Excavations at a rock formation at Bruchhauser Stein in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, have revealed evidence that an Iron Age hillfort on the summit was a ceremonial site. Two iron axes placed at right angles to each other and especially the remains of mined and processed quartz in a hard-to-reach area indicate that a complex ritual took place there.
The Bruchhauser Steine are four large porphyry formations visible for miles across the mountain landscape. The tallest of these, Bornstein, is 300 feet high. It is followed by Ravenstein (236 feet), Goldstein (197 feet) and finally Feldstein (148 feet). Feldstein is the only one where people can easily reach the top thanks to the steps carved into the rock. There is now a cross on top of the Feldstein so the religious appeal of the place has not diminished to this day.
The two socketed axes were discovered last year by a metal detectorist who recognized that their careful positioning could not have been a natural process. He reported this discovery to the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL). Subsequent excavation of the find site revealed a more complex depositional context.
Below the axes is a pit carved into the rock. It was deliberately filled with mud, and excavation of its contents yielded quartz fragments, a flat stone slab with signs of use and a round stone known as a hammer that was used to crush stones.
Analysis of these materials has allowed experts to reconstruct the sequence of operations that took place at the site two thousand years ago, between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. According to Dr. Zeller, the process began with the opening of a small cavity in the rock to extract the quartz, a task that required considerable labor given the hardness of the material and the site’s exposure to harsh weather conditions.
After the quartz was obtained, it was immediately processed on stone slabs, using a crusher to reduce it to pieces only a few millimeters in diameter. Once this operation was completed, the cavity was filled with crushed quartz and many of the tools used in the process, namely slabs and crushers. Finally, on the surface of the sealed pit surface, two iron axes were deposited in an arrangement that the detector was able to observe a thousand years later.
This difficult, complex process took place on an exposed promontory where mining of quartz veins in porphyry was much more difficult than in bedrock. Archaeologists speculate that quartz at high altitudes was deliberately mined because it was believed to have magical properties due to its proximity to the spirit realm.
The discovery of a quartz ritual and ax on the summit has shed new light on the Iron Age walls that surround the rock formations. There is no evidence of permanent settlement, so the walls did not defend a hillfort in the typical sense of the word. Instead, they served as the enclosure of a sacred wall.
The Bruchhauser Steine Foundation will showcase some of the discoveries in a new display case in the site’s visitor center. The iron axes cannot be displayed yet as they require protection and stabilization to ensure they do not deteriorate now that they have been removed from their safe environment. Replicas will be installed in their place, but the original stone slab, hammer and quartz pieces will be on display.
