In the Harz district, archaeologists have discovered a particularly contemporary testimony from several millennia. During excavations, they came across remains of a Neolithic grave and a possible barrow, among which they found something surprising: under the more than 5,000-year-old trapezoid ditch of the Neolithic Baalberg culture, the team discovered a corridor system from the late Middle Ages – a so-called earth stable, in which a horseshoe, remains of a fire and animal bones were found. However, it is unknown whether this earth stable served as a hiding place or for ritual purposes.
The eastern Harz foothills are known for their rich and far-reaching history. The area of the Baalberg culture was located here in the Neolithic period. This culture, which spread across central Germany in the fourth millennium BC, was among the first to bury its dead in mounds and stone coffins. Characteristically shaped, undecorated clay vessels are also typical for them. As is usual in areas with possible archaeological relics, archaeologists from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology (LDA) Saxony-Anhalt carried out a precautionary excavation at the end of 2025 in advance of the construction of a wind turbine near Reinstedt.
Medieval corridor under a Stone Age grave
In fact, the excavation on the flat Dornberg east of the town of Reinstedt found what they were looking for: The team came across several graves from different times and cultures: First of all, there was the trapezoidal ditch of a grave complex from the Baalberg culture, next to it there were several heavily eroded squat graves from the third millennium BC as well as the remains of an artificially raised hill from the Bronze Age – it may also have once contained a grave. But when the archaeologists further uncovered the trapezoidal trench, they discovered a pit around 75 centimeters wide and around two meters long, which cut through this Neolithic trench at a right angle.
Initially, the archaeologists assumed that these could also be the remains of a grave. A large stone slab that lay in the north of the pit also seemed to speak for this. But as the team gradually uncovered the pit, something surprising became apparent: the supposed grave did not end, but turned out to be a passage that led deeper and deeper into the light and very solid loess subsoil beneath the Neolithic grave relics. The corridor was between one and 1.25 meters high and between 50 and 70 centimeters wide. In some places the aisle ceiling was roofed with a pointed gable. There was a step in the loess in the entrance area and a niche in the pit wall.
What was the earth stable used for?
The decisive clue to the purpose and nature of this corridor system was provided by shards of late medieval ceramics that the archaeologists discovered in the backfill of the corridor system. Together with the shape and location of the tunnel system, they suggested that it must have been an earth stable – a tunnel system dug by people underground into the loess. Such medieval earth stables have already been discovered in various regions of Germany. Their small size and simple, unpaved construction with niches or chamber-like extensions are typical.
It is unclear why such earthen stables were once dug. According to common assumptions, they could have served as hiding places, but it is also conceivable that they functioned as a place of worship or as symbolic refuges for the souls of deceased relatives or ancestors. The function of the earth stable now discovered near Reinstedt is also unclear. At the entrance to the corridor system, the archaeologists discovered a striking number of stones stacked on top of each other. These could once have been used to close and hide the entrance. Inside the earthen stable, the team came across several relics, including a horseshoe, charcoal remains from a fireplace as well as the skeleton of a fox and several bones of small mammals. Because the ground under the fireplace is not discolored, the fire must have only burned there for a short time, as the state office reports.
How these finds and the earth stable should be interpreted is unclear. The location of the corridor system under a Neolithic trapezoidal ditch could have had symbolic meaning. It is also conceivable that the pagan grave was avoided in the Christian Middle Ages and therefore made a good hiding place.
Source: State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt