Archaeological Spessart Project

Archaeological Spessart Project e. V. (ASP)
purpose	Research, development and publication of the Spessart cultural landscape in all its aspects
Chair:	Gerhard Ermischer
Establishment date:	1998
Number of employees:	four permanent employees
Seat :	Aschaffenburg
Website:	http://www.spessartprojekt.de/

Example of an information board of a created cultural trail around the moated castle Oberaulenbach through the work of the Archaeological Spessart project and its many helpers

Example of an excavation and reconstruction by the ASP at the old castle of Kleinwallstadt

The Archaeological Spessart Project e. V. (ASP), headquartered in Aschaffenburg is a membership organization with charitable status . At the same time, the ASP has been an institute of the University of Würzburg since 2010. As a non-governmental organization (NGO), the ASP is also involved in the implementation of the European Landscape Convention of the Council of Europe .

purpose

The ASP deals with the cultural landscape of the Spessart in all its aspects: history, language , culture , archeology, folklore, landscape development, natural conditions such as geography , topography , geology or biology . The Spessart is a region of about 2400 square kilometers on the border of two German federal states, Bavaria and Hesse .

The determined data are brought together in a geographic information system (GIS).

The ASP works closely with various universities and research institutes in a large number of scientific projects:

• with the University of Würzburg , institutes for history, geography and prehistory and early history in the areas of regional studies, settlement history, prehistory and Quaternary geology
• with the University of Mainz , Institute for Pre- and Protohistory and Institute for Historical Regional Studies, in the areas of regional studies and prehistory (especially the Iron Age )
• with the Hessian State Office for Historical Regional Studies in Marburg
• with the University of Giessen , Institute for Prehistory and Early History, in the field of medieval archeology;
• with the Free University of Bolzano , Faculty of Science and Technology;
• with the University of Southampton (UK), Institute of Engineering, on hydraulic engineering in the Spessart (especially for mills and irrigation systems)
• with the University of South Bohemia (CZ), Institute of Archaeometry , in the field of paleozoology .

In addition to scientific work, the ASP focuses on conveying the cultural landscape of the Spessart. The heart of the mediation work are the cultural trails, which are created together with local communities and associations. The inauguration is usually connected with an inspection and explanation of the content and the historical and cultural background of the cultural path.

history

The project arose in 1995 after the Spessart Congress in Bad Orb and was co- initiated by the districts of Aschaffenburg , Miltenberg , Main-Spessart , Main-Kinzig and the city of Aschaffenburg . The ASP is largely funded by the Lower Franconia district. The association itself was founded in 1998. Gerhard Ermischer is chairman. Permanent employees - historians, art historians, archaeologists and geographers - are employed. Since 1999 the historian and archaeologist Gerrit Himmelsbach has been the project manager, who is also the 1st main chairman of the Spessartbund , to which the ASP belongs as a local group. The project is based in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner House in Aschaffenburg. The ASP was involved in the EU project European Cultural Paths and launched the follow-up project Pathways to Cultural Landscapes. The chairman of the ASP is an advisory member of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The association is primarily financed through funds from the region, the federal states, the federal government and the EU.

activities

Cultural routes

The project endeavors to convey the cultural landscape to residents and tourists by setting up cultural trails .

By 2015, 93 cultural trails had been created. The paths have a length of 4 to 25 km, are provided with display boards and markings and are described in detailed leaflets. Each path is dedicated to a specific topic, with the landscape illuminated from historical, geological, cultural and ecological points of view. To maintain the trails, the ASP has entered into a close partnership with regional and local hiking clubs and local history associations. The lion's share of this work is done by volunteers, for whom regular meetings are organized. Currently over 500 volunteers work with the ASP every year, over the past few years around 3000 volunteers have participated in a wide variety of projects, including archaeological excavations , prospecting , research and art projects.

Archaeological and historical work

Reconstructed foundation walls of the Elisabethenzell monastery based on the excavations of the ASP.

Obverse of the coin penny, assigned to the Archbishop of Mainz Adalbert I of Saarbrücken from the first half of the 12th century, found at the Kugelburg 2018

More than 20 castles, palaces and fortified churches in the south-western Mainviereck are to be examined with the help of the European Union , some of them restored and made more accessible to tourists again. The excavations and further work have been reported in several symposia since 2004 and scientific exchange has taken place. The series of conferences known as the Castle Symposium has been held annually since 2008 , with the focus being on the results of the excavations carried out and related topics. Most of the conferences are held in the locations of the main annual excavations. The following projects have been and are being researched, sometimes in excavation phases lasting several years, which are usually associated with an excavation festival at which the goals, historical background and results of the excavation are presented:

• Gotthardsberg between Amorbach and Weilbach - once the location of Frankenberg Castle , today the Gotthard ruin monastery
• Archaeological investigations accompanying construction during the start of the restoration of the former hunting lodge of the Archbishops of Mainz in Wiesen
• at the Palas of Wildenstein Castle near Eschau
• Excavations at the Ketzelburg castle stable near Haibach and the creation of a cultural trail
• Excavations at the castle stable of the former moated mole south of Heimbuchenthal
• Excavations at the Burgstall Gräfenberg (the presumed castle state honor) in Hösbach - Rottenberg on the Graefenberg
• Investigations on the Burgstall Klosterberg (the presumed Waldenberg Castle), counter- castle of the Landesehre Castle on the opposite Klosterberg
• Uncovering the entire castle stable of the old castle (formerly called Waleburg ) east of Kleinwallstadt near the Main ; Securing and restoring the remains of the castle
• Investigations of the Altenburg , a ring wall between the villages of Soden and Ebersbach , which was used again and again from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages
• Repeated excavations at Bartenstein Castle near Partenstein from 2003 to 2016
• Several years of excavations at the Elisabethenzell monastery , also called "Einsiedel" monastery
• Excavations on the former tithe barn of the former castle in Rothenbuch , later a forester's house
• Investigations at the Ringwall Wirtheim
• Comprehensive editing of the Frammersbach book of six as an important historical source by Rainer Leng
• 2016 and 2018 excavations at the dialed Castle choice Mich (the so-called Wyler castle in Waldaschaff ) and proof that there is no Turmhügelburg but a fully equipped height and Spur castle was
• Extensive excavation of Hauenstein Castle between Krombach and Mömbris with thousands of finds that are also of national importance
• Ergrabung of Burgstall Kugelsburg and detection of early emergence in the 12th century (2018)

Awards

• For the redevelopment of the "Kurfürstenweg" the project received the tourism award 2006 of the Kreissparkasse Miesbach-Tegernsee,
• In 2008 the "Carl Gottfried Scharold Prize" followed
• The city of Aschaffenburg awarded the ASP the AGENDA 21 prize in 2011
• The Society for Archeology in Bavaria awarded the ASP the Bavarian Archeology Prize in 2012;
• In 2014 the project in Aachen received the “Silver Hemisphere”, the German Prize for Monument Protection “for its holistic, technically outstanding and over 16 years voluntary work to raise awareness and identify the Spessart region as a historical cultural landscape”.
• The Hessian Archive Prize also followed in 2014 along with two other winners

Publications (selection)

• Gerrit Himmelsbach, Gerhard Ermischer: European cultural trails in the Spessart, hiking trails 1-15. CoCon-Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-937774-23-7 , 175 pages.
• (Ed.) Tourismusverband Spessart-Mainland, Archaeological Spessart project: Spessart-Main-Odenwald, hiking on European cultural trails. Aschaffenburg 2007, 109 pages
• Gerhard Ermischer, Rüdiger Kelm, Dirk Meier, Harald Rosmanitz: Paths into European cultural landscapes. Verlag Albersdorf, 2003, ISBN 3-8042-1143-7 , 114 pages.
• (Eds.) Helmut Flachenecker , Gerrit Himmelsbach, Peter Steppuhn : Glassworks landscape Europe. Schnell & Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-937774-23-7 , 212 pages.
• Catrin Ackermann, Harald Rosmanitz: The Ketzelburg in Haibach. Volume 6 of publications of the Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Haibach-Grünmorsbach-Dörrmorsbach eV 2006, ISBN 3-87707-676-9 , 221 pages
• Harald Rosmanitz, Christine Reichert: The "Old Castle" near Kleinwallstadt am Untermain. In: Georg Ulrich Großmann (Ed.): The castle at the time of the Renaissance. Research on castles and palaces. (= Research on castles and palaces. Volume 13). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin / Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-422-07023-3 , pp. 213-225.
• Harald Rosmanitz: The Niederungsburg "Mole" near Heimbuchenthal in the Spessart. In: Georg Ulrich Großmann (Ed.): The castle at the time of the Renaissance. Research on castles and palaces. (= Research on castles and palaces. Volume 13). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin / Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-422-07023-3 , pp. 227–228.

Web links

• Website of the project
• Website of the EU pilot project "Pathways to Cultural Landscapes" on The Spessart Cultural Landscape

Individual evidence

1. ^ Institute at the University of Würzburg
2. ^ Local groups in Aschaffenburg of the Spessart Association
3. ↑ Overview of the cultural routes
4. ↑ compare the castles and palaces in the Hessian Spessart and in Lower Franconia
5. ^ Castle symposia of the ASP
6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Report on the excavations on the Graefenberg ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Excavations at Bartenstein Castle ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Excavations at Einsiedel Abbey ( memento of the original from October 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Book of Six ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Castle Symposium 2016: Cliché or Reality? Castle reconstruction between excavation findings and castle romance , November 2016, Waldaschaff
12. ^ The Wahlmich Castle near Waldaschaff - a weir system next to the motorway
13. ↑ Award of the Tegernsee Tourism Prize 2006 to the Archaeological Spessart Project
14. ↑ Carl Gottfried Scharold Prize
15. ^ Announcement by Bayerischer Rundfunk about the German Prize for Monument Protection ( Memento from November 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
16. ^ Archive Prize of the State of Hesse - Honorary Prize 2014
17. ↑ The ASP has already published a large number of papers. A selection is referenced here: http://www.spessartprojekt.de/spessartprojekt/publikationen/index.php . Further publications have emerged in the individual studies from 2004 to the present day.