Nexus - 0214 - New Times Magazine-pages

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The PICTOGRAM and the PLATE tern (it covered an area of 45,000 square feet) consisted of seven symbols and 13 circles, with a cross in the middle circle representing the ancient German sun sym- bol. The whole structure resembled a Scandinavian rock painting of a ‘Chariot of the Sun’, a sacred symbol of the ancient northern Germans and a symbol for the ‘heavenly chariots’ of the Nordic gods. The site of the pictogram is archaeologi- cally significant. It lies at the foot of the Thieberg, a hill where the free men met for "Thing", an early form of parliament. In immediate proximity we located the Wuldenberg, a pagan sanctuary of the great god Wodan, destroyed by Charlemagne in the late 8th century when a church was erected. The forest between the Thieberg and the Wuldenberg was called the Heilige Holz (Holy Forest), a controversial sacred forest of the Germans up to the late Middle Ages. When a castle governor (Burgvogt) ordered the forest cut down in 1273, he was killed by the Grasdorf people in what resulted as a small civil war. The forest remained untouched until the 19th centu- ry. Archaeologists agree that it had been a sacred ground for about 4,000 years. The owner of the field, farmer Werner Harenberg, assured me he found the pic- togram in such a cleancut, accurate way, that he immediately ruled out any possibil- ity of a hoax. Tim Schunemann of Goslar measured the pattern on 24 July and reported:- The circles were nearly perfect. The longest straight line of the pattern was exactly in an east-west direction. The edges were clearly cut; the change from ior a, be lying stalks was abrupt. The circles had nice and symmetric spiral patterns. The stalks were flattened in a clockwise direction and not broken. Members of the research group EFODON measured radioactivity with a Geiger-Miiller counter. The result: the pointer deflected many times with a maxi- mum of .737 microsiever/h— 76% higher than the prescribed maximum for work- rooms—then fell back. Normally this is impossible because radioactivity is con- stant. Was this an authentic pictogram? The evidence speaks for itself. Because the formation is located immediately next to the B444, a busy street, hoaxers most probably couldn’t have stayed undetected. One thing is sure—when a promenader passed the field at 11 pm, nothing unusual was seen. At about 1.30 am, Christian Fiedler, from Grasdorf, saw an orange-col- ored, pulsating, flashing light hovering — the area in question and flying to and TO. At 2 am, other witnesses heard a strange "whooping" sound with intervals similar to but louder and duller than a helicopter. The Grasdorf pictograph received great attention from the media. Hardly a news- paper in Germany failed to publish an aeri- al photograph of the formation and thou- sands came to visit the site. Farmer Harenberg, after reading about the reaction of British farmers, started to ask for an entrance fee of about one pound, and ordered one of his farm workers, a Turk named Chemal Kucuk, to watch the field and collect the money. Many visitors came with dowsing rods or pendulum, Geiger counters or metal detectors. One of them was successful. On 2 August he located metal in three of the circles, the ones surrounded by a half- ring. He marked the sites and told Chemal that he was going to ask Mr Harenberg for permission to dig. He soon came back with a mattock and shovel, claiming to have permission and started to dig. A mysterious crop-circle pictogram appeared one night in a German wheat field. The mystery deepened with | the discovery of metal plates buried underground, bearing exactly the same pictogram! by Michael Hesemann Ve AMEE TO Vee te eee seu eee ut of the 26 crop circles and forma- (Holy Forest), a controversial sacred forest Ove: which appeared in Germany _of the Germans up to the late Middle Ages. during the summer of 1991, the When a castle governor (Burgvogt) ordered the forest cut down in 1273, he was killed by the Grasdorf people in what resulted as a small civil war. The forest most interesting and complicated one was discovered by joggers in the early hours of 22 July at Grasdorf near Hildesheim in jemained untouched until the 19th centu- Lower Saxony. ry. Archaeologists agree that it had been a The 300 foot long by 150 foot wide pat- sacred ground for about 4,000 years. JUNE - JULY 1993 NEXUSe12