The Externsteine () is a distinctive sandstone rock formation located in the Teutoburg Forest, near the town of Horn-Bad Meinberg in the Lippe district of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The formation is a tor consisting of several tall, narrow columns of rock which rise abruptly from the surrounding wooded hills. The Hermannsweg, a long-distance hiking trail, passes through the formation.
In a popular tradition going back to an idea proposed to Hermann Hamelmann in 1564, the Externsteine are identified as a sacred site of the pagan Saxons, and the location of the Irminsul idol reportedly destroyed by Charlemagne; there is however no archaeological evidence that would confirm the site's use during the relevant period.
The stones were used as the site of a hermitage in the Middle Ages, and by at least the high medieval period were the site of a Christian chapel. The Externsteine relief is a medieval depiction of the Descent from the Cross. It remains controversial whether the site was already used for Christian worship in the 8th to early 10th centuries.
Name
The etymology of the name Extern- is unclear, in older texts it is written as ”Estern” or Eastern (-steine meaning "stones" or "rocks"). The Latinized spelling with x is first recorded in the 16th century, but became common only in the late 19th century.
The oldest recorded forms of the name read Agistersten and Eggesterenstein, both dated 1093.
Other forms of the name include Egesterenstein (12th century), Egestersteyn (1366), Egersteyne (1369), Egestersten (1385), Egesternsteyn (15th century), Eygesternsteyn (1514), Externsteine (1533), Egesterennstein (1583), Agisterstein (1592).
Hamelmann (1564) gives the Latinized name rupes picarum ("rock of the magpies"), associating the name with Westphalian word Eckster "magpie" (Standard German Elster).
Eckster "magpie" is argued to be the actual etymology of the name by Schröder (1964), who also
connects other Westphalian toponyms Externbrock, Externmühle, Exter, Extern, Exten an der Exter.
Other scholars identify the association with magpies as folk etymology; Plassmann (1961) connects the name with a giant Ecke or Ekka of the Eckenlied, a medieval poem of the Theoderic cycle.
Bahlow (1962, 1965) connects the name to the hydronym Exter.
More recent linguistic research assigns a much higher probability to a different explanation. The Germanic ag means "sharp, edged or pointy". In Middle Low German Egge was used for long rocky ridges. It is found today in Eggegebirge, for example, which lies south of the Teutoburg Forest. That latter area was also known as Osning (Osnegge). Thus, rather than reflecting mythological associations, the physical geology of the stones likely gave rise to their name.
Geology
thumb|Externsteine as seen from the west, across Wiembecke pond
The Externsteine are located on the northeastern slope of the Teutoburger Wald. They are a natural outcropping of sandstone in a region that is otherwise largely devoid of rocks. The formation stretches for several hundred metres. It starts inside the forest with some rocks that are mostly covered by soil. It terminates in a series of 13 highly visible and mostly free-standing pillars. For scientific purposes, these have been numbered I-XIII from northwest to southeast with the most imposing being stones I-V. The largest is rock I (subdivided into Ia and Ib), also known as the Grottenfels due to its cave. The next one, II, is also known as Turmfels (tower) and rises above the surrounding area. Rock III is called Treppenfels (stairs). A large gap separates rocks III and IV. The latter is also known as Wackelsteinfelsen due to a loose boulder (now fixed in place) at its top.
However, no archaeological evidence has been found that would substantiate use of the site between the end of the Upper Paleolithic and the Carolingian period (9th century). In the 1990s, artefacts found in the excavation conducted by in 1934/35 were analyzed. Attribution of objects found was either to the Mesolithic Ahrensburg culture (see above) or to the medieval period, with evidence of occupation in the Bronze or Iron Age conspicuously absent: All the ceramic and metal items found were younger than the Carolingian period, some stone artefacts were attributed to the Ahrensburg culture.
Middle Ages
Archaeological excavations at the site in the 1930s produced evidence for use from the late 10th to the 15th centuries. In addition, a drystone wall east of rock II (not extant today) could be linked to buildings here mentioned in medieval documents. Some additional records still exist today in photographs, but they can not be put into context due to the loss of written materials in World War II. Thermoluminescence dating in the caves support the findings. In the main and side chamber, the last large fires were used in the 14th or 15th century (one as early as the 11/12th century). In the Kuppelgrotte these tests have shown the last large fire to have burned in the 10th century. One (highly uncertain) result possibly even pointed to the 8th century (actual result: 735 with a margin of error of +/- 180 years).
thumb|left|375px|Seen from the air
However, the first mention of the stones is in a document dated to around 1129, which refers to a farm "Holzhausen or Egesterenstein". The abbot of Werden Abbey, which owned the farm, had been passing through and was housed there. It is possible that mass was celebrated at the Externsteine at that point. A potential earlier mention occurs in a document dated 1093, but this is only extant in two copies from 1374 and 1380. It records the purchase of a farm at Holzhausen including an Agisterstein by the abbot of the (abbey) at Paderborn from a female Saxon noble called Ida. This is deemed plausible by historians since in the 16th century the abbey still had a farmstead at Holzhausen. However, the inscription in the main chamber of the grotto mentions a consecration in 1115 by Henrico, which is deemed to be a reference to , bishop of Paderborn from 1084 to 1127. This implies a contradiction, since either the abbot or the bishop would be in charge of any local place of worship. Historians have suggested, though, that this may be an indication that the abbey did not in fact claim the Externsteine for itself thus leaving them to fall into the bishop's purview. In particular, the Externsteine relief has been the subject of debate among art historians, formerly widely accepted as of Carolingian origin (9th century), scholarly consensus has placed it in the 12th century since the 1950s. From a stylistic point of view, historians today place the relief in the period 1160 to 1170.
In the early 13th century, temporal control of the area passed from the abbey to the House of Lippe. From 1366, the ecclesial control of Abdinghof over a chapel at the Externsteine is well documented. This lasted into the 17th century. It involved a hermitage at this location, with individuals named as hermits in 1385 and 1469. The document from 1385 also mentions an "Upper Altar", likely referring to the altar in the Höhenkammer.
There remains a contradiction between the use of the Externsteine as a simple roadhouse for travellers and as an hermitage on the one hand and the presence of the monumental relief and the Arcosolium on the other. These may indeed have been a reconstruction of the Holy Sepulchre. The remains visible today indicate the possibility that the Externsteine were intended as a destination for pilgrims unable to travel to Jerusalem. To that end many medieval churches created . However, it is unclear who could have built it here and why there is no written evidence of such a relatively elaborate undertaking.
Around 1592, the Count's local forest warden lived in the caves. Circa 1660, Herman Adolph, Count of Lippe designed the area for use as a hunting lodge and Lustschloss. This was a fortress of two squat round towers flanking a central gatehouse, built against the eastern side of the Externsteine. The excavated foundations show relatively thin walls, indicating that these walls were never intended as fortifications but were just ornamental. A stairwell next to rock I gave access to a viewing platform on top. Likely associated with this era is the bearded figure on the platform and the coat of arms inserted into rock IV.
Local amateur historian Gotthilf August Benjamin Schierenberg (1808–1894) seems to have been the first to identify the "pagan idol" mentioned by Hamelmann with the Saxon Irminsul.
The first archaeological excavations were performed in 1881 and 1888, with limited results. Gustav Schierenberg was looking in vain for evidence of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 1881. In 1888, the Westfälischer Altertumsverein under Konrad Mertens was looking at the possible reconstruction of the Holy Sepulchre. Today the preserve measures approximately , and forms part of the ‘Teutoburg Forest’ nature reserve, Externsteine.
Wilhelm Teudt was particularly interested in the Externsteine, which he suggested was the location of a central Saxon shrine, the location of Irminsul and an ancient sun observatory. Since the mid-1920s he had popularized them by calling them the "Germanic Stonehenge". Teudt could refer to a total number of more than 40 publications on the Externsteine, including eleven substantial monographs, most of which he considered outdated. In 1932, the area was excavated (for the third time) by but no "cultural remains" were discovered.
After the Nazis came to power, Teudt was put in charge of additional excavations at the site and appointed to head the work done there by the Reichsarbeitsdienst in 1934/35. Teudt thought that the Externsteine had served as an observatory until its destruction by Charlemagne. He initiated the demolishing of tourist infrastructure (tramway, hotels) and the creation of a "sacred grove" or Heiligtum nearby. The SS used Serbian prisoners of war for the project.
Today
Today, between a half to one million people annually visit the stones, making the Externsteine one of the most frequently visited nature reserves in Westphalia. The site also remains of interest to various Neo-Pagans and nationalist movements.
Because of its reputation as "pagan sacred site" in popular culture, there have often been private gatherings or celebrations on the day of summer solstice and Walpurgis Night. The trend had been visible since the 1980s, but the growing number of visitors came to be seen as a problem in the late 2000s, with more than 3,500 on the site. The municipalities of the Lippe (Landesverband Lippe) reacted by prohibiting camping, alcohol consumption and open fires on the site in 2010 and closed the parking at the site. A spokesman emphasized that the decision was not directed against "esotericists, druids and dowsers", but against large-scale parties of binge-drinkers.
Since 2006 the Externsteine site has been a ' (national geotope).