Oppidum Steinsburg

Steinsburg is the colloquial name for the remains of a Celtic oppidum on the Kleiner Gleichberg in the German state of South Thuringia. It is located within the county of Hildburghausen by Waldhaus near the small town of Römhild.
The Kleiner Gleichberg and the neighbouring Großer Gleichberg form a pair of "geological twins". Both mountains are basalt cones which are volcanic in origin. The name Steinsburg probably derives from the large stone fields that surround the mountain summit plateau. Johann Wolfgang Goethe recognised the volcanic origin of these stone fields: the basalt of the former volcanic pipe crumbled as a result of erosion to form the blockfields visible today that are a typical indicator of collapsed volcano structures. These basalt blocks were used in Celtic times for the construction of dry stone walls that probably protected the oppidum. A total of three rings of walls were built surround the mountain like city walls. The outermost wall is three kilometres long and encloses an area of 66 hectares. Only a few short sections of these walls have been partially preserved, but the collapsed sections enable the old structure to be made out.

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