The Bruchhauser Steine in the Sauerland were a special place more than 2,500 years ago, as evidenced by, among other things, the remains of a fortification between these towering rocks. Now archaeologists have discovered a pit containing carefully positioned hatchet blades and ground quartz in this hill fort. The unusual location of these finds on one of the four large rocks suggests that they were left there as part of an Iron Age cult.
The four Bruchhauser stones crown the 728 meter high Istenberg in the Hochsauerland as a rock formation that can be seen from afar. The porphyry rocks, which are between 45 and 92 meters high, are now an archaeological monument and a national natural monument, but these rock formations also played an important role thousands of years ago. Evidence of this is provided by the remains of a fortification from the sixth century BC. Parts of a mighty quarry stone wall, which apparently once sealed off the spaces between some of the rocks, as well as relics of smaller fortifications and a ditch have been preserved.
It is still unclear why the Bruchhauser stones were once secured by such fortification. “The Bruchhauser Steine are located in a location that is unfavorable for settlement, well away from the preferred settlement areas of the Hellweg. They are often exposed to challenging weather conditions,” says chief archaeologist Sandra Peternek from the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL). It would be conceivable that the hill fort was intended to protect the nearby copper and iron mining industry, but its use as a cult site is also being discussed. A bracelet fragment found in 2013 and a deliberately damaged lance head that were placed on the archaeological monument during the Iron Age already suggested this suspicion.
Two Iron Age hatchets and ground quartz
Now the archaeologists have discovered another possible indication of cultic activities on the Bruchhauser stones. In 2025, the local researcher and commissioned metal detectorist Matthias Dickhaus discovered two iron axes on a cliff of the 45 meter high Feldstein, the blades of which were aligned at right angles to each other. He then contacted archaeologists led by excavation manager Manuel Zeiler from LWL Archeology for Westphalia. They examined the location of these so-called spout axes in more detail as part of an excavation. The team actually found what they were looking for.
Underneath the axes, the archaeologists came across a pit in the rock. “This pit was created because quartz was mined up here on the rock, which is enclosed in the source rock,” explains Zeiler. “The quartz was crushed and ground down to a diameter of just a few millimeters on a stone slab and with a so-called pochstein. Finally, the pit was backfilled – including the stone slab and pochstein.” The unusual thing is that Iron Age people were also able to find quartz at the base of the rock, where it was much easier to mine.
Ritual near the otherworld
The archaeologists therefore suspect that the quartz mining on the rocky cliff, which can be seen from afar, had less of a practical and more of a religious significance. “Here we are taking ritual actions on one of the most exposed rocks on the landmark: people mined quartz, crushed it and finally the ‘wound in the mountain’ had to be closed again,” explains Zeiler. The ritual was then ceremoniously ended by placing two hatchets on the surface of the earth. It is possible, the archaeologists suspect, that this place on the summit of the Istenberg was considered a place that was particularly close to the otherworld of the Celts – the otherworldly space of gods or spirits.
“The situation on the Feldstein is extraordinary and makes it clear for the first time that the rocks of the Bruchhauser Steine played an important role in the religious understanding of the Iron Age,” says Peternek. The quartz could have been mined at this important location as part of cult activities. As the team explains, ground quartz was often added to the clay of hand-made vessels in the Iron Age. “It is conceivable that the quartz from Feldstein was part of special, perhaps ritual vessels,” says Zeiler.
A separate showcase is now dedicated to the new Feldstein finds in the Bruchhauser Stones Information Center. You can see replicas of the two hatchets as well as the pochstone that was used to crush the quartz. “We are proud that we are not only preserving one of the most extraordinary hill forts in North Rhine-Westphalia and making it accessible to the public, but that new archaeological puzzle pieces are slowly clearing up our picture of the past,” says Nadja de Pierpont-Freifrau von Fürstenberg, chairwoman of the Bruchsaler Steine Foundation.
Source: LWL archeology for Westphalia