Korbacher Spalte
Highlight
The "Korbacher Spalte" on the southern outskirts of Korbach was discovered in 1964 and entered in the monument register of the state of Hesse in 1992. Next to the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site "Grube Messel", it is the most important paleontological ground monument in Hesse and is considered to be the oldest fossil-bearing crevice in Europe to date.
Its special significance derives from the finds of mammal-like reptiles, which are very rare worldwide. Procynosuchus, the so-called "Korbach Dackel", is particularly noteworthy here. The synapsids are at the beginning of the evolutionary history of our modern mammals and form a phylogenetic bridge between the reptiles and the mammals that first appeared at the end of the Triassic. The finds date to the geological period of the Zechstein about 258 million years ago.
You would like to learn more about the Korbacher Spalte?