Hirschleitengraben watchtower

Hirschleitengraben watchtower
limes	Limes Noricus
section	Route 1
Dating (occupancy)	2nd to 5th century A.D
Type	Watchtower
size	a) Tower I: 6 × 6 m, b) Tower II: 10 × 10 m
Construction	Stone construction
State of preservation	Rectangular plant, foundations were exposed and preserved.
place	Wilhering
Geographical location	48 ° 18 '26 "  N , 14 ° 13' 27.4"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 18 '26 "  N , 14 ° 13' 27.4"  E
height	40  m above sea level A.
Previous	Fort Eferding (west)
Subsequently	Lentia Castle (east)

Watchtower Ruins (2007)

Sketch floor plan tower I and II

The watchtower Hirschleitengraben and the watchtower on Freinberg were part of the security systems of the Danube Limes in the Roman province of Noricum in what is now the Austrian state of Upper Austria , Linz-Land district , in the area of ​​the market town of Wilhering . The Burgus was occupied until the 4th century AD, the ancient name and occupation units of the two towers are unknown.

location

The tower ruin stands on a foothill of the Kürnberg (7 km long and 525 m high), near the confluence of the Hirschleitenbach (field name "Laundry" or "Welsches Eck") into the Danube (Danuvius) . The location is at a height of 40 m, is approx. 130 m from the river bank and enables a wide view to the north to the river lowlands around Puchenau and to the northwestern Ottensheim basin. An old paved path runs east of the stream to the south.

Research history

The ruins of the watchtower were discovered in 1936 by the taxidermist of the Upper Austrian State Museum, Mr. Stolz. The first excavation under the direction of Ernst Fietz began at the end of May 1936. According to his records, the interior of the tower was uncovered through several search cuts down to the ancient ground level. The foundations were also examined down to the bottom. The masonry was in places high up to six stone sets and still had small remnants of the wall plaster on the inside. Most of the finds from the excavations in 1936 are considered lost.

The Cistercian priest Gebhard Rath from Wilhering Abbey continued the investigations from 1937 to 1939. Rath had set himself the goal of exposing the interior and the foundations. Because of the outbreak of the Second World War, the remains of the wall were no longer preserved. In the area around Wilhering, a number of Roman finds were found. Most of them were found in the “Alte Burg” corridor. Gebhard Rath also unearthed two brick kilns here with brick stamps with the imprint AL and Dux Ursicinus . Apparently they were in operation at the same time as Watchtower II in Hirschleitengraben and supplied the material for its roof covering.

Its increasing decline prompted the Upper Austrian State Museum to carry out a rescue excavation under Christine Schwanzar in 1991. The excavation area was divided into four grid squares (A – D). Their investigation provided evidence of two construction phases (tower I and II), which were clearly recognizable from the different masonry. From found objects, some coins, ceramic fragments, vestments and nails could be recovered from the interior, which are now kept in the Linz Castle Museum. A bronze fibula is privately owned. In 1992 the foundations were restored and conserved by the Federal Monuments Office ( Hannsjörg Ubl ) and with the active participation of students from the technical college Goethestrasse in Linz.

Findings

Overall, after evaluating the excavation from 1993, two construction phases could be identified, which could be clearly distinguished from one another, in particular on the basis of a clear construction joint and the different screed heights. In the northwest corner there was a well-preserved remnant of the floor screed from tower I. The late antique tower II was surrounded by a relatively wide wall and a ditch. Its entrance was probably in the south, since no threshold could be seen, probably on the first floor and only accessible via a ladder. On the inside of the wall, a protrusion of the foundation of different heights and widths was recognizable (in the south 30 to 40 cm wide, 294.86 m high, in the north 24 to 26 cm wide, 294.41 m high). In the north-west corner of the ground floor, a stone platform was also found, which presumably served as an attachment for a staircase or ladder that led to the upper floor. There was a fireplace in the northeast corner. Since a layer of broken roof tiles from late antiquity was also found, it is assumed that at least Tower II was covered with a tile roof (→ Tegula and Imbrex ).

• The north wall was badly damaged or almost completely disintegrated on the steep drop towards the Danube. In the northwest corner, the masonry was reinforced by a protrusion. Due to the steep slope, the foundation depth was 293.59 cm here. A corner solution came to light at the NE corner, which suggests that a beam was once installed here as a vertical reinforcement.
• The east wall was also poorly preserved, part of the corner and the wall section in the northern part had sunk significantly. It consisted of grouted rows of larger stone blocks and had a broad foundation overhang on the inside and outside.
• The west wall consisted of several mortared layers of roughly trimmed granite blocks . The foundation was still well preserved. In its southern part, there were still two to three layers of rising masonry. The wall thickness varied from 1.80 to 2.10 m.
• The south wall was not as deeply founded as its counterparts. It also had a slightly different building structure (larger blocks, the spaces between which were filled with smaller ones). The rising masonry consisted of stone blocks flattened on both sides and was around 86 cm wide.

Tower I.

The style of the building is comparable to that of the first stone towers ( turres ) on the Rhaetian Limes. It measured 6 × 6 m, its wall thickness was 0.80-0.90 m, the foundation width and inner protrusion are 1.10 m (average value). Its floor level (mortar screed) was 30 cm lower than that of tower II. A surrounding trench could not be found. Post holes to support a gallery or the like, as well as central pillars, could not be proven either. It is difficult to say whether this tower also had a tiled roof, as only Tegula fragments from late antiquity have survived.

Tower II

The late antique watchtower was essentially an extension of the previous building to the east and south and began with a clear structural joint on the western wall. It was a square 9.90 (N) × 9.95 (O) × 9.80 (S) × 9.50 m (W) building, its internal dimensions were 7.73 (N) × 7.40 (O) × 7.75 (S) × 7.19 m (W), foundation thickness 1.35–1.85 m, width of the rising masonry 80–100 cm. The lowest foundation strength occurred in those places where the walls of Tower I were included. Roughly prepared rubble stones and, in some places, roof tiles were used as building material. The increase in its ground level is explained by a rock ridge protruding in the south, which causes the terrain to rise slightly here. A continuous clay screed served as the floor.

development

According to the excavators, Tower I was built in the period after the end of the Second Marcomannic War, either in the late 2nd or early 3rd century, when the military installations in neighboring Raetia and on the Noric Danube Limes were expanded. Alamanni incursions now constantly threatened the NW border. A milestone found near Engelhartszell reports on large-scale renovation measures on the Limesstrasse under Emperor Caracalla during this time. The Ufernoricum administrative center, Ovilava , was also given a city wall at that time.

Ubl spoke out in favor of a late antique burgus for tower II , created around 370 AD. A brick stamp of Dux Ursicinus also suggests that tower II was built in the reign of Emperor Valentinian I, and it probably comes from the nearby military brickworks in Wilhering. Presumably it was occupied until the end of the 4th century. At this time there was increased construction activity on the Noric and Pannonian Limes; destroyed fortifications were rebuilt or reinforced. In some cases, small forts (quadriburgi) and watchtowers were completely rebuilt.

Presumably the towers in the watchtower chain on the Danube served as signaling or observation posts and for monitoring and protecting shipping traffic. The name and crew of the tower are unknown, nor is it mentioned in ancient sources.

Freinberg watchtower

The earliest finds on Freinberg date from the late Neolithic . In the late Bronze Age the so-called "Celtic Wall" was built here, which showed three layers of destruction. The Celtic settlement is from the 2nd century BC. Chr. On demonstrable. Around the middle of the 1st century BC The wall was fortified again. Numerous Roman stray finds from the period between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD were found within the fenced-off area. A settlement continuity from the late Latène period to the Roman imperial period has not yet been established. The first Roman building findings appeared around 1889 when the Franz-Josefs-Warte was being built. Conservator Joseph Straberger thought the building was a watchtower, while Paul Karnitsch interpreted it as a Roman country house. The ring wall was examined by Ludwig Benesch in 1911, and systematic examinations of the area began in 1989 (Linzer Stadtmuseum Nordico, Erwin Ruprechtsberger ). At that time, however, the Roman building remains had completely disappeared due to the leveling. Since the 1990s, the area has been archaeologically cared for by the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory at the University of Vienna .

The remains of the Roman wall were rectangular buildings measuring 4 × 14 × 16 × 19 m. In the north the terrain drops steeply to the Danube. The exposed location enabled visual contact to the watchtower in the Hirschleitengraben further to the west and to the Schlossberg and Lentia Castle in the east . This fact and the finds of stamped bricks suggest a military installation. However, the actual function of the building, villa or watchtower, can no longer be clarified due to its complete destruction.

Military brick

Brick stamp of Dux Ursicinus (around 370 AD)

The amateur archaeologist Father Gebhart Rath, Cistercian in Wilhering Abbey , carried out several test excavations in Wilhering from 1934 to 1935. A welcome occasion for this was the construction of the new federal road through the municipality, which Rath scientifically observed. In 1934 he discovered antique masonry in the area of ​​the fork in the road between the federal road (at km 10.8) and the junction to Mühlbach, which he was able to uncover in two excavation campaigns. These excavations were financed and accompanied by the Upper Austrian State Museum.

The site is about ten kilometers southwest of Wilhering. In the west of the Eferdinger Basin there are often heavy clay soils. In addition to this fact, the good connection to the traffic routes was probably decisive for the installation of the brick kilns on the Mühlbachland corridor. The exposed remains of the wall were recognized as Roman brick kilns, they were measured by Alexander Gaheis (1869–1942), and further assessment was carried out by Rudolf Egger (1882–1969). Another revision and interpretation of the excavation results and the findings was carried out by Ronald Risy in 1994.

The ovens were sunk four meters apart in the natural clay soil and had two combustion chambers. Oven I had a length of 9.30–9.40 m, a width of 8.30–8.50 m and was built on massive foundations made of granite stones. The furnaces were vaulted with brick belt arches (system II3c). Furnace II was 7.00 m long and 4.50 m wide (system III4a). The two construction phases identified by Gebhart Rath could not be confirmed due to Risy's later investigation results.

The facility is believed to have been built and operated by members of the Legio II Italica . Found brick stamps of the border general Ursicinus indicate a production company in the second half of the 4th century, the reign of Emperor Valentinian I (364–375).

Note

The watchtower in Hirschleitengraben is located opposite Puchenau on the southern bank of the Danube on the right side of the valley where the Hirschleitenbach flows into. It can be reached on foot on the “Prinzensteig”, a hiking trail that leads from Wilhering Abbey into the Kürnberger Forest. Information boards of the Upper Austrian Provincial Museum are set up at the tower. Behind the Jägermayerhof education center is a park in which the remains of the Celtic ramparts, which are up to four meters high, have been preserved. If you walk from the Jägermayerhof to the waterworks, you will come to a junction that leads to the right to the Barbarakapelle and Franz-Josefs-Warte. The finds from the military bricks are kept in the Upper Austrian State Museum - Castle Museum Linz - and in Wilhering Abbey.

Monument protection

The facilities are ground monuments within the meaning of the Monument Protection Act. Investigations and targeted collection of finds without the approval of the Federal Monuments Office are a criminal offense. Accidental finds of archaeological objects (ceramics, metal, bones, etc.) as well as all measures affecting the soil must be reported to the Federal Monuments Office (Department for Ground Monuments).

See also

• List of forts in Noricum and Upper Pannonia

literature

• Kurt Genser: The Austrian Danube Limes in Roman times, a research report. Vienna 1986 ( The Roman Limes in Austria. No. 33).
• Manfred Kandler, Hermann Vetters (ed.): The Roman Limes in Austria. A guide. Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-7001-0785-4 .
• Christine Schwanzar: Hirschleitengraben, watchtower / Burgus. In: Herwig Friesinger, Fritz Krinzinger: The Roman Limes in Austria. Guide to the archaeological monuments. Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2618-2 .
• Christine Schwanzar: Watchtower Kürnberg-Hirschleitengraben, discovery and excavation history. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. 138th volume, 1st treatise, Linz 1993.
• Dietwulf Baatz: The watchtowers on the Limes. Limesmuseum Aalen, 1976 (= Small writings on the knowledge of the Roman occupation history of Southwest Germany, No. 15).
• Helmut Bender: A late Roman watchtower near Passau-Haibach. In: East Bavarian border marks. Passauer Jahrbuch für Geschichte, Kunst u. Folklore . Volume 24, Verlag d. Association f. Ostbairische Heimatforschung, Passau 1982.
• Otto H. Urban: Linz-Freinberg, pre-Roman hillside settlement. In: Herwig Friesinger, Fritz Krinzinger: The Roman Limes in Austria. Guide to the archaeological monuments. Vienna 1997.
• Gebhart Rath: The castles Wilhering and Alt-Wilhering. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. Volume 87, Linz 1937 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
• Rudolf Egger: Upper Austria in Roman times. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. Volume 95, Linz 1950 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
• Ronald Andreas Risy: Roman-era kilns in Noricum. Diploma thesis from the University of Vienna, 1994.
• Rene Ployer: Hirschleitengraben. Watchtower - Burgus . In: Verena Gassner / Andreas Pülz (ed.): The Roman Limes in Austria. Guide to the archaeological monuments. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-7001-7787-6 , pp. 153–154.
• René Ployer: The Norwegian Limes in Austria. Find reports from Austria, Materialhefte series B 3, Österr. Federal Monuments Office, Vienna 2013.
• Kira Lappé: Wilhering. Small fort - military brick - villa rustica. In: Verena Gassner / Andreas Pülz (ed.): The Roman Limes in Austria. Guide to the archaeological monuments. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-7001-7787-6 , pp. 150–151.

Web links

• Location of the tower site on Vici.org
• The Roman Limes in Austria
• Wilhering military brickworks (website RLÖ)
• Watchtower Hirschleitengraben on AIS-OOE Archaeological Information System for Upper Austria

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christine Schwanzar: 1997, p. 173.
2. ↑ Dietwulf Baatz: 1976, p. 27.
3. ↑ Christine Schwanzar: 1993, p. 25.
4. ↑ Christine Schwanzar: 1993, p. 25.
5. ↑ Helmut Bender: 1982, pp. 55-77.
6. ↑ Kurt Genser: 1986, pp. 95-98.
7. ↑ Christine Schwanzar: 1993, pp. 16-37.
8. ↑ Otto H. Urban: 1997, pp. 174-179.
9. ^ Find reports from Austria. Volume 2, 1935-38, pp. 42, 97, 187 and 275, Gebharth Rath: 1937, p. 476.
10. ↑ Monument Protection Act ( Memento of the original dated November 15, 2010 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. on the side of the Federal Monuments Office