Burgus Finningen

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Burgus Finningen
limes Danube-Iller-Rhine-Limes
Dating (occupancy) Valentinian
until the 5th century
Type Burgus
size (Watch tower and residential tower) 12 m × 11.7 m
Construction stone
State of preservation marked by colored paving on the floor
place Finningen
Geographical location 48 ° 22 '56.6 "  N , 10 ° 4' 36.8"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 22 '56.6 "  N , 10 ° 4' 36.8"  E hf
Previous Kellmünz Castle (Caelius mons) (south)
Subsequently Burgus Straß (northeast)
The Burgus according to research by Michael Mackensen in 1985

The Burgus Finningen is a small Roman fortification of the late antique Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes , which was built during the last phase of Roman rule in the form of border fortifications along the Danube . The facility, of which nothing is left above the ground today, is located in the area of Finningen , a district of the district town of Neu-Ulm in the Swabian district of Neu-Ulm , Bavaria .

Location and research history

In place of today's Catholic Church of St. Mammas was the Roman watch tower and residential tower

The late antique Finninger fortification was built like the slightly northeastern Burgus Straß to the south and almost at the same distance behind the small forts Burlafingen and Nersingen , which had already been abandoned around 50 and 80 AD . The border fortifications built during the reign of Emperor Valentinian I (364-375) followed the Tiberian - Claudian predecessor buildings in this area , but further south, inland from the Danube . At Burgus Finningen, the elevated location near the gently bulging, 505-meter-high Kugelberg to the south-east ensured good visibility. The historian Robert Knorr (1865–1957) had already expected a fortification in Finningen. But he still suspected a Claudian or Vespasian foundation. Between 1908 and 1914, the remains of the complex around the Church of St. Mammas on today's cemetery grounds were excavated, but it was not until the summer of 1985 that modern investigations were carried out by Michael Mackensen on behalf of the Commission for the Archaeological Research of the Late Roman Raetia of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

After the excavations, the Burgus square was highlighted by colored paving. Details are explained on site on an information board.

The baroque church of St. Mammas that rises in this place today is late Gothic in its core.

Building history

After devastating Germanic invasions, Emperor Valentinian I (364–375) put on a building program of larger and smaller fortifications ( castra et castella ) along the imperial borders on the Rhine ( Rhenus ) and Danube ( Danuvius ) in order to ensure the security of the empire. From 369 a large number of stone structures were built on the high Rhine ( Maxima Sequanorum province ) on the long-distance connection Brigantium ( Bregenz ) - Cambodunum ( Kempten ) - Caelius Mons ( Kellmünz ) and on the upper and middle Danube ( Bacharnsdorf ). The high-lying Burgus of Finningen consists of an almost square, 12 m × 11.7 m large, mighty tower with 1.6 m thick walls, whose poorly layered masonry rests on a foundation made of Roman concrete ( Opus caementitium ). The structural loss of quality has already been observed several times for late antique buildings on the Limes. As an obstacle to the approach, the Romans dug a 3.6-meter-wide pointed ditch with rounded corners at a distance of ten meters from the tower and, during the excavation, 1.3 meters deep. The occupation of presumably Germanic mercenaries continued beyond the disaster years 401 and 406 at least in the first decade of the 5th century.

Finds

Two solidi (gold coins) of the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius (minted in Rome in 404 or 407/408) and the usurper Constantinus III, found near the Burgus . (407/408 minted in Lugdunum ) were seen as a possible reward for the crew of the small fortification. On the slope below the late antique fortifications, small late Roman finds such as shards and a pearl could be picked up.

Monument protection

The Burgus is a ground monument according to the Bavarian Monument Protection Act . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

literature

  • Richard Ambs: The Catholic parish church St. Mammas of Finningen. Archaeological studies and reflections on the history of the building. In: Geschichte im Landkreis Neu-Ulm 4, 1998, pp. 18–33.
  • Thomas Fischer , Erika Riedmeier-Fischer: The Roman Limes in Bavaria . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7917-2120-0 , p. 173.
  • Michael Mackensen , Andreas Marx: The late Roman watchtower of Finningen . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 1985 . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1986, pp. 119-121.

See also

List of forts in the Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes

Remarks

  1. ^ Report of the Roman-Germanic Commission 67, 1986, p. 356.
  2. ^ Paul Reinecke : Small writings on the prehistoric and early historical topography of Bavaria. Verlag Michael Laßleben , Kallmünz 1962, p. 162.
  3. ↑ a b Wolfgang Czysz : Gontia - Günzburg in Roman times. Likias, Friedberg 2002, ISBN 3-9807628-2-3 , p. 222.
  4. ↑ Michael Mackensen: Settlement and military border area in the lower Illertal and on the upper Danube in the late Roman Empire. In: Ulmer Museum (Hrsg.): Romans on Danube and Iller - New research and findings. Book accompanying the exhibition, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1996, ISBN 3-7995-0410-9 , p. 150.
  5. ↑ Michael Mackensen: Settlement and military border area in the lower Illertal and on the upper Danube in the late Roman Empire. In: Ulmer Museum (Hrsg.): Romans on Danube and Iller - New research and findings. Book accompanying the exhibition, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1996, ISBN 3-7995-0410-9 , p. 150; Fig.p. 151.
  6. ^ Paul Reinecke: Small writings on the prehistoric and early historical topography of Bavaria. Verlag Michael Laßleben, Kallmünz 1962, p. 161; Roman-Germanic correspondence sheet 1st year, No. 9, 1908, p. 23.