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The Sonnenstein von Horsten is an irregularly shaped slab of reddish-grey granite porphyry, approximately 1.1 metres high and slightly wider. Seventeen concentric circles (outer diameter 77 cm) are carved into the flat front surface. A hole with a diameter of 3 cm forms the centre point.

The stone was found west of Horsten in a field around 1900, where it was used as a threshold for a garden gate until 1963. It was not until 1963 that its significance was recognised and the stone, which dates back to the Bronze Age, was recovered. The Horster Sonnenstein was preserved and erected in the Horster primary school in 1981. It is the largest sun stone ever found in Germany.

Unfortunately, the stone shown in the pictures (location: junction of “Am Schmelzofen” and “Am Warfacker”) is only a replica; the original is located in the primary school in Horsten.

Visited September 2025

taken from the on-site information board:

The Horster Sonnenstein

During the Bronze Age around 1000 BC, the life-giving power of the sun was probably worshipped, and 17 regular concentric circles were carved into this grey-red granite porphyry slab as a symbol of the sun.

There are only two other sun stones in northern Germany (in Beckstedt with 11 circles and in Harpstedt with 12 circles). Such concentric circles on stone blocks are known from Ireland and on rocks
in Scandinavia.

The front side probably faced east towards the rising sun or south towards the highest point of the sun. Where this Horster sun stone stood 3000 years ago and what significance it had will probably remain a mystery.

The groove stone, which is listed in Johannes Groht’s book “Menhire in Deutschland”, consists of a small round granite boulder, 45 cm high, which tapers at the top and has a groove carved around its circumference. It was discovered in 1962 under the floor of the village church at Stedesdorf. It is possible that it was deliberately integrated into the church as a pagan stone monument.

The purpose behind the groove, which gives the stone a phallic appearance, is unknown. The stone can be compared to similar stone carvings, some of which have been identified by archaeological findings as prehistoric cult stones.

The Stedesdorf groove stone stands on the church mound, on the north side of the free-standing bell tower of St. Aegidien Church in Stedesdorf.

Visited September 2025

The Radbodsberg (also known as Rabbelsberg) in the district of Brill, is a burial mound where, according to popular tradition, the Frisian king Radbod is said to be buried.

With has a diameter of over 25 metres and a height of approximately 3 metres, the oval mound is the largest prehistoric mound in East Frisia. Two excavations between 1898 and 1904 uncovered, among other things, a Neolithic burial mound, six urn graves and ten cremation graves from the Bronze and Iron Ages, and a medieval horse grave. Several boulders may have belonged to a (Bronze Age) stone coffin.

The Radbodsberg is idyllically located in a small wood directly beside the road “Am Radbodsberg” in the municipality of Dunum.

Visited September 2025