Piepenkopf, Archaeological site and castle in Dörentrup, Germany.

Piepenkopf is an archaeological site with castle remains located on a hilltop spur near Dörentrup. The settlement spreads across several hectares and still shows traces of defensive structures built to blend with the natural slope.

Settlement at the location began during the Iron Age around the 3rd century BC. The site received official protection status in 1941 and was later subject to thorough research.

The name Amelungsburg for the neighbouring cone-shaped Keuper hill points to the Saxon period, roughly 1200 years after the Iron Age fort. Two La Tène hillforts elsewhere, the Grotenburg near Detmold and the Amelungsburg in the Süntel, also carry such Saxon outworks, probably built to guard the old ridgeway system.

The location sits on a hilltop spur and is easily accessible from the surrounding area. Since the terrain has natural elevation changes, visitors should be prepared for uneven ground.

Piepenkopf is the only Westphalian refuge castle with intervisibility to all other known hillforts of the region, from the Wiehengebirge to the Teutoburger Wald. Its 7-hectare rampart also encloses a spring hollow that fed a now-swamped basin, and traces of terracing outside the wall suggest livestock were kept there.