Dornburg (Oppidum)
The Dornburg is the ruin of a Celtic oppidum with a ring castle in the municipality of Dornburg in the Limburg-Weilburg district ( Hesse ). At the foot of the southern slope of the plateau is the "Eternal Ice", a rare natural phenomenon that is expressed in an underground zone that is icy even in summer.
investment
The Dornburg is located on a basalt knoll between the towns of Frickhofen and Wilsenroth on a plateau that was originally around 37 hectares and is still around 18 hectares today . Its mean height is 396 meters above sea level.
The complex was inhabited by Celts from the 6th century BC, the late Hallstatt period. Traces of settlement have also been identified for the various phases of the Latène period up to the end of the 1st century BC. At least in the late La Tène period it was a town-like settlement, an “oppidum”. Coins, fibulae, glass jewelry and keys found point this out. It was probably used as the seat of the Ubier who moved to the area of the later cities of Cologne and Bonn in 18 or 9 BC.
The plateau of the oppidum stretched 750 meters from west to east, and about 500 meters from north to south. It fell sharply on the north, east and south sides and was secured with smaller walls. On the west side it was secured by a 300 meter long, 3-5 meter wide and 2-5 meter high section wall, the so-called "Rödches wall". A second wall was in front of the Rödchesmauer at a distance of 80 meters.
The complex was still in use in the Middle Ages, which is supported by a Franconian chapel that was uncovered in 1963.
exploration
In 1760 a pastor found "many (Roman) coins" in walls, vaults and cellar holes.
1825 Medical Councilor Dr. Kolb from Hadamar carries out excavations on the Dornburg on behalf of the Nassau Antiquities Association . 1870 J. Troost undertakes some prospecting which reveals a “number of finds”.
In 1879 the former colonel and architect CA v. Cohausen describes the Dornburg and describes two approaches, one in the direction of Frickhofen and one in the direction of Wilsenroth.
1904 Behlen investigates and maps the ramparts, which at that time had already been attacked in three places by quarrying work, adding an annex rampart in the east of the system, which later fell completely victim to the basalt mining.
In 1928, von Kutsch drove an excavation through the Rödchensmauer , with the aim of preserving the Dornburg and protecting it from further basalt mining on the basis of the hoped-for finds. The designation as a nature reserve goes back to this.
In 1960, a second excavation cut through the section wall followed under Helmut Schoppa , who also dug in the area of the northern edge wall. Larger excavations in the inner area of the ring castle were not undertaken, so that little is known about the former settlement structure.
In 1963, Schoppa exposed the foundations of a building that, due to its masonry and floor plan, was interpreted as a Franconian chapel.
Finds
The coin find from 1760 was sent to the Nassau office in Dillenburg and was lost there. In 1831 a fragment of an elaborately crafted gold neck ring was found on the plateau (cf. Leif Hansen 2007). Various items of jewelry (including “Nauheim” fibulae and glass jewelry), iron objects (including a deposit with tools), coins and caramel were found. An overview of this is provided in Ms. Ricken's master's thesis, 2017.
The finds represent all Iron Age stages. “But that doesn't mean that Dornburg was inhabited throughout the Iron Age. Instead, it can only be stated that the Dornburg was inhabited at some point during all archaeological stages in the Iron Age . "(Ricken 2017)
destruction
In 1887 the first basalt quarry was opened on the northern slope of the Dornburg. Three more breaks followed by 1905, which destroyed large parts of the complex. In addition, it can be assumed that quarry workers made numerous archaeological finds disappear in order not to endanger the continued operation of their workplaces.
In 1925 there was the first attempt to turn the Dornburg into a nature reserve and thereby save it from disappearing in the quarries. Given the economic consequences, only a small part of the complex was placed under protection in 1927. In 1938 and 1963, the protected area was further reduced so that basalt mining could continue. The authorities rejected a further reduction in size in 1989.
As a result of the basalt mining, the plateau area shrank to 18 hectares and the total length of the ramparts from 3400 to 1200 meters.
Legends
Myths and legends surround the Dornburg and the neighboring Blasiusberg. They tell of the foolish love of Hildegard, the daughter of the mayor of the fortified complex of the Dornburg, for the knight Rupert von Ellar . In order to free her lover from the dungeon, she revealed the secret passage into the interior of the castle to the enemies. When Hildegard saw what she had done in the face of the slaughter that followed, she threw herself off a rock.
Legends are also entwined with the eternal ice at the Dornburg. The legend tells of twelve golden images of the apostles, which were sunk into two deep wells. Immediately the wells iced up and no longer released the pictures. There they still rest safely in the ice-cold earth.
According to a legend, the Neolithic gallery grave Niederzeuzheim a few kilometers to the south is said to be a secret exit of the Dornburg.
literature
- Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann : The Dornburg near Frickhofen. Leaflet on the Celtic oppidum near Dornburg-Wilsenroth, Limburg-Weilburg district (= Archaeological Monuments in Hesse. 66). Department for Prehistory and Protohistory in the State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-8982-2066-4 .
- Helmut Schoppa: Find report by the State Office for Cultural and Historical Soil Antiquities, Wiesbaden for the period from 1.1.-31.12.1960. In: Find reports from Hesse 1961.
- Christopher Pare: The Glauberg in its macro-regional context. In: Early Centralization and Urbanization Processes. Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2208-1 .
- Leif Hansen: A early La Tène gold neck ring frame from Dornburg-Wilsenroth (Kr. Limburg-Weilburg). In: Archaeological correspondence sheet. Prehistory, Roman times, early Middle Ages. 37, 2007.
- Hans-Helmut Wegner : On settlement areas in the slate mountains during the Iron Age. In: Jutta Meurers-Balke , Werner Schön (Ed.) Past times. Liber amicorum. Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-7749-3761-1 .
- Mathias Seidel and a .: The Roman Empire in the Limburg Basin . For Germanic settlement in the run-up to the Taunus Limes. In: Reports of the Commission for State Archaeological Research in Hessen. Issue 4, 1996/1997, ISSN 0941-6013 , pp. 81-83 and pp. 87-91.
- Jennifer Ricken: The Dornburg near Frickhofen, Kr. Limburg-Weilburg, in the Iron Age. Philipps University of Marburg 2017.
- Helmut Fischer , Legends of the Westerwald. 8th edition. Westerwald-Verein, Montabaur 2009, ISBN 978-3-921548-13-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Kerstin Schierhold : Studies on the Hessian-Westphalian megalithic. Research status and perspectives in a European context (= Münster contributions to prehistoric and early historical archeology. Volume 6). Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2012, ISBN 978-3-89646-284-8 , p. 298.
Coordinates: 50 ° 31 '23 " N , 8 ° 1' 21" E