This is interesting - have a look at "teach allais" in ancient Ireland - literally means "houses of sweat" which were used for ritual purposes similarly to native american sweat lodges. It's likely this practice was common among Celtic peoples right across Europe and into Anatolia.
My bet is these were for something like that maybe.
Hiding places! Old school panic rooms. There was a raid and you needed to hide your kids. You wanted the space to be impractically small so that an armored dude can’t follow you in, and his scary weapons are rendered useless.
Yes if you’re important and have resources, but in that case you probably have the protection of a castle or other fortification. These tunnels would be for ordinary people. The cost of waiting them out in terms of logistics and exposure yourself isn’t worth the upside.
Magyar raiders don't wait around for weeks when there's easier loot elsewhere. On the other hand they stopped raiding after around 960AD, and the Vikings rarely made it that far south. A mystery.
I hate to take the mystery out of the erdstall, but maybe they are simply drainage - possibly even sewage drainage. Maybe there were outhouses at the tops of the erdstall where it emerges to the surface.
Thanks for tickling my historical mystery bone! These will be an excellent addition to my fantasy novel, with some magically mundane or fantastically ridiculous purpose. I really enjoy weaving in real-world oddities like this. The Erdstall will join the Aztec Death Whistle and the Korean Bongsu as part of the world of Venn in The Unexpected Vanguard!
actually in one of the articles i read about this one of the german farmers who has one on his land says he just crawls in for fun and chills out sometimes!
for sure a possibility. but even then, there is a mystery: why dig them in such specific configurations? Most wells, peoole threw things down them. so why did no one throw anything down these ones?
Yes, the stone type also makes little sense, it absorbs water, however, weve also seen tunnels built for pipes, like sewers, so you'd have a stone tunnel and in that tunnel there were wooden, clay or lead waterpipes, the tunnel would only be for emergency maintenance.
But that also wouldn't make much sense here.
Still, I'm leaning towards a rational logical function.
They have found similarly sized tunnels in the Amazon that were traced back to giant sloths and armadillos. The tunnels in the Amazon are six feet tall and often dug through solid rock. I am no paleontologist, but if the tunnels are old enough we wouldn't expect to find much surviving on the inside other than rock and dirt as we need specific conditions for bones, food, and scat to survive for thousands of years without decomposition.
Since many of them seem to be in Bavaria and Austria, it makes me think they were for storage or as temporary shelter. For example, the Felsengänge (stone passages) in Nuremberg started out as individual landowners digging ever deeper cellars to store beer. Multiple people then began connecting theirs. It is strange that so many are discovered almost completely empty, though.
Dwarves.
Dwarves did it.
My immediate first thought 😆
Reading this triggered my anxiety ....
Pure nightmare fuel here - though I couldn't stop reading.
This is interesting - have a look at "teach allais" in ancient Ireland - literally means "houses of sweat" which were used for ritual purposes similarly to native american sweat lodges. It's likely this practice was common among Celtic peoples right across Europe and into Anatolia.
My bet is these were for something like that maybe.
perhaps, but wouldn't there be archelogical evidence of fires? that being said i think it's a very good theory
Sometimes that can just be a thin layer of carbon in the soil, but yes you'd expect evidence of fires
The past really was a different country
Hiding places! Old school panic rooms. There was a raid and you needed to hide your kids. You wanted the space to be impractically small so that an armored dude can’t follow you in, and his scary weapons are rendered useless.
This is one theory! But if someone hostile sees you go down there, surely they’re just blocking the entrance for a few weeks? :((
Yes if you’re important and have resources, but in that case you probably have the protection of a castle or other fortification. These tunnels would be for ordinary people. The cost of waiting them out in terms of logistics and exposure yourself isn’t worth the upside.
Ah, yeah, to avoid the crimes of opportunity (to create a euphemism) by invading armies or gangs of bandits.
Magyar raiders don't wait around for weeks when there's easier loot elsewhere. On the other hand they stopped raiding after around 960AD, and the Vikings rarely made it that far south. A mystery.
But why would they be in Churches instead of homes?
because the church might be a common gathering place
I hate to take the mystery out of the erdstall, but maybe they are simply drainage - possibly even sewage drainage. Maybe there were outhouses at the tops of the erdstall where it emerges to the surface.
One word: purgatory
what’s crazy is, these tunnels basically predate the Christian idea of purgatory
I thought that appeared in Ireland in the 7th century with St Fursey and retroactively assigned to St Patrick
https://www.reddit.com/r/Advice/comments/u3qipy/how_can_i_get_my_boyfriend_to_stop_digging_his/ sometimes in life you just gotta dig a tunnel
That's what I was thinking. People have weird hobbies sometimes.
Have you heard of the "Mole Man" of Hackney?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lyttle
Thanks for tickling my historical mystery bone! These will be an excellent addition to my fantasy novel, with some magically mundane or fantastically ridiculous purpose. I really enjoy weaving in real-world oddities like this. The Erdstall will join the Aztec Death Whistle and the Korean Bongsu as part of the world of Venn in The Unexpected Vanguard!
i weirdly find these kind of vibey i'd hang in one
actually in one of the articles i read about this one of the german farmers who has one on his land says he just crawls in for fun and chills out sometimes!
HELL yeah put a couple rugs and pillows down there
lol The Stone Vagina
Is it possible that digging such tunnels was some kind of penance?
The first thing that came to mind is that these may have just been either sewers/drains or tunnels to transport water.
They had a lot of that in Medieval Europe, especially in Germany it seems.
Drinking water or water for bathing or maybe to get rid of water.
for sure a possibility. but even then, there is a mystery: why dig them in such specific configurations? Most wells, peoole threw things down them. so why did no one throw anything down these ones?
Yes, the stone type also makes little sense, it absorbs water, however, weve also seen tunnels built for pipes, like sewers, so you'd have a stone tunnel and in that tunnel there were wooden, clay or lead waterpipes, the tunnel would only be for emergency maintenance.
But that also wouldn't make much sense here.
Still, I'm leaning towards a rational logical function.
Absolutely fascinating! What an intriguing mystery.
Heard a theory that they were dug by some long extinct megafauna and that makes the most sense to me.
Any animal origin would surely have left food scraps or bones or scat
Giant snails.
I like this... primeval vibes
They have found similarly sized tunnels in the Amazon that were traced back to giant sloths and armadillos. The tunnels in the Amazon are six feet tall and often dug through solid rock. I am no paleontologist, but if the tunnels are old enough we wouldn't expect to find much surviving on the inside other than rock and dirt as we need specific conditions for bones, food, and scat to survive for thousands of years without decomposition.
Since many of them seem to be in Bavaria and Austria, it makes me think they were for storage or as temporary shelter. For example, the Felsengänge (stone passages) in Nuremberg started out as individual landowners digging ever deeper cellars to store beer. Multiple people then began connecting theirs. It is strange that so many are discovered almost completely empty, though.