Clausura Bir Oum Ali

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Clausura Bir Oum Ali
limes Limes Numidiae
Dating (occupancy) early 2nd century?
Type Barrage
size approx. 600 m in length
Construction stone
State of preservation in parts very well preserved, the gatehouse was sacrificed for modern road construction
place Bir Oum Ali
Geographical location 34 ° 8 ′ 14.5 "  N , 9 ° 10 ′ 20.2"  E
height 260  m
Previous Henchir Temassine small fort (southeast) ; Small fort Henchir Mgarine (southeast)
The Limes Tripolitanus with the Clausura Bir Oum Ali at the beginning of the Limes Numidiae at the top left
The Clausura in Wadi Oum Ali after the photogrammetric recording published in 1972
View from the west over the best preserved part of the Clausura with the covered section of the channel. The deep, modern encroachment on the area of ​​the destroyed gatehouse on the now cut top of the pass is also clearly visible.

Clausura Bir Oum Ali is the modern name of a Roman barrage of the principate , which was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on Limes Numidiae . The Limes there were formed by a chain of military stations and continuous border fortifications and closed off the Roman province of Africa proconsularis to the south. The fortification line of the Clausura, which is very well preserved in some sections, was built on the northern edge of the Schott Fedjedj , a sedimentary basin that is now in the north of the Tunisian governorate of Kebili . The barrage of Bir Oum Ali is also considered the beginning of the Limes Numidiae, which continues at the other end of the bulkhead in the southeast with the Limes Tripolitanus . In addition to a natural passage through the Djebel Oum Ali, which washed out the Wadi Oum Ali, the Clausura also blocked its adjacent heights.

location

The mountain range of Oum Ali on the southern edge of the Djebel Asker, which belongs to the foothills of the Aurès Mountains, extends slightly crescent-shaped from west to east and forms the northern end of Schott Fedjadj. The Wadi Oum Ali crosses the Clausura in a south-west-north-east sloping main direction. The ancient road climbs from the south-west from the wadi up the slope to the west of the valley. Until recently, the only known gate of the barrage was on the central slope. With Bir Oum Ali and other locked and monitored positions all around, the Romans were able to monitor the vast area of ​​the Fedjedj bulkhead.

Research history

The Roman dam, which became famous at the end of the 19th century, was obviously forgotten again a short time later, despite its excellent state of preservation. It was discovered by the French officer Paul Goetschy (1848–1921), who carried out the first investigations in 1894 and measured the remains of the building. The epigraphist René Cagnat (1852–1937) had no knowledge of this discovery in his work on the Roman army in Africa, published in 1892, while the ancient historian Maurice Euzennat was unable to investigate further during his four years of research on the Roman Limes in Tunisia, which began in 1967 the system. The gatehouse, which was still in ruins in 1894, was largely sacrificed for modern road construction without archaeological support. However, parts of the ancient road route can still be traced in the terrain east of the current route, and one of the two southern ashlar stone pillars of the gate passage has also been preserved in situ to the east . British archaeologist David Mattingly later carried out field inspections on site.

Building history

The barrage built by Roman soldiers consisted of a stone wall over 600 meters long, the height of which varies from 3.50 meters to 6 meters. It extended from the steep slopes of the wadi in the east through the river bed and up to its western heights. The structure, on average 1.50 meters wide, had a neatly set and mortared shell masonry made of smaller stone material with a backfill made of mortared rubble. At least in the central area of ​​the wall there is evidence of an open, around 0.75 meter wide “battlement”, which is bordered on both sides by around 0.60 meter high “ parapets ”. The floor and the walls of the “corridor” still show partially noticeable plastering. In the preserved western section, the otherwise open corridor is vaulted on its steep ascent to the heights by a gable-arch-shaped construction made of the same masonry, which according to Goetschy is 1.20 meters high at its apex. Euzennat interpreted these features, with which Bir Oum Ali clearly differs from all barriers of the Limes Tripolitanus, with different strategic considerations of the Roman planners and compared this African Clausura with Hadrian's Wall despite the different wall widths . In this respect, it seemed to Euzennat that the Bir Oum Ali dam could be older than the Tebaga-Clausura . However, the archaeologist David Mattingly gave a clear rejection of older ideas, according to which the Roman occupation had repelled attackers down from the wall, as the alleged parapet is far too low. In his opinion, the “battlements” could have been used more as a water channel to channel the precious water into a cistern when it rains heavily. In 1894 Goetschy had noticed a circular structure four meters inside diameter (2.50 meters total diameter) at the gatehouse, the lowest point there, which he interpreted as a tower or well head. For Mattingly, however, an interpretation as a tower was ruled out, as this must have been located directly to the side of the entrance to the gatehouse, whereby the gatehouse itself - analogous to other buildings of the same type - was most likely flanked by two towers. The archaeologist drew attention to the fact that the round structure, which was cut through by the modern road construction, was lined with plaster and could therefore be interpreted as a cistern that could be used by the small border guard of the gatehouse and travelers. The gutter proven on the wall could have released its water into this adjacent cistern. Goetschy himself had emphasized that the bottom of this channel consists “of very hard concrete, similar to that used in Roman sewer works…” (“… le sol de ce passage est en béton très dur, analogue à celui employé dans les travaux de canalisation romaine ... "). The officer claims to have seen traces of further, very irregular gutters on the left and right in the area of ​​the covered canal.

Found good

The ceramic spectrum picked up near the gatehouse was very sparse and undifferentiated during field inspections by Mattingly. However, the archaeologist was able to identify an edge shard that dated to the second or third century. Further evidence suggests that the Clausura may have been built in the early second century.

literature

  • Maurice Euzennat : Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale . In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres . 1972, pp. 21-24.
  • Paul Goetschy: Notes sur un passage du Cherb (roule de Nefzaoua) barré par une muraille dite de “Bir Oum Ali” . In: Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société Archéologique du Département de Constantine 29, 1894 (1895), pp. 593-598.
  • David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , pp. 173-174.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Nitz (Ed.): Land development and cultural landscape change at the settlement borders of the earth. Symposium on the occasion of the 75th birthday of Prof. Dr. Willi Czajka from 9-11. November 1973 in the Geographical Institute of the University of Göttingen (= Göttingen geographical treatises 66), Goltze, Göttingen 1976, p. 170 (footnote).
  2. ↑ a b Maurice Euzennat : Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale. In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. 1972, p. 7; P. 24.
  3. ↑ Paul Goetschy: Notes sur un du passage Cherb (roule de Nefzaoua) par une barre muraille dite de "Bir Oum Ali" . In: Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société Archéologique du Département de Constantine 29, 1894 (1895), pp. 593-598.
  4. ^ René Cagnat : L'armée romaine d'Afrique et l'occupation militaire de l'Afrique sous les empereurs . Leroux, Paris 1892, p. 569.
  5. ^ David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. 173, illus. P. 184.
  6. ^ Maurice Euzennat : Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale. In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. 1972, p. 7; P. 23.
  7. ^ A b c d David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. 173.
  8. ^ Maurice Euzennat : Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale. In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. 1972, p. 23.
  9. ↑ a b c Paul Goetschy: Notes sur un passage du Cherb (roule de Nefzaoua) barré par une muraille dite de “Bir Oum Ali” . In: Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société Archéologique du Département de Constantine 29, 1894 (1895), pp. 593-598; here: p. 595.
  10. ^ Maurice Euzennat : Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale. In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. 1972, p. 7; P. 23.
  11. ^ Maurice Euzennat : Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale. In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. 1972, p. 7; P. 24.
  12. ^ David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. 173, illus. P. 185.