Hengböhl quarry

Willingen-Usseln (51.278270 | 8.671564)

Retreat

Walkable double spiral inside an open quarry.

We are very, very small. And we are very, very many. We lived long before you and - please don't hold this against me - will probably outlive you by many millions of years. My name is Ostrakode. I was chosen by the others, who are also all called Ostrakode, by the way, to tell you about us. For a specific reason, which I will reveal later, I have chosen this quarry near Usseln to meet you. What you do with my messages is, of course, up to you to decide. However, I will allow myself a small hint as to how you might understand them: Don't take yourselves too seriously. About being the crown of creation and all that. It could be that in creation, too, he who laughs last laughs best.

First point for us: our wealth of diversity. If you add the gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans, you hominids have eight species. What about us? Today there are still 10,000 to 15,000 species of us, shellfish in your language. In the course of the Earth's history, there have been many more species, so that at some point we could no longer keep up with the count.

What is the secret of our success, you ask? Adaptability. Our bodies are only three millimetres in size, but we can get along well anywhere. From oceans, rivers and streams to small puddles in meadows. We really are a match made in heaven. In terms of nutrition too, by the way. While you meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans are still arguing with each other, we are consistent flexitarians. Our motto: take what comes! Microalgae, dead animals, and if we have to, we'll even eat the remains of our dead neighbors.

Why are we meeting here, in the Hengböhl quarry? First of all, because you're sure to like this place. The stone walls almost completely enclose it, a feeling of security sets in when you enter through the narrow entrance. A place of peace and contemplation, shielded from the noise and hustle and bustle of modern times. In the middle, a spiral of football-sized boulders attracts attention. It was created by Renate Hill, the GeoPark guide who brought you here. You remember what she said about it: "You walk from the outside in, step by step, a symbol of life's journey, with joyful highs and sad lows. And when you leave the spiral again after moving from the inside out, you are the same person, but no longer the same person." You see, this is a good place to think about your own lifespan, about time, about transience.

That's the main reason for our evolutionary rendezvous here. I wanted to subtly draw your attention to how short your existence is in the face of geological eternities. Where you are standing right now, some of you in walking boots, was a deep sea 370 million years ago. At its bottom, in the blackness, we, the ostracods, were already living back then, gliding, crawling and swimming with our limb feet. At some point it became even darker. Clay mud was deposited layer upon layer, my fellow ostracods and I were trapped, the land rose, the sea retreated, the mud dried and was compressed under great pressure, shale was formed. And we were in the middle of it, of course. Petrified. A silent tale of the vicissitudes of life. Slates as a library of fossil evidence.

We only came to light again in 1910. At that time, the municipality of Usseln decided to open up the earth here and quarry stones. Quarry stones were needed for the foundations of houses and barns, and lots of ballast for the construction of railroad tracks. Heavy physical labor was carried out with hoes and hammers, and later black powder was used for blasting. Just imagine: An entire library being turned into gravel. But those were the days. Today, as you know from Renate Hill, the former quarry is a GeoStation, a place of soul and a treasure trove of fossils. Fossilized brachiopods, shells, trilobites and cephalopods. And of course us, the ostracods. The GeoPark guide always has a little hammer with her to tap stones to see which animals from the prehistoric zoo they harbor.

Now it is up to you to draw conclusions from what you have seen and experienced. Respect for evolution, which has not run out of steam even after billions of years? A perception of grandeur? Perhaps a doubt as to whether humans rightly place themselves above all other creatures? The feeling of being part of a larger and higher dimension? In any case, I wish you all the time in the world to think about it in peace.

Author: Michael Gleich