Antiquities Commission for Westphalia

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The Antiquities Commission for Westphalia is an independent scientific body supported by the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL). Alongside the Literature Commission for Westphalia , the Historical Commission for Westphalia , the Geographical Commission for Westphalia , the Commission for Dialect and Name Research in Westphalia and the Commission for Everyday Culture Research for Westphalia, it is one of six scientific commissions for regional studies of the LWL.

history

The Antiquities Commission was founded in Münster on December 30, 1897 . The association for the history and antiquity of Westphalia gave the impetus for its establishment . Its aim was "to stimulate research on the silent witnesses of the past more systematically, to promote it more consistently". A year earlier, the Historical Commission for Westphalia had also been formed from the ranks of the Antiquities Association . The Antiquities Commission dealt with the Roman influences in Westphalia from the start. Fortification research was established almost at the same time. For this purpose, a sub-commission (Atlas Commission) was set up, which commissioned measurements of these systems and aimed for a complete list of early fortifications in Westphalia.

After the end of the First World War, the Atlas Commission was dissolved and replaced by a simple working committee. Major Roman research projects that had already started (e.g. the excavations in the Roman military camps of Haltern) could not be continued under pre-war conditions.

In the following period, the antiquities commission was initially relieved by the introduction of an official archaeological monument preservation (1922) and the later independent State Museum for Prehistory and Early History in Münster (1934). In fact, the boundaries were fluid, as August Stieren, who was also an honorary professor and later full professor at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster, managed all three institutions in personal union. The antiquity commission remained largely unaffected in its function and orientation despite various "purges" and the attempted infiltration by the "Ahnenerbe", as Stieren always tried to keep the National Socialist ideology away from his research.

After the end of the war, Stieren dissolved the commission at the first general meeting of the Antiquities Commission on April 17, 1947, in order to reconstitute it with existing members from the period before 1933 in accordance with the statutes of 1929 (in the amended form of July 26, 1930) . With bulls themselves, only eight of the former 31 members remained through the war years.

The antiquity commission resumed research on castles (focus on wall castles) and carried out excavations on several sites. The results have been published since 1983 in the series “Early Castles in Westphalia”. Further research areas were added over time.

Research priorities

Roman exploration

Until the establishment of an official specialist department for provincial Roman archeology in 1982, the focus of the antiquity commission was, in addition to castle research, on the investigation of the Roman remains at the time of the campaigns under Emperor Augustus in the area on the right bank of the Rhine. Due to its long-term excavations of the Roman camps in Haltern from 1899 to 1914, the commission played a key role in the development and refinement of modern excavation methods.

Early castles

Castle research has been one of its most important fields of activity since the beginning of the Antiquities Commission. Fortified systems on the heights of the low mountain ranges and in the lowlands of the Münsterland have existed in Westphalia since the Bronze Age, the focus being on the Iron Age and the early Middle Ages. High medieval castles, insofar as there are archaeological information about them, are also the focus of research. The Antiquities Commission keeps the results of the original Atlas Commission and subsequent investigations in its archive, including reports on excavations and survey plans . New measurements and modern prospecting methods continuously supplement the Commission's research.

Landwehr

As early as Otto Weerth (1849–1930), 1916–1923 member of the Antiquities Commission, land defense forces in Westphalia came into the focus of archaeological research as forms of fortification. His son Karl Weerth (1881–1960), in turn a member of the Historical Commission for Westphalia, continued these investigations and in 1938, for the first time and to this day, put together all of the Westphalian land defense services. As part of a colloquium in Münster in 2012, the Antiquities Commission dealt with the subject of military forces under archaeological, historical, geographical and naming aspects. In the following, the individual military forces in Westphalia are researched in order to successively publish them in the 2014 series “Landwehren in Westphalia”.

Path research

The path research of the antiquity commission was introduced in 2000 through a scientific colloquium. The investigation of old routes is closely linked to research on castles and Romanes, as routes were a prerequisite for communication and supply. In addition to the findings from archival studies, there are still many visible fragments in the area that can be completed to form routes and classified in time. Since 2002 the commission has been investigating Westphalian long-distance trade routes, which were also used by medieval pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. These routes of the St. James pilgrims are made accessible to the general public through signposting and the publication of hiking guides.

Early medieval finds on CT

Computed tomography enables the three-dimensional x-ray of found objects and thus offers a non-destructive examination method. The Antiquities Commission promotes the preparation of computer tomographic scans and their evaluation. In a project lasting several years, swords from early medieval graves were examined in this way from 2012 to 2014. The first results show a highly specialized blacksmithing.

Megalithic

In Westphalia, two cultures that differ greatly in terms of burial and additive customs, but collectively burial, meet in a small space, the funnel cup culture and the Wartberg culture. The latest research project of the Antiquities Commission has set itself the task of scientifically recapturing this unique group of monuments in Westphalia, the late Neolithic large stone or megalithic graves, as the oldest surviving building evidence.

Publications

Own ranks

  • Announcements from the Antiquities Commission (MAK)
  • Publications of the Antiquities Commission (VAK)
  • Early castles in Westphalia
  • Roman camp in Westphalia
  • Landwehr in Westphalia
  • Megalithic tombs in Westphalia
  • Mining archeology in Westphalia
  • Way of the pilgrims in Westphalia

Co-editorships

  • Archeology in Westphalia-Lippe
  • Westphalia in ...

Chairperson

First chairman since the founding of the commission.

literature

  • Bendix Trier: To the history of the antiquity commission for Westphalia. In: Westphalian State Museum for Archeology / Office for Ground Monument Maintenance (ed.), Behind lock and bolt. Castles and fortifications in Westphalia (Bönen 1997) 11-31.
  • Bernhard Safe, Bendix Trier: One Hundred Years of History of the Antiquities Commission for Westphalia from 1896 to 1996. Publications of the Antiquities Commission for Westphalia XVI. Munster (2006)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of chairmen and managing directors (PDF file; 7 kB)

Coordinates: 51 ° 59 ′ 51.5 ″  N , 7 ° 38 ′ 4 ″  E