[4] Geologically, Herschweiler-Pettersheim lies on layers of lower rotliegend, in particular the Middle Kusel Group (ruk2), which is made up mainly of sandstones and arkoses along with siltstones, claystones and conglomerates.

Sewer-laying work about 1980 unearthed a layered log road about one metre deep under the roadway that had been used as a link between the residential areas "in der Hohl" and "Im Eck" in Herschweiler's old village core across the wet and marshy Ohmbach valley floor.

In this part of the village, formerly known as Walleck, and nowadays as Wallheck (both derived from Waldecke), with its houses set at odd angles to each other and its maze of lanes, one can still make out the original layout of the place despite all the conversions and modernization.

A new building zone called Buchrech opened east of the church as the beginning of a new residential neighbourhood along a second street running parallel to Hauptstraße, at mid-slope up the Hühnerkopf's west flank.

Despite stagnating and declining population growth, the built-up area's outer edge, and the village's street, watermain and sewer networks are all being expanded, which could have major consequences for later generations.

It could bear witness, as a buried artifact from a settlement in the "later, pre-Christian Bronze Age" of the 1st or 2nd century BC, to a source in the floor of the dale or on the Ohmbach valley's slopes.

Eventually, the digs at the Roman-era villa rustica on Seitersstraße in 1961 led to the unearthing of ceramics from a settlement of the "later, pre-Christian Iron Age" right near the Roman site.

The ceramics unearthed 30 m behind the villa rustica show that there was a Celtic settlement tradition from the "later, pre-Christian Iron Age" into what was locally Roman times, lasting into the latter half of the 3rd century AD.

[12] To understand the broader events in the region during the Thirty Years' War (1613–1648), what must first be known is the historical background: While the Holy Roman Emperor was losing power in the High Middle Ages, the prince-electors' might was growing.

The union of the Swedes, who were likewise marauding through the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken robbing and murdering, with the French extended the war by more than a decade, although Emperor Ferdinand III was by then advocating peace.

From 1672 onwards, French "Sun King" Louis XIV waged several wars of conquest against German princes with a view to expanding his kingdom's borders.

In 1718 at the Siege of Fredriksten, a fortress at Fredrikshald in Norway (now called Halden), King Karl XII was shot dead (there is some question as to whether it was an enemy gunshot or an assassin's bullet).

Thus, the County Palatine in Germany passed to the sideline of Palatinate-Kleeburg, with Charles XII's first successor here being his cousin, named Gustav Samuel Leopold, an officer in the Emperor's service who may have converted to Catholicism for his master's sake.

Christian IV, who had been illegitimately married to a dancer named Marianne Camasse of the Mannheim Theatre who had been raised to nobility and been given the title Countess Forbach, was succeeded not by one of his sons, but rather by his nephew Charles II August.

Christian Etienne had in the meantime returned from exile a second time only to find the whole palace, along with his own dwelling, plundered and utterly destroyed, and wanted to have the damage repaired.

To this day, the three-layer structure of large, medium and small agricultural operations that held true in Herschweiler-Pettersheim right up until the middle of the 20th century can still be made out.

The groundwork for this blossoming industry was laid for Herschweiler-Pettersheim in 1908 by Christian Schultheiß, who came from the German centre for diamond processing in Hanau, and who had been recruited in 1887-1888 by Isidor Dreyfuß for the newly founded diamond-cutting workshop at the Neumühle ("New Mill") between Ohmbach and Brücken.

Low production costs due to the Nazi state's subsidies, and the high quality standard, made the boycott ineffective, so that the business reached a peak in 1935.

With the growing shift of cost-intensive production facilities about the turn of the millennium to countries with low labour costs, the economic outlook for the Saarland and the Western Palatinate is rather more bleak than rosy.

On 23 April 1387, Pettersheim had its first documentary mention in a document dealing with a division of holdings from Counts Heinrich III and Friedrich II of Veldenz as Castle Pederßheim.

It can be gathered from the finds that the stone building arose in the 120s AD, and apparently destroyed by fire in the 270s during the Germanic invasions in the border areas between the Roman provinces of Germania Superior and Gallia Belgica.

Schwebel, who was named court preacher, town pastor and general superintendent by Duke Louis II (ruled 1522-1532), decreed the first Lutheran Church Order.

The 1575 ecclesiastical visitation, which named "Veitin von Pedershym" as one of the "censors" (presbyters), consisted mainly of complaints about the state of the church building (badly roofed, rotten beams, no glass windows).

Under his rule, Catholicism was once again tolerated, and even promoted, as had been the case during the French occupation, although this did not mean that the three denominations that were widespread in the Duchy always lived happily together; there were often tensions, with those between the Lutherans and Calvinists being greatest.

After struggling for recognition of his legitimacy, he died shortly after finally receiving it and was succeeded by his 13-year-old son Duke Christian IV, for whom his mother ruled as regent until he came of age.

[1] Herschweiler-Pettersheim's mayors since 1800 have been as follows: The municipality's arms might be described thus: Or in base a mount with grass proper on which a hart springing gules unguled and attired of the field.

The Arbeiter-Unterstützungsverein ("Workers' Support Club"), founded in 1894, has also pursued from the beginning the goal of helping members' families over the initial neediness in case of death.

Not very many members still belong to the local chapter of the Pfälzische Bauern und Winzerschaft e. V. (farming and winegrowing), but the regional small animal raising club is still active in Herschweiler-Pettersheim.

The mayoralty and the taxation office were, in the face of the local populace's opposition, dissolved and by law reassigned to the Verbandsgemeinde of Glan-Münchweiler, a great loss for the municipality, which now had to make do with being nothing more than a population centre.

Following the general economic development, the actual production (sewing) was shifted to Eastern Europe, while designing, precutting, pattern creation, final inspection, sales and distribution are all things that are handled at the Herschweiler-Pettersheim facility, which in 2004 employed roughly 70 women (but almost 100 in 1986).