Mellaberg fortification section

Mellaberg fortification section
Creation time :	Prehistoric and early history and early medieval
Castle type :	Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status:	Disappeared, ramparts and moats preserved
Place:	Bad Staffelstein - Kümmersreuth - "Mellenberg"
Geographical location	50 ° 2 '52.3 "  N , 11 ° 4' 53.7"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 2 '52.3 "  N , 11 ° 4' 53.7"  E
Height:	490.5  m above sea level NN

The portion fixing Mellaberg is an Outbound prehistoric and early medieval and fastening system on the Mellenberg, a long and very narrow spur above the confluence of the two streams of the source Kaiderbaches . It is located about 1300 meters west-northwest of the Catholic branch church Maria Rosenkranzkönigin in Kümmersreuth in the municipality of Bad Staffelstein in the Upper Franconian district of Lichtenfels in Bavaria , Germany . No historical or archaeological information is known about this section fortification. Due to the different condition of the individual section walls , it is assumed that it was an originally prehistoric complex that was re-fortified and inhabited during the early Middle Ages . A fourfold staggered section fortification has been preserved from the complex, the place is protected as ground monument number D-4-5932-0067: Section fortification of the prehistory and the early Middle Ages .

description

The 230 meter long and maximum 65 meter wide fortification is located at 490.5  m above sea level. NN altitude and thus around 100  meters above the valley floor of the Kaiderbach on a north-northwest facing mountain spur of the Mellenberg. This approximately one kilometer long spur drops very steeply on three sides, in the southwest to a deeply incised valley, on the northeast side to the brook valley of the Kümmersreuther trench and a dry valley and its tip in the gusset of the two converging streams. However, the lower end of the mountain spur has now been removed by a quarry . The only endangered side in the south-south-east merges slightly upward into a Jura plateau and therefore had to be specially protected. For this purpose, there is a four-fold moat system on this side, which comes from different time periods.

The outermost fortification is a 65-meter-long section wall that runs across the mountain spur and ends at both ends on the steep slope. It used to be a trench on the outside. Today, however, this has largely been leveled, only in the northern section it is still preserved as a flat hollow. The wall consists of stones and earth and is around 0.6 meters high inside. The jump height, i.e. the height difference between the ridge and the bottom of the trench, is up to 1.2 meters. The trench is eight meters wide. This outer fortification is followed by the second section wall 72 meters north-northwest. This runs from north to south, and thus diagonally across the spur. It is still strong, also consists of stone rubble and earth, and is 35 meters long. It is still up to 1.75 meters high and around ten meters wide. An outer, 18-meter-wide hollow was probably created by removing material when the embankment was filled. The second wall is followed by the third section fortification after 22 meters. It was also designed as a wall-ditch system and, like the outermost section wall, is poorly preserved. Its height is only 0.2 meters, measured from the outside, the trench is 0.7 meters deep, the difference in height is therefore 0.9 meters. Another 80 meters to the north-northwest is the fourth and last line of fortifications. The mountain spur is only 15 meters wide at this point. The fortification consists only of a trench up to 2.5 meters deep and 12 meters wide. On the long sides of the mountain spur no traces of fortification can be found, there probably no further protection was necessary due to the steep slope of the terrain.

The varying degrees of preservation of the individual fortifications suggests that there are two structures from different periods that overlap on the spur. The first attachment of the spur happened in prehistoric times. The outermost and the third moat, both of which are not very well preserved and are therefore likely to be older, belonged to this complex. During the early Middle Ages, a slightly smaller part of the spur was reattached. For this purpose, a new, second section wall with a ditch was created between the two prehistoric moats. In addition, the trench in front of the spur was dug. At that time, the area at the spur tip in front of the ditch was probably used as living space.

literature

• Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archaeological Forays in Meranierland am Obermain - A guide to archaeological and monuments of the early and high Middle Ages . 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. District of Upper Franconia, Bayreuth 2006, ISBN 3-9804971-7-8 , pp. 89-91.
• Björn-Uwe Abels : Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria, Franconia Volume 2: Archaeological Guide Upper Franconia . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-8062-0373-3 , p. 176.
• Klaus Schwarz: The prehistoric and early historical monuments in Upper Franconia . (Material booklets on Bavarian prehistory, series B, volume 5). Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 1955, p. 159.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Klaus Schwarz: The prehistoric and prehistoric site monuments of Upper Franconia , p. 159
2. ^ Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Björn-Uwe Abels: Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria, Franconia Volume 2: Archaeological Guide Upper Franconia , p. 176
3. ↑ List of monuments for Bad Staffelstein (PDF) at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (PDF; 201 kB)
4. ↑ Location of the section fortification in the BayernAtlas
5. ↑ Source description: Björn-Uwe Abels: Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria, Franconia Volume 2: Archaeological Guide Upper Franconia , p. 176 and Klaus Schwarz: The prehistoric and early historical terrain monuments of Upper Franconia , p. 159