Old Gleisberg

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Old Gleisberg
View of the old Gleisberg with Löberschütz

View of the old Gleisberg with Löberschütz

height 338.2  m above sea level NHN
location Thuringia ( Germany )
Mountains Jena plaice
Dominance 1.6 km →  horseshoe
Coordinates 50 ° 57 '23 "  N , 11 ° 42' 7"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 57 '23 "  N , 11 ° 42' 7"  E
Old Gleisberg (Thuringia)
Old Gleisberg
particularities important prehistoric and early historical hilltop settlement

The 338.2  m above sea level. NHN high Alte Gleisberg is located in the municipality of Löberschütz in the Saale-Holzland district ( Thuringia , Germany ) and just under 10 km as the crow flies northeast of Jena . It is located between three villages: south of Löberschütz, west of Graitschen b. Bürgel and northeast of Jenalöbnitz .

Natural allocation

View from the Alte Gleisberg in a north-westerly direction to Porstendorf in the Saale valley
Altes Gleisberg plateau: Northern former settlement area

The Alte Gleisberg is located in the eponymous Gleistal , a side valley of the Saale . From the mountain in a north-westerly direction, there is a view of the Saale valley - a strategically important factor for the early settlement. The mountain is formed by sedimentary rocks of the Upper Buntsandstein and the Lower Muschelkalk. Today's morphology of the Old Gleisberg, which can be called the Inselberg , emerged at the same time as the Saale cut into the Triassic layer sequence . The plateau has a size of about 500 × 250 m with an irregular triangular ground plan of about 6.9 hectares in total. Loess deposits on the slopes and in the surrounding meadows and fields, which were formed during the ice ages in the Quaternary , are the basis for fertile soils and thus for agriculture in the past and present. On September 13, 2000, the old track mountain with an area of ​​116.60 hectares was declared a nature reserve. The biodiversity is particularly high here on the dry and limestone grasslands . Various types of orchids and other protected plants grow here . The Alte Gleisberg was part of the major nature conservation project "Orchid region Jena - Shell limestone slopes in the Middle Saale Valley" (1996–2008).

Prehistoric settlement

A prehistoric hill settlement existed on the old Gleisberg . The oldest finds belong to the younger Stone Age. The old Gleisberg was in the Late Bronze Age and especially in the 1st millennium BC. BC, especially at the transition from the Hallstatt to the Latène period in the 6th / 5th centuries. Century BC Chr., A central settlement in Thuringia and Central Germany. Due to its location on a north-south as well as on an east-west traffic axis, the old Gleisberg is in one of the most interesting cultural areas in Central Germany. The region was already settled in the Neolithic (5,500 to 2,200 BC), connected with the settling down of people, the building of houses, settlements, agriculture and livestock. Two Etruscan finds on the Old Gleisberg, a Bucchero fragment and a skewer, prove the existence of a social elite on the Old Gleisberg with long-distance trade as far as central Italy in the 1st millennium BC. The mountain was called "Thuringian Troy " by Gotthard Neumann , who was Professor of Prehistory in Jena until 1968 .

Fortified prehistoric hill settlements, which were often used at the same time as the Alte Gleisberg, are also known in the vicinity from Jenzig , Johannisberg near Jena-Lobeda and Dohlenstein near Kahla .

Find situation

The first archaeological excavations were carried out on the mountain by Friedrich Klopfleisch as early as 1864–1881 . His successors at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena Gustav Eichhorn and Gotthard Neumann and other employees of the Germanic Museum of the University of Jena and pastor Hermann Brehmer (1837-1912) from Graitschen continued the work. The finds recovered in the process formed the basis for the diploma thesis presented by Klaus Simon in 1962 on the settlement history of the Old Gleisberg. The excavations yielded material from the Neolithic to the early Middle Ages , with an emphasis on the late Bronze Age and the pre-Roman Iron Age . In addition to numerous ceramic shards, charcoal remains and at least one fortified water source, there are also handicrafts from these two periods, which is why prehistoric settlement is obvious. One of the most important finds in terms of cultural history is the Bucchero fragment found in 1938 , the shard of an Etruscan vessel with the motif of a large winged cat, which dates back to the 2nd half or the end of the 6th century BC. Is dated. Such vessels were made from the middle of the 6th to the middle of the 5th century BC. In central Italy.

Between 2004 and 2016, teaching and research excavations were carried out at the Friedrich Schiller University with geophysical prospecting and small special excavations in order to clarify the conservation conditions on the mountain. These and other planned archaeological investigations should clarify questions about the fortification, interior development, chronology and structure of the complex. In addition, investigations in the surrounding area should help to research the use of the landscape. These investigations brought the knowledge that not only the plateau and the southern, but also the northern slope terrace were extensively used and settled in prehistoric times. The settlement area can thus be estimated at around 7 ha. The excavations produced a large number of post holes and settlement pits . From these pits and from the colluvium layer , ceramic and animal bones as well as smelter clay fragments and metal objects come. The settlement finds also include a furnace with a bricked clay barn and stepped clay discoloration. Various finds indicate craft activities such as metalworking, wool production and processing.

Local History Association

The local history association "Alter Gleisberg eV" operates a museum in Löberschütz . Parallel to the research excavations that have been taking place annually at the Friedrich Schiller University since 2005, the local history association organizes a one-week archeology camp for children and young people. In spring, the association invites you to go on peony and herb hikes.

literature

  • Klaus Simon: The prehistoric and early historical settlement of the old Gleisberg near Bürgel, Kr. Eisenberg . Diploma thesis 1962.
  • Klaus Simon: A Bucchero fragment from the old Gleisberg near Bürgel (Thuringia). In: Work and research reports on the Saxon soil monument preservation 41, 1999, ISSN  0402-7817 , pp. 61-96.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
  2. Angela Meier and Robert Schöner: Geology of the Old Gleisberg . In: Peter Ettel (Ed.): Alter Gleisberg. A hillside settlement from the Bronze and Iron Ages near Jena (=  Jenaer Schriften zur Pre- und Frühgeschichte . No. 7 ). tape 1 . Beier & Beran. Archaeological specialist literature, Jena and Lengenweissbach 2017, ISBN 978-3-95741-078-8 , pp. 210-212 .
  3. a b c Peter Ettel: The old Gleisberg and the late bronze, older iron age castles on the middle Saale . In: Peter Ettel (Ed.): Alter Gleisberg. A hillside settlement from the Bronze and Iron Ages near Jena (=  Jenaer Schriften zur Pre- und Frühgeschichte . No. 7 ). tape 1 . Beier & Beran. Archaeological specialist literature, Jena and Lengenweissbach 2017, ISBN 978-3-95741-078-8 , pp. 164-176 .
  4. a b Local history association "Alter Gleisberg eV"
  5. Klaus Simon: The prehistoric and early historical settlement of the old Gleisberg, Kr. Eisenberg . In: Peter Ettel (Ed.): Alter Gleisberg. A hillside settlement from the Bronze and Iron Ages near Jena (=  Jenaer Schriften zur Pre- und Frühgeschichte . No. 7 ). tape 1 . Beier & Beran. Archaeological specialist literature, Jena and Lengenweissbach 2017, ISBN 978-3-95741-078-8 , pp. 11-138 .