The barrow is made up of compacted soil and local stone
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2010
Chance
The barrow stands about 2.5m high and is about 20m in diameter. The remains of the surrounding ditch can be seen in the foreground.
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2010
Overall view of site. The lone barrow lies at the left of the line of trees with the reservoir stretching from the hedge line.
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2010
Hiking information and maps
Website showing the highlights from various Appenzerland hiking routes and a map of the Ebenalp area.
All of the hiking routes begin at the Ebenalp Cable Car station and center in the valley east of Wasserauen.
letsgo-europe.com/Switzerland/Appenzell/hiking.html
Website giving the operating times and prices of the Ebenalp cable car.
letsgo-europe.com/Switzerland/Appenzell/ebenalp.html
The Wasserauen – Ebenalp cable car runs approximately every 10 to 15 minutes on the following schedule:
Jan 1 – Apr 30: 7:30am – 5:00pm
May 1 – May 31: 7:30am – 5:30pm
Jun 1 – Jun 30: 7:30am – 6:00pm
Jul 1 – Aug 31: 7:30am – 9:00pm
Sep 1 – Sep 30: 7:30am – 6:00pm
Oct 1 – Nov 1: 7:30am – 5:30pm
Nov 1 – Dec 31: 7:30am – 5:00pm
Ticket prices differ in the summer and winter, and the cable car station does offer group discount rates:
SUMMER TICKETS
May – Nov One-Way Round-Trip
Single Ticket 18 CHF or 11 EUR 25 CHF or 15 EUR
Group of 8 or more 14 CHF or 8.50 EUR 19 CHF or 11.50 EUR
Group of 25 or more 13 CHF or 8 EUR 18 CHF or 11 EUR
Students under 25 8 CHF or 5 EUR 10 CHF or 6 EUR
Children 6-16 half price half price
WINTER TICKETS
Dec – Apr Adults Kids
Morning (until 1pm) 25 CHF or 15 EUR 18 CHF or 11 EUR
Day Pass 33 CHF or 20 EUR 26 CHF or 15.50 EUR
Half-day after 11:30am 28 CHF or 17 EUR 20 CHF or 12 EUR
Half-day after 1pm 25 CHF or 15 EUR 18 CHF or 11 EUR
Night Ski-Pass 20 CHF or 12 EUR 15 CHF or 9 EUR
Season Pass (ages 7-16) 240 CHF
Season Pass (17 and up) 360 CHF
The offical website of the Ebenalp cable car is in German but contains a live web cam from the top of the Ebenalp cable car station and gives a clear indication of the current weather conditions
Wikipedia article on religion during the Paleolithic period
Wikipedia article on Neanderthal Humans
Website on arctolatry or bear worship
Wikipedia article on bear worship
The Cult of the Cave Bear by PG Chase from the Penn museum in pdf format
Article on cave bear worship during the Palaeolithic period from the University of Hannover in pdf format
Wildkirchli Caves – Fieldnotes
Visited 18/09/2008
If Wildkirchli sounds like a wild place, that’s because it is.
Wildkirchli means “little church in the wilderness” and collectively refers to a system of caves in the Alpstein massif of Appenzellerland. This region lies in the northeast corner of Switzerland and is entirely surrounded by the Canton of St. Gallen. The town of Appenzell is at the heart of the Appenzellerland and can best be pictured as something out of Willy Wonka’s chocolate land. The Wildkirchli cave system itself is found on the south east flank of the Ebenalp Mountain, which at 5,381 ft above sea level, is the most northerly summit of the Appenzell Alps.
The mountains, with their clean air, became a popular tourist attraction and in 1955 a cable car was built from the village of Wasserauen in the valley below. The cable car station of Ebenalp allows access to the mountains’ high plateau where hiking trails lead to a network of mountain huts and gasthauses,(guest houses). The Wildkirchli caves are a short 15 minute walk below the Ebenalp cable car station. Beyond the caves is a guest house serving light refreshments. The mountain is a popular hiking destination attracting up to 200,000 visitors a year.
The Wildkirchli caves have been a refuge from the outside world for thousands of years. Their isolation at an altitude of 4770 feet cuts them off almost completely. Evidence suggests that the caves were inhabited by cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) throughout the various ice ages, dating back to 90,000 BC. The caves were first mentioned in a description of the Pilatus Mountains by Joachim Vadian in 1524; although the first detailed description by the Capuchin P. Clemns from Appenzell did not appear until 1716 in the book, Naturhistorie des Schweizerlandes, (Natural History of Switzerland) by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer.
In 1621 the caves where first visited by P. Philipp Tanner, after which time the first altar was built. This so-called “cave shrine” consisted of a shallow barrel vault, and had an entrance porch which was later extended. Hermits sort refuge in the caves, the first being Paulus Ulmann in 1658 to 1660. From this time these hermits became known as Waldbrüder. In 1853 the last hermit died after he took a purler when collecting leaves. Various parts of the caves were re-modelled or sealed up with the current altar back wall dating from 1785. In 1860 a new bell tower and small “guesthouse” was constructed, which in 1972 became a small museum.
Between 1903 and 1908, the caves were partly excavated by the St. Gallen archaeologist Emil Bächler (1868–1950). Bächler discovered evidence of habitation dating back to the Palaeolithic period, 50,000 to 30,000 BC. These included traces of Neanderthal humans who he believed may have co-inhabited the caves with hibernating cave bears. Bächler had carried out investigations at other cave sites and in 1940, published his findings in the book, Das alpine Paläolithikum der Schweiz im W., Drachenloch und Wildenmannlisloch.
Although bear worship or arctolatry as it is collectively called, does exisit in many different forms and cultures throughout the world, Emil Bächlers’ speculation on Neanderthal mans’ practice during the Palaeolithic period is today regarded with some scepticism. I have included links to various web sites and downloadable pdf’s with regard to this subject.
In 1860 this small “guesthouse” was constructed, which Emil Bächler used during his excavations. In 1972 it became a museum displaying small finds from the site.
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
View looking down the mountain path. The cave system is closed off to tourists with a trail created around the side of the mountain. The wooden shack covers one of the natural cave entrances.
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
View looking up from the mountain path towards the bell tower of the chapel.
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
General view of the south east flank of Ebenalp Mountain showing the museum and the bell tower of the chapel from the cable car.
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
View of the mountain trails from the top of the mountain
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
Weathered sign to the complex from the 1940’s
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
Information signs with distances and hiking times
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
Emil Bächler with the bones of cave bears during his excavations in the early 1900’s
View from the chapel over the mountain range
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
The alter of the so-called “cave shrine”, first used by Paulus Ulmann in 1658 to 1660. The back of the cave was later walled in, with access to the complex through the concealed door.
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
Entrance to the second cave. This has been converted into the small chapel. The bell tower dates from 1860
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
Walkway through the first cave system down to the chapel
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
Walkway through the first cave system down to the chapel
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
Skeleton of the now extinct cave bear (Ursus spelaeus)
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
Skull of the now extinct cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) on a reconstruction of the cave floor
Image credit: Chance - Sep 2008
The Star-gazer – Stone 33b of the west kennett avenue.Avebury
Weighing 15 tons, this stone is said have two faces, but only one can see.
One with a big mouth but no eye. The other lies back, watching the sky.
Image credit: Chance - March 21 2010
Picket Barrow, atop Windmill Hill, as seen from the Northern entrance. The Horse Chestnut trees in the fore ground, planted by Alexander Keiller in the 1930’s. had become infected and were removed giving a clear view.
Image credit: Chance - March 21 2010
Picket Barrow atop Windmill hill, as seen from the Northern entrance. The Horse Chestnut trees in the fore ground, planted by Alexander Keiller in the 1930’s. had become infected and were removed giving a clear view.
Image credit: Chance - March 21 2010
Victorian guidebook to coins of various ancient British tribes By Sir John Evans from 1864 – A nighthawkers delight
Download the complete book in PDF via Google books
Old “wet plate” photograph of Stonehenge prior to any restoration or re-erection of any of the stones
Image credit: Philip Rupert Acott - July 1877
Visitors guide to France in English for the Carnac area including map
An amateur’s guide to visiting the Carnac stones by car by Graham and Angela
Small guide book to the site in English, by Zacharie Le Rouzic from 1908
Download the complete book in various formats including pdf and epub
Image credit: From a drawing by Thomas Bateman `Ten Years' Diggings'
Rude stone monuments in all countries their age and their uses
by James Fergussion – London 1872
Image credit: James Fergussion - London 1872
Plan of Site from Rude stone monuments in all countries their age and their uses by James Fergussion – London 1872
Image credit: Hon. W. O. Stanley
Entrance to Dolman, in Tumulus, Plas Newydd.
Rude stone monuments in all countries their age and their uses by James Fergussion – London 1872
Image credit: Hon. W. O. Stanley
Another and even more interesting example of this class has recently been brought to light by the Hon. W. O. Stanley, at Plas Newydd, not far from the great dolmen represented on woodcut No. 50.
It is a chamber or cist, 3 feet 3 inches wide by about 7 feot long, and covered by two slabs. Before being disturbed, the supporting slabs must have formed nearly perfect walls, thus distinguishing the cist from those standing on widely-spaced legs. Its principal point of interest, however, is the widely-splayed avenue of stones leading up to it, showing that it was always intended to be visited ; and still more curious are the two holes that were pierced in the slab that closed the entrance. The upper part of this slab is now broken off, but so much remains that it is easy to see that they were originally circular and about 10 inches in diameter. Such holed stones are very frequent in Eastern dolmens, and are also common in Cornwall and elsewhere ; but what their purpose may have been has not yet been explained.
Rude stone monuments in all countries their age and their uses by James Fergussion – London 1872 Page 166 to 168
The circles are small, the largest being only 75 feet in diameter, and the whole group only 200 feet across, neither are the stones by any means of imposing dimensions.
Image credit: Borlase
The circle or rather circles, on Burn Moor, near West Water, Cumberland, are described by Mr. Williams as consisting of a 100-foot circle, formed of forty-four stones, beyond which, at a distance of 25 feet is an outer circle of fourteen large stones. A niche or square enclosure on one side of the inner circle contains a cairn 25 feet in diameter, and within the circle are four others, irregularly spaced, and measuring 21 to 25 feet in diameter; each like the circle itself, surrounded by fourteen stones. These, on being opened, were found to contain a rude chamber formed of five stones, in which were found remains of burnt bones, horns of stags, and other animals.
‘Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries,’ iii. p.225.
Image credit: Williams - Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries
Pierre Martine, located near Livernon.
The cap-stone measures 22 feet by 11 feet, and is 16 inches in thickness, and was so balanced on its two points of support that a slight pressure of the hand was sufficient to set it oscillating with a motion which it retained for some time. Alas this broke under it’s own weight and had to be concreted. This curiosity, which has puzzled many people, eventually giving rise to a legend depicting Saint Martin, the evangelist Gaul.
Image credit: 'La France monumentale et picturesque' - Bonstetten 1865
Image credit: 'La France monumentale et picturesque' - Bonstetten 1865
The more usual form of French dolmens is either square or slightly in excess of that form, seldom reaching two squares in plan, and with a height equal to its breadth. One of the finest specimens of a monument of this class is in the middle of the village of Krukenho, (Crucuno) halfway between Canuic and Erdeven, and is now nsed as a cart-shed or barn. It certainly never was covered np, though its entrance may have been closed; indeed, the stones used for that purpose still lie in front of it. From this, which may be styled a first-class dolmen of the ordinary type, down to the simple dolmen of four stones, like Kit’s Cotty house, every possible variety and gradation are to be found in France; but, so far as I know, no classification has been hit upon which would enable us to say which are the oldest or which the more modern.
Image credit: Woodcut from a publication printed by Dr. Blair and Mr. Ronalds. - 1865
Image credit: 'La France monumentale et picturesque' - Bonstetten 1865
Cruz Menquen dolmen from ‘La France monumentale et picturesque’ – Bonstetten 1865
For location see
prehistoricjersey.net/Dolmen_de_Cruz_Menquen.shtml
or web site links below
Image credit: Bonstetten 1865
Offical listing for many of the monuments in the region. Contains early mono photos – English translation via Google.
Another useful web listing of sites with pictures
View of the Circles at Stanton Drew from a sketch by Percy Shelton, Esq. – 1832
Image credit: Percy Shelton, Esq. - 1832