Alteburg (Zell)
The Alteburg is a former late Roman mountain fortification in the Hunsrück . It is located on a mountain spur in the Altlayer Bachtal between Zell and Altlay .
location
The facility is located above the valley on a mountain spur around which the Altlayer brook flows on two sides and a side brook on the third. On the other side of the valley, another side stream flows, the Peterswalder Bach, also called Walhausener Bach. The bottom of the streams is 170 m above sea level . The altitude of the fortress ranges from about 240 m to its highest point at 246 m. On the mountain side in the southwest it is connected by a saddle to the wooded valley slope reaching up to 400 m. The lowest point of the saddle is 236 m.
The Alteburg lies in the Zell district. The facility is freely accessible via a forest path. The starting point is a small, unpaved parking lot on the western edge of the country road from Zell to Altlay, about 600 m below the confluence of the road from Peterswald .
description
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The triangular area is m at an altitude of about 240 m long from a about 300, now to a large extent collapsed drywall from shale surrounded. This also included worked rock cliffs on the northeast corner reaching the valley. The entire facility covers an area of around 0.33 hectares . The inner area was densely built up, which was made possible by the creation of terraces. At the highest point there are still the remains of a square building, possibly a watchtower . In addition, a cistern could be detected.
Access was from the southwest of the mountain side, over the saddle, then along the western flank to the north-western gate. This was provided with a gate lane by two overlapping wall ends. At its narrowest point, the saddle was around 30 m wide. A total of three trenches with a width of up to six meters and a depth of up to two meters as well as a steep embankment eight meters high protected the saddle from attackers.
Archaeological evidence
Many coins have been found on the Altenburg grounds over the years. Mention should be made of a double sesterce of the Postumus as well as a solidus of Magnentius from the period between 351 and 353 . In addition, several tools, weapons, various equipment and small parts made of iron and bronze , as well as a number of broken glass, were seized. Their chronology suggests that the complex was built in the middle of the 3rd century, at the time of the abandonment of the Upper German Limes . Older fortifications from Celtic times may have been used.
The system was destroyed for the first time in 275 or 276, probably in connection with the Germanic invasions at that time . From around 300 she was visited again. After being destroyed again around 355, the square seems to have only been used sporadically, but around 390 it was finally abandoned.
The finds suggest that the complex was not only used for military purposes, but that to a certain extent arable farming, cattle breeding, handicrafts and metalworking were also practiced, i.e. it was more of a small, fortified settlement. Slag, remnants of iron processing from Roman times, a tunnel near Altlay from Roman times and other remains of settlements in the immediate vicinity of the fortification and in the valley suggest a direct connection between the facility and ore mining and smelting.
literature
- Karl Josef Gilles: The prehistoric and early historical settlement of the city of Zell , in: City of Zell (ed.): 750 years of Zell on the Mosel. Zell / Mosel with the districts of Kaimt and Merl. History of a city. Zell an der Mosel 1972. p. 32 ff.
- Karl Josef Gilles: The history of the city of Zell-Mosel until 1816 , in: Publication series Ortschroniken des Trier Land . Volume 28, 1997. p. 33 ff.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 47 " N , 7 ° 13 ′ 53" E