Abbensen cattle pen

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Slightly elevated path that leads to the cattle pen; water points to the left and right of the filled trench - the Fuhse runs in front of the trees

The Abbensen cattle park is located in the Fuhse valley west of Abbensen in Lower Saxony . When it was discovered in 2007, it was initially mistaken for an abandoned weir system . Only more recent investigations have revealed a modern cattle enclosure in the facility , which existed around the middle of the 16th century.

location

The cattle pen lay on the left bank of the Fuhse in a wet lowland area that the field names Kaunerwiesen carries. The location is south of the state road that connects Abbensen and Oelerse . The road runs like a dam through the Fuhseniederung and is already shown on maps from the 17th century as Heerstraße , where it is called the Abbenser Pass. In the past, the cattle enclosure was apparently only accessible from the south from the direction of the Abbensen manor and could therefore have been used by the manor .

Discovery and archaeological research

About 100 meters south of the road in the direction of the Abbensen manor, the facility was discovered in 2007 through the evaluation of official aerial photographs , in particular photographs from 1984, and initially rated as a castle. The facility is slightly elevated on a former island of the Fuhse altar and had a rounded, trapezoidal floor plan of 45 × 43 meters. It was assumed that the castle its location near a ford got through the Fuhse and on the route between Abbensen and the Vorwerk (part of today Oelerse) was manipulated field.

In 2011, an archaeological investigation of the remains of the soil, which had previously been assessed as a fortification, took place. During an excavation , a surrounding trench with post settlements on the inside was found. A moat with a massive plank fence could be reconstructed from this, which served as an approach obstacle and at the same time for flood protection. The post tips still in the ground were determined dendrochronologically . They can be dated to around 1550. According to findings from the filled-in moat, the complex was likely to have existed for a few decades to a century at most. There was possibly a modest development inside the facility, which indicated that the soil was discolored. The finds, such as the bones of horses and cattle, horseshoes as well as fragments of sickles and animal chains, indicate the agricultural character of the complex. A special find was a wooden or toy sword carved from a branch, which could also have served as a stick for a herdsman.

rating

Agricultural ramparts and fortifications have so far hardly been researched. The excavation represents a rare example of the investigation of protective systems for cattle, which in the past were apparently set up especially in protected areas of river plains. It showed that these structures could have been fortified with wooden structures, ramparts and ditches. This is probably due to the fact that the protection of cattle as an important property of the rural population was of great importance.

literature

Coordinates: 52 ° 22 '54.4 "  N , 10 ° 10' 38.4"  E