Boardwalk in Emsland
Prehistoric plank paths in the Emsland can be found in the raised bogs on both sides of the Ems . To the left of the Ems, the Bourtanger Moor , interrupted by narrow, stretched sand ridges, extends far into the Netherlands and ends at the Hondsrug , a ridge up to 32 meters high in the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe . The moor once measured about 70 kilometers from north to south, with a width of up to 15 kilometers. At this stretch it was difficult to get around.
General
People crossed bog areas where their width and effort were small. "Moor passes" were already used in the Stone Age . In dry summers you could cross the moor. In more severe winters, the icy surface even carried cattle or vehicles ("winter train"). On the other hand, wetness made the crossing impossible. Wooden moor paths could, however, be used permanently. Since the 4th millennium BC Chr. Are prehistoric trackways known that about 30 years have been used before moving overgrown and were embedded in the newly formed peat. Wide and footbridge-like paths were repaired and structurally secured. In northern Germany , moor roads were built and used until the 19th century ( holten straten - wooden roads).
Emsland
The from the 4th millennium BC Routes laid in BC are the oldest traffic connections ever found . They have been preserved because the large raised bogs embedded them in peat and preserved them. But not all buildings have become known. It is noticeable that the sites between the towns of Emmen and Valthe on the Hondsrug and Bourtange, Rütenbrock and Ter Apel , on the Westerwold sand ridge are piling up. However, there are no known prehistoric dwellings or settlements.
Registration
The paths were indicated by a Roman number when they were taken. This count starts with I in the Netherlands and LI in Germany. The abbreviation (Bou) (for Bourtanger Moor) is added to them to identify the area of discovery. To the right of the Ems there is an area of discovery that is marked by (Cl) (for Cloppenburg ). There the line of the plank paths recognized between Valthe and Rütenbrock continues in the Tinner box between Sprakel and Tinnen towards Sögel . The Bohlenweg I (Cl) bridges a clearly recognizable moor pass in the northern part of the Tinner Dose .
The boardwalk I (Bou)
Farmers reported to the Dutch engineer Karsten in 1818 that they had stumbled upon wooden paths in the moor west of Ter Apel. He had the sites shown and a pit excavated. He thought the flat planks were worth examining. At the end of the particularly dry summer, he was able to trace the course of the moor path and examine its construction in 20 pits. It turned out that the more than 12 kilometers long Valther Brug crossed the moor in a flat arc between Valthe and Ter Haar.
More recent studies, particularly by Albert van Giffen (1884–1973), have shown that the Valther Brug in the Iron Age around 400 BC. Was built. In Bourtanger Moor several were bog bodies found, including that known as "Red Franz" man of New verses that bog body of Kibbelgaarn and weerdinge men near the Moor Temple of Barger-Oosterveld.
The boardwalk LI (Bou)
Karsten suspected that there must have been more ways because on the other side, between the Westerwold sand ridge and the sand ridge on the Ems, there must be more. In 1819 the discovery of a new moor path became known. It starts with Dankern and goes past Rütenbrock to Ter Haar. The path connected Ter Haar with the protruding firm sand ground west of Dankern in a slightly curved line. It was four, in some places eight to ten feet below the moor. According to one von Alten (from Oldenburg), when the settlement of the Rütenbrocker Moor, which began in 1788, the pile bridges were found in the Drenthe before they were discovered. At that time such finds went unnoticed.
The path consisted of split planks of different types of wood 2.5 meters long and different widths. They lay on logs. A plank that came into the Hanover Museum in 1864 was 1.49 meters long and punched at both ends. It may have been located as a clip lengthways on the edge of the web. Other planks that still exist in Hanover seem to have been the remains of vertical posts. Their lower ends were pointed. They probably carried a device with which the plank railway was combined.
The Bohlenweg I (Cl) in the Tinner tin
East-facing boardwalks were also found east of the Ems. One crosses the moor between Tinnen and Sprakel at its narrowest point, where tongues of solid ground protrude into the "can". The discovery and exploration began in 1860. The Jeverland News reported that a 2/3 mile long bridge of oak planks had been found between Tinnen and Sprakel, about three feet below the surface of the bog. At that time, a deep pit was dug in the middle of the Tinner can to obtain fuel for the railroad. The workers found parts of a boardwalk in the pit. It was about three feet below the surface so that the fire did not reach it when buckwheat was being burned . They found oak planks 2.5 meters long that had not been cut with a saw and lay in a level layer. The planks lay next to each other, unsecured, mostly on several lower longitudinal timbers. No stakes were observed. In 1879 Frye sent some planks to the Welfen Museum in Hanover. From its low location, he concluded that the bridge was very old, and in his opinion: “It was only used to transport wagons, horses or heavy loads, since such a difficult facility does not appear to be made for pedestrians”. However, the findings do not confirm this view. Scientific research using modern archaeological methods began in 1958. The lower level of the path had decreased by around 30 centimeters. This seems to go back to the buckwheat brandy, but it will also be the result of the drying of the bog. The course of the route was determined and marked with a probe. Its eastern end is in front of the Sprakeler dune. The path leads in an approximately straight line to a low sand dome that protrudes from the moor. This is followed by another short section to the foot of the Hengstberg.
Two sections were examined in front of the Sprakeler dune. The first excavation area was only about 100 meters from the eastern end of the boardwalk. The top layer consisted of rectangular oak planks. The top was strikingly flat. All ends showed smooth cuts from sharp tools. The underside showed unsmoothed cracks. The wood had been laid extremely carefully, but without a substructure. There was a ditch along the south side of the path. A second excavation was carried out further up the moor. Here, too, the path consisted of oak planks. The planks still lay next to each other like a floorboard. Under the planks, the peat was ten centimeters thick and severely decomposed and mixed with sand. This seems to be the mass removed from the trenches, which could have served as a road dam. It evidently met the requirements for a certain time and was strongly decomposed, mixed and enriched with sand. It is located directly under the planks that were used to secure the roadway. After all, the piled earth was so stable that a substructure made of longitudinal timbers is missing. This trail was re-examined in 1964, in five places. Proof of the boardwalk in its western end, between the foot of the Hengstberg and the looming sand dome, on which it was continued as a sand path, was found.
See also
literature
- Hajo Hayen : The Bohlenweg I (Cl) in the can between Sprackel and Tinnen . In: The customer. NF 16 1965.
- Hajo Hayen: Plank paths - bridges over the moors . In: Emsländischer Heimatbund (Hrsg.): From spearheads and stone graves. Prehistory and early history in the Emsland. 1982, ISBN 3-88077-104-X .