Between 1949 and 1956 Walter Nowothnig (1907-1971) carried out several archaeological digs on the Wurmberg. Pröhle's collection of legends reinforced his suspicion that the rumour of these steps being laid by a man called Daubert, a horseman-forester who had lived in Braunlage around 1825, was no longer tenable. Nowothnig's excavations, rediscovered the stone path and also uncovered, at the end of the path, a circular rampart of roughly 10 m diameter which surrounded the ruins of a square stone building. Moreover, south of the path, the foundation of a small circular building was found. In 2006, another, larger rampart was found on the western edge of the summit plateau. Nowothnig found no clues as to the age of the site, which is why it was referred to henceforth as a prehistoric site of worship of unknown period.