Boitin Steintanz, Boitin, Germany

The Boitin Steintanz ('Stone Dance') is a very special monument to mankind’s early history. There are altogether four stone circles in the forest near the village of Boitin in the vicinity of Bützow. Three of them lie close together, the fourth one at a distance of about 200 metres. Already long ago there were theories about the age and function of the arrangement. Today it is assumed that this is a calendar from the 12th century before Christ.

A saga gives a different interpretation of the stone circles: The legend has it that a frolicsome wedding party celebrated here long ago. The party bowled with bread and sausages until a ghost, appearing as an old man, asked the boisterous group to end the game. However, the wedding party did not do what they had been asked. They scorned the old man instead. So he turned the bride, the groom and the guests into stones. A shepherd, who happened to be nearby, was to be spared. But in spite of his promise, he looked back out of curiosity when fleeing and therefore was also transformed into stone together with his sheep and dog.

References:

mecklenburg-vorpommern.eu

Prehistoric and archaeological sites in Germany

User Reviews

Gottfried Beier (2 years ago)
Am besten im Frühjahr zu besichtigen, wenn das Blattwerk noch nicht da ist.

christian heinrich (3 years ago)
Toller mystischer Ort

Harald Kumpart (3 years ago)
Hier kann man die Waldesruhe wirklich genießen.

Tino Oestreich (3 years ago)
Ein sehr interessanter Ort mitten im Wald. Ein Besuch dorthin ist immer lohnenswert und lässt Raum für sagenhafte Erzählungen.

Lothar Beutin (3 years ago)
Ein Ort an dem Kräfte gebündelt worden. Kaum jemanden läßt die Stimmung dort unberührt. Es ist nicht ein Ort der erhebt, sondern eher an die Erde fesselt. Bei näherem Hinsehen erkennt man die Unterschiede zwischen den einzelnen Granitsteinen, sie sind unbehauen, zeigen dennoch Spuren, die wie Gesichter aussehen.

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The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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