In the wedge of woodland between the two deep dales, scattered remnants of a number of barrows bear witness to very early human habitation going back as far as the Hunsrück-Eifel Culture in La Tène times. In the more recent past, the Asbach Ironworks down below on the Fischbach played an important rôle as a regional hub for iron smelting in the early industrial revolution. This hammermill, which was expanded in 1743 by the sons of the Sulzbach smith, Johann Nikolaus Stumm, became the groundwork of the Saarland metal industry. Related to the later Barons of Stumm, the legendary “Iron Barons”, were the Böckings. In 1835, Rudolf Heinrich Böcking (1810-1871) inherited the ironworks.