Neolithic Earthwork of Calden

Unlike gallery graves, the earthwork is not easily identified in the landscape, but it is marked and well described.

Calden's earthwork was a double ditch facility measuring 470 x 390 m. It probably originated 5,700 years ago on a trade route between Fritzlar and Warburg, since simultaneous facilities were found on this line. The double ditch was secured with a double palisade fence. Its exact function is unknown. On the one hand, the earthworks are assumed to be trading centers or refuge castles, but no traces of settlement were found in any of them. A religious use is therefore more likely, especially since many animal bones were found in the ditches. Calden's earthwork had 7 entrances, all of which were identical to a two-room wooden building.The menhirs on site indicate the dimensions of the earthwork. The rampart can only be seen in the terrain from the air. Thanks to the information boards, you still stand in awe in front of this mighty complex.