The complex is one of the most important prehistoric and early historical fortifications in southern Lower Saxony in the Harz Mountains. The multi-phase fortification is located on a foothill of the Osteroder Kalkberge that protrudes 100 m into the Sose valley. The rocky slopes of the spur fall steeply into the valley floor and form a natural protection to the north, west and east. The east flank has been torn open by a quarry, as a result of which important parts of the castle have been lost.
The entire fortification has an area of 500 × 350 m and occupies an area of about 10.5 ha. The actual medieval core at the northern tip has dimensions of only 75 × 60 m. It is approx. 0.5 m higher than the surrounding area and has a horseshoe-shaped ditch approx. 2 m deep and a ca. 1.80 m strong mortared wall attached. The max. 4 m high inner wall closed off the mountain tongue from the hinterland in prehistoric times and in the early Middle Ages. In the High Middle Ages it was raised and extended along the western escarpment. It ends at the northern tip in front of an artificial terrace, on the outer edge of which stood a palisade. The pincer gate in the inner wall, which overlaps two older construction phases, is also from the High Middle Ages. The middle wall does not seem to have been reused in the early Middle Ages; in the High Middle Ages it was given a wood-earth construction in the form of a framework that was filled with a stone-earth mixture.
No house floor plans could be reconstructed from the post holes documented during the excavations.
Archaeological finds show that there was a settlement at this point as early as the early Bronze Age.[1] It is assumed that the people who were buried in the Lichtenstein Cave, three kilometers away, lived here during the late Bronze Age.
The Pippinsburg has been explored by excavations between 1953 and 1960 and 1973/74. Due to the karstified surface, the finds accumulated mainly in depressions and indentations. As a result, the castle was occupied in four phases, which can be identified primarily in the construction history of the inner wall. The first phase, dating from the early Iron Age, consisted of a post-fronted embankment. In the middle La Tène period, a clay wall was heaped up on it, which in turn had a palisade as the outer front. This wood-earth fortification was destroyed by fire, but was then renewed. The next phase, a mound of earth with a wooden construction that cannot be defined in more detail, dates from the early Middle Ages. In the High Middle Ages, the last phase was built in the form of a clay deposit, the upper end of which formed a parapet in the form of a dry stone wall.
The only historical information about the castle complex comes from this period. In 1134, for example, a knight named Werner von Berckefeldt was mentioned at the Pipinsburg, who was castellan in Windhausen.[2] Accordingly, the noble family of the Lords of Berckefeldt regarded both Windhausen Castle and Pipinsburg as their property. Documented military and trade routes lie in the vicinity of Pipinsburg. The Harzrandstraße, the "via regia" or "Thüringer Straße" runs via Nordhausen, Scharzfeld and Osterode in the direction of Seesen-Hildesheim. In Osterode it crossed the "old Harz Road", which led from Northeim via the Upper Harz to Goslar. Up to the year 1843, the district of Osterode moved in and next to the castle of the Rotttei, the corresponding catchment area was then called Burggrund.
According to another tradition, the Pipinsburg was destroyed in a feud between the Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, the Archbishop of Mainz and the Landgraviate of Thuringia in 1365
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