Heidenbüchel Hill of Zunzgen

The Büchel.

Every man and woman living in Zunzgen, every visitor, and any tourist driving along the highway could not fail to notice the Büchel.  The hill is best compared to a sawn-off ball, with a circular plain of 12 to 15 meters [yards] on top of the knoll, steeply sloping sides and a base diameter of about 40 meters [yards], rising above the valley bottom by a good 30 meters (436.6 meters about sea level).  

Occasionaly, the Büchel serves as sheep pasture.

An excavation was made in 1863 that failed to determine if this was a single or mass grave site.  Another excavation was undertaken in 1881 that lacked professional skills and yielded little information.  A careful excavation was carried out in 1950 that indicates that this is an example of round tower hills with apartment rooms found in Normandy and France made in the 9^th and 10^th Centuries.  They were surrounded by drying ditches.  These structures were precursors to square tower hills and later to castles.

Volunteers have laid wooden steps on the hillside to facilitate the climb.  It is said that the overview of Zunzgen and Sissach is worth the climb.

There were many folk-lore traditions about the origins and signifigance of the Büchel that grew before scientific evidence indicated otherwise.  This is an example of art based on what might have taken place at the Büchel – this is on the exterior of a school building.