Migration period hilltop settlement
As high altitude settlements during the migration period , settlements on elevated places that originate from the migration period are referred to. Such settlements can be found in the Roman area as well as in the Germanic areas, such as in southwest Germany and the Carpathian region .
Alemannic hill settlements
As Alamannic hilltop settlements the facilities in South or Southwest Germany are referred to by the Germanic tribe of the Alemanni were used mainly in the 4th and 5th century. Chr.. Some of the hill settlements in central Germany from this period are not necessarily associated with the Alemanni, but may have been used by other tribes such as the Burgundians. Most of these settlements are located on the edge of the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb , some of them were already used in prehistoric times.
Settlement of most of the hilltop settlements in the Alps ended in the 5th century. Only a few reach the beginning of the 6th century. The reasons for the abandonment of such settlements are mostly not known to us, but quite a few are likely to have perished in the course of the wars with the Franks (end of the 5th / beginning of the 6th century). It was only in the 7th century that some of these places were apparently repopulated. The castle on the Odilienberg, which was mighty around 700 AD, also fell into this period .
Originally, these centers of the recently immigrated Germanic troops emerged in the third century under the leaders who contemporary historians call reges or regales , probably as retreats after raids into the neighboring country still under Roman control. These troops gradually established themselves in the abandoned Dekumatenland and increasingly settled in the now domination-free area. The previously changing tribal units gave up mobile life in the following years and centers of rulership developed after the territorial borders had been fought against each other. However, the Alemannic rulers remained on neutral territory, in front of the Rhine-Danube Limes, unlike the Frankish rulers in Gaul . There were a number of independent army kings , for example Emperor Probus negotiated with nine "kings", in 357 the later Emperor Julian defeated an Alemannic army of seven reges , ten regales and numerous optimates at Argentoratum .
Today about 60 such settlements are known, which arose in the course of the Alemannic settlement of the areas cleared by the Romans at the end of the 3rd century as a result of the imperial crisis. However, so far only a few systematic archaeological investigations have been carried out. The Runde Berg near Bad Urach and the Zähringer Burgberg are relatively well documented . In part, extensive finds were made during the investigations, including several pieces of Roman origin, which is in contrast to the finds from the rural areas.
In addition to the already mentioned Round Mountain and the Zähringer Burgberg, the hill settlements that are archaeologically best protected from the migration period in south-west Germany include the Gelb Bürg , the Houbirg , the Reisberg near Scheßlitz , the Wettenburg , the Glauberg , the Dünsberg as well as the Kügeleskopf and the Geißkopf at the exit of the Kinzig valley . Individual finds at numerous other heights also suggest similar stations from the 4th and 5th centuries.
There is no consensus in science about the function of these hill settlements. In part, the controversial thesis is represented that these hilltop settlements were representative rulers of Alemannic princes or petty kings; some of the names of these rulers are known from late antique sources (e.g. by mentioning them in Ammianus Marcellinus ). For the Round Mountain, for example, the term manorial seat might probably apply, but at least in the hilltop settlements where only minor finds have been made, one can rather assume “ refuges ”. The separation into manorial seats and civil settlements is also problematic. In the written ancient sources, no permanent hill settlements are mentioned among the Alamanni, which is why only archaeological findings can provide information about the character of such settlements. It was therefore suggested, for example, to speak more neutrally of “high altitude stations” in order to do justice to the variety of possible interpretations.
More Germanic hill settlements
Also far outside the area populated by Alamannen there were such high-altitude settlements during the migration period, for example on Oberleiserberg in Lower Austria. Similar structures can also be found in the northern and western Carpathian regions ( Banská Bystrica , Devín Castle ). Some such systems have also been found in Thuringia.
Late Roman and Eastern Gothic hill settlements
Numerous hill settlements from late antiquity and the migration period are also known from the Roman areas. They were apparently built to protect the Romanized population from Germanic attacks. Such stations are known, for example, from the Alpine region, the Balkans or the areas around the Ardennes and Eifel. One of the stronger such facilities is a fortress with a double moat and 3 m thick walls, which was built on the Breisacher Münsterberg in the first half of the 4th century . The late Roman height fortification Katzenberg in the Moselle area has been partially reconstructed . From the area of the Alpine Rhine , for example, Castel-Carschlingg and Tiefencastel have been identified as hilltop settlements from the migration period. In addition to the valley settlement, the main towns of Chur and Bregenz also had a striking height as an area that was easy to defend. Other high-altitude settlements in the Alpine region from the migration period were Teurnia , the Hemmaberg , the Ulrichsberg , the Salzburg Festungsberg , the Duel , Altenburg and Perdonig . These facilities were partially used by the Goths and Lombards after the end of the Western Roman Empire. Garda and Monte Barro in particular fall into this later period. After the migration period, some of these facilities remain in use. In the Eastern Roman Empire they are called castrons . One of the most famous of these hill settlements is Iustiniana Prima in today's Serbia. The fortress of Belgrade also goes back to an ancient castron ( Singidunum ).
See also
literature
- Michaela Geiberger (Ed.): Imperium Romanum. Romans, Christians, Alemanni. Late antiquity on the Upper Rhine . Badisches Landesmuseum et al., Karlsruhe 2005, ISBN 3-937345-08-6 (exhibition catalog, large state exhibition Baden-Württemberg in the Badisches Landesmuseum Schloss, Karlsruhe, October 22, 2005– February 26, 2006; with several articles and numerous illustrations on the subject).
- Michael Hoeper: The hill settlements of the Alemanni and their possible interpretations between the princely seat, military camp, retreat and cult area . In: Dieter Geuenich (Hrsg.): The Franks and the Alemanni up to the "Battle of Zülpich" (496/97) . de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1998, ISBN 3-11-015826-4 , ( Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde supplementary volumes 19), pp. 325–348 (with a brief discussion of the various possible interpretations and a list of the sites known to date).
- Heiko Steuer , Volker Bierbrauer (ed.): Hill settlements between antiquity and the Middle Ages from the Ardennes to the Adriatic. With the assistance of Michael Hoeper. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020235-9 ( Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde supplementary volumes 58).
- Claudia Theune : Teutons and Romans in the Alamannia. Structural changes due to the archaeological sources from the 3rd to the 7th century . de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2004, ISBN 3-11-017866-4 ( Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde supplementary volumes 45; also: Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., Habil, 2000).
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Historia Augusta , Prob. 15.2-15.6. In: C. Dirlmeier / G. Gottlieb (ed.), Sources on the history of the Alamanni from Libanios to Gregor von Tous, Heidelberger Akd. Knowledge Come on. Alemannic Altkde. Schr. 3 (Heidelberg, Sigmaringen 1978), p. 42f.
- ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum gestarum libri XVI, 12, 24ff. In: C. Dirlmeier / G. Gottlieb (Ed.), Sources on the history of the Alamannen I (Sigmaringen 1976) 49 ff