The rivers and streams in and near the Ankum Heights include the: *

Hase The Hase is a long river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ems, but part of its flow goes to the Else, that is part of the Weser basin. Its source is in the Teutoburg Forest, south-east of Osnabrück, on the north slope ...

, passing the Ankum Heights to the east; an eastern

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the Ems * Fürstenauer Mühlenbach, rises in the middle of the Heights; an eastern tributary of the Deeper Aa in the catchment area of the Großer Aa * Ueffelner Aue, rises in the southeast of the Heights; southwestern tributary of the Hase * Weeser Aa, rises in the southeast, upper course of the Halverder Aa in the catchment area of the Großer Aa

Villages

{{Authority control Ridges of Lower Saxony Forests and woodlands of Lower Saxony Vechta (district)