Glassworks on the Emsbach Gorge
The glassworks on the Emsbach Gorge was a forest glassworks in the Taunus in Hesse that produced glass in the 15th century . The remains of the glassworks are at 518 m above sea level. NHN in a forest area around 1.5 kilometers east of Glashütten on the northeast slope of the Glaskopf elevation . An archaeological investigation at the location of the glassworks was carried out in 2000. The remains of the facility were preserved in 2001.
location
The former glassworks is located in the Unterer Seelborn forest area directly on the Emsbach . Their remains can be found on the ravine-like narrowed valley floor of the stream. North of the earlier runs Upper German-Rhaetian Limes , which since 2005 World Heritage Site of UNESCO is. The former glassworks location is located directly on the Limes experience path in Hochtaunus , which follows the Limes from Glashütten over a length of 30 km. In addition, the “waldGLASweg” was laid out in 2013 on the approx. 1.5 km long route from the Glashütten exit to the Glashütte at the Emsbach Gorge , which connects history with art in modern glass technology at seven stations.
Excavation and construction
The site had been known for a long time and around 1900 it was viewed as a possible Roman glassworks on the Limes. In 1999, in addition to surveying and mapping the site, geophysical prospecting was carried out in order to gain insight into the former hut complex without interfering with the ground. Four smaller mounds were identified as secondary ovens of an already known main oven. On the initiative of the Glashütten Cultural Association, volunteers under the scientific direction of the archaeologist Peter Steppuhn carried out an excavation on an area of approx. 300 m².
According to the excavation results, the larger working furnace (approx. 7 × 4 m) with several window-like openings was in the north. Inside, there were up to four glass harbors made of clay with the molten glass mass, which was removed by the glassblowers through the work holes , on the approximately 1.7 × 0.6 meter large harbor banks . In the outer secondary ovens, the glass vessels were gradually cooled down or raw materials were dried. The two middle secondary ovens were a combination of stretching and cooling ovens and were used to manufacture flat glass. In the main furnace, the glass manufacturers required temperatures of up to 1200 ° C; in the other cooler ovens approx. 600 ° C was sufficient. Beech logs were used for heating .
Around 4,000 objects were recovered during the excavation, most of which were glass fragments. Meaningful individual pieces of the recovered find material were included in the permanent exhibition Waldglashütten im Taunus in the Hessenpark open-air museum in Neu-Anspach . The remaining material is sorted and documented in the warehouse of the State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse .
The glassworks produced green forest glass, which was processed into hollow glass and flat glass using the cylinder process. Thick-walled beakers were almost exclusively produced in large numbers of glass vessels, which were sold as mass-produced goods in the 1450 to 1480s. Based on the glass and ceramic finds, the production time of the glassworks could be dated to around 1450. This means that the glass factory worked around the same time as the glassworks below Dornsweg and the glassworks on Buchholzweg , which were each about a kilometer away. These locations were also archaeologically examined between 2001 and 2005.
The research at the glassworks on the Emsbach Gorge expanded the level of knowledge about the glassworks landscape in the Taunus , which only played a subordinate role in European glass history.
Iron ore was previously smelted on the area of the glassworks in the 13th century, as indicated by more than 300 kg of iron ore and iron slag in the area of the site.
In 2010, a listed building was carried out to remove frost damage to the facility, and in 2014 another renovation.
literature
- Peter Steppuhn with the collaboration of Ingrid Berg: Waldglashütten im Taunus. History - Archeology - Products. Book accompanying the permanent exhibition in the Hessenpark open-air museum. Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-930095-04-9
- Peter Steppuhn: Results and perspectives of a glass archeology of the 12th to 17th centuries in the Hochtaunus. In: S. Kleingärtner, U. Müller, J. Scheschkewitz (Ed.): Cultural change in the field of tension between tradition and innovation. Festschrift for Michael Müller-Wille , Neumünster, pp. 247–269. ( Online )
Web links
- Description of the glassworks on the Emsbach Gorge
- Description of the glassworks on the Emsbach Gorge as station VII of the waldGLASweg
- Glassmaker at Glashütten im Taunus with location maps and excavation photos
- Preserved glass furnace foundation walls of the glassworks
Individual evidence
- ↑ Limes Adventure Trail Hochtaunus
- ↑ "waldGLASweg" ( memento of the original from April 15, 2017 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. at history working group glassworks .
- ↑ Glassworks locations ( Memento of the original from April 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Permanent exhibition "Waldglashütten im Taunus" in Hessenpark ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2017 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. at history working group glassworks .
- ↑ Stefan Jung: With a lot of feeling and brushstrokes in: Taunus Zeitung of July 20, 2010, p. 20.
- ↑ Glashütte restored ( Memento of the original from August 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in: Taunus Zeitung from April 30, 2014
Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 27.1 ″ N , 8 ° 25 ′ 24.2 ″ E