A "Stonehenge" on the Elbe
In Saxony-Anh alt, researchers have uncovered two neighboring ring sanctuaries. The larger of the two bears a striking resemblance to the stone circle at Stonehenge - and was a site for brute rituals.
Stonehenge has a strange magic about it. What drove people 4500 years ago to erect several megalithic blocks weighing several tons in southern Britain? Why the gigantic effort? And why are there graves and special circular monuments in the vicinity of the stone circle of all places? The mighty icon of the Stone Age still holds a few mysteries that archaeologists are solving piece by piece (see "Spektrum" 5/2021, p. 36). Such systems were not only found in England: A counterpart to the world-famous monument is located in the middle of Germany.
Not far from Magdeburg on the Elbe is the roundabout of Pömmelte-Zackmünde in the Salzland district. At first glance, what visitors see there is not particularly reminiscent of Stonehenge: Hundreds of wooden posts are stuck in the ground and arranged in circles encircling a large open space in the middle. Strictly speaking, these wooden rings have only been sticking out of the river valley for five years. But the builders from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology in Saxony-Anh alt did not come up with the roundabout. It is based on a millennia-old blueprint…
