<< Our Photo Pages >> Holtwicker Ei - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia
Submitted by Andreas on Thursday, 25 February 2010 Page Views: 2625
Natural PlacesSite Name: Holtwicker EiCountry: Germany
NOTE: This site is 8.852 km away from the location you searched for.
Land: North Rhine-Westphalia Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Coesfeld Nearest Village: Holtwick
Latitude: 52.011100N Longitude: 7.128060E
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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The erratic's name ("Ei" translates as "egg") seems to refer to its irregular shape. But actually I couldn't see any resemblance to an egg.
The visible size is about 3 x 3 x 2,4 metres, and the circumference is about 10 metres.
According to older reports large parts of the stone are still hidden in the ground. So its weight just can be roughly estimated as possibly about 35 t.
As lots of erratics also the Holtwick specimen consists of granite, in this case a slightly red granite. Its geological age is about 1,4-1,5 Billion (= Milliarden) years.
Originally the stone most probably was located at southern Sweden, about 700 kilometres north of its recent localisation. But with the extending ice during the glacial Saale period (about 240000-125000 BP) the stone was progressively moved to the western Münsterland, probably about 200000 years ago.
A local legend, containing a very familar tale theme, reports that the devil tried to destroy an early medieval church at Holtwick. But there was a barrier in form of an oak forest. And due to his long journey and the stone's weight the devil was too weak and too tired to throw far enough. So the stone found its new home in a small park at Holtwick.
In the late 19th century the erratic was also known as "Bonenjägerstein". This possibly means something as "Odin the hunter's stone" (or the like). Such a name seems to indicate a cultic using. But in this case that's actually rather improbable. I suppose the locals just have derived the name from another stone (Bonenjägerstein respectively Wodanstein nearby Dülmen).
References:
K.H.Otto: Wie die Findlinge nach Westfalen kamen, in: Siedlung und Landschaft in Westfalen, vol. 35, 2007, p. 38-39
E.Speetzen: Findlinge in Nordrhein-Westfalen, in: H.G.Horn (Ed.): Neandertaler + Co., Eiszeitjägern auf der Spur- Streifzüge durch die Urgeschichte Nordrhein-Westfalens, Mainz 2006, p. 53-68
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Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
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