Deinotherium sands The first discovery of a fossil
femur of a
great ape Paidopithex rhenanus (now considered to be an ape relative not an ape - possibly being a
Pliopithecoid) was made near Eppelsheim in 1820. The finding was made in deposits of the prehistoric
Rhine river and are about 10 million years old. These deposits are known as the
Deinotherium Sands, because they often contain teeth and bones from the extinct
proboscid Deinotherium. In October 2017, scientists from the Natural History Museum at
Mainz reported that two teeth about 5 to 8 million years old had been found in 2016, that resemble those of extinct human relatives
Ardipithecus ramidus and
Australopithecus afarensis. Early reactions to the "Eppelsheim teeth" ranged from interest to dismissal while the researchers indicated that they will continue their investigations and analysis. In old documents, the
Dalberger Turm is described as the "Wasserhaus" (“Waterhouse”), because there was a moat around the tower, fed by the nearby village dyke. The building has walls wholly built out of quarrystones (
limestone) and covers a ground area of some 10 m × 10 m. Besides the ground floor, there are also five upper floors. The ground floor’s walls are some 1.5 m thick. Once, the only way in was through the first of the upper floors by way of a ladder or movable stairway. The tower was surrounded by a further wall with a parapet walk, and was part of the village’s fortifications. The roof, converted in 1602, was originally steeper; the less steep tent roof comes from a later time. Windows and
arrowslits are framed with red
sandstone. Heating facilities could not be ascertained, and therefore the tower’s use as a dwelling, at least in times of danger, must be assumed (it was later used as a warehouse and a fruit store). The
Dalberger Turm and the townscape with the village walls have since 30 September 1988 been under the protection of the
Hague Conventions. == Famous people ==