Amelungsburg (Süntel)

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Amelungsburg
Amelungsberg with the Amelungsburg

Amelungsberg with the Amelungsburg

Creation time : 300-100 BC Chr.
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Earth walls, earthworks
Standing position : no assignment
Construction: Wooden post wall framed with earthwork
Place: Amelungsberg ground monument
Geographical location 52 ° 12 '3 "  N , 9 ° 16' 11"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 12 '3 "  N , 9 ° 16' 11"  E
Height: 325  m above sea level NHN
Amelungsburg (Lower Saxony)
Amelungsburg

The Amelungsburg is an earlier Wallenburg referring to the Amelung Mountain in the ridge Süntel in the German state of Lower Saxony is located. The area of ​​the Wallburg belongs to the municipality of Hessisch Oldendorf in the Hameln-Pyrmont district . It lies entirely in the Hohenstein nature reserve .

description

The 15-hectare high- altitude castle is at 325  m on the 900-meter-long and 300-meter-wide plateau of the Amelungsberg, which slopes steeply on all sides. The fortifications consisted of a wall on two sides of the site with a length of around 1000 meters. Today it is about 1.5 meters high and up to 4 meters wide. Only slight traces of ramparts have survived on the other two sides. Remnants of an earlier gateway were found on the southeast side of the plateau almost 70 meters west of today's opening.

Underneath the system there is an approximately 300 meter long wall with a ditch, which also has a passage. The wall is around 7 meters wide and up to 2 meters high. The upstream trench is around 4 meters wide and one meter deep.

Excavations

In 1954 and 1955, as well as in 2005, excavations took place on the site. It was found that there was a dry stone wall about 3 meters wide and up to 2.5 meters high in the wall. Animal bones found, which were regarded as waste from the labor force, could be traced back to around 400 BC using the C14 method . To date. About 300 finds, including tools, iron wagon parts and wheel tires, can be assigned to the Latène period . The wall could be dated to the 8th century. Finds from the Saxon time were two fibulae , riding spurs , an ax, a knife and a lance tip. Anvils, hammers and bronze scrap indicate the presence of metalworkers.

history

The fortification was built on the basis of the excavation results in the pre-Roman Iron Age , with the archaeologists assuming a construction time of up to 6 weeks.

A further expansion of the facility in a second phase of use during the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne is to be assumed. In 782, under the leadership of the Saxon Duke Widukind, a Frankish army was defeated in the Süntel , which led to the blood judgment in Verden . The Amelungsburg is out of the question as a battlefield because of the few weapons found, but it could have been included in the overall strategy of the Saxons.

Traces of a possible attack

Around 2005, the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments carried out extensive prospecting on the Amelungsburg site. The finds from the Latène period that were recovered in the process were concentrated in one area. The large number of objects found initially spoke in favor of a settlement of the fortification, for which no archaeological evidence could be found.

The archaeologist Erhard Cosack developed a theory that the fortification, like the Barenburg in the Osterwald, was attacked by Celts during the younger Iron Age . This arises from finds that were buried in deliberately created depots on the site. They contain inventories of metal and woodworkers as well as metal objects such as sickles, hatchets and knives belonging to a rural population. The hiding evidence suggests that the population had withdrawn to the fortification and that they had enough time to bury their valuables before an attack. The archaeologist Erhard Cosack assumes that the population was abducted and could no longer recover their property as a result. A hoard found in the oppidum of Manching provided evidence of Celts as attackers . It contained parts of belts and fibulae, the shape and peculiarities of which correspond to finds from the Barenburg and Amelungsburg in the absence of comparable pieces in southern Germany.

  • Sketch of the location by Carl Schuchhardt around 1900

  • Key in the lower area

  • Wall of the Amelungsburg, steep slope sloping to the right

  • Whale corner

literature

Web links

  • Entry by Stefan Eismann about Amelungsburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deported as slaves by the Celts? in Dewezet on May 9, 2010