Heidenschanze near Sievern
Coordinates: 53 ° 39 ′ 19.2 " N , 8 ° 37 ′ 28.6" E
| Heidenschanze | ||
|---|---|---|
| location | Lower Saxony , Germany | |
| Location | at Sievern | |
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| When | around 50 BC Until the late 1st century AD. | |
| Where | near Sievern , district of Cuxhaven / Lower Saxony | |
The Heidenschanze near Sievern is a large ring wall in the district of Cuxhaven , which was built around 50 BC. And was used until the late 1st century AD (the youngest parts of the ramparts date from 79 AD). Presumably it served as a market and trading point. It consisted of two concentric ring walls and in the final stage had two chamber gates , which were so positioned that you had to go around the entire inner ring if you wanted to get to the center.
location
The Heidenschanze was at the intersection of two important traffic points: an old trade route, which was of great importance at the time, and the Sieverner Aue, which was still navigable at that time because it was influenced by the tides in the North Sea and had a wider bed. The Bülzenbett megalithic facility is located near Heidenschanze .
designation
The current name Heidenschanze is based on an error made by a primeur lieutenant Dittlinger, who was ordered to map the three castle complexes north of Sievern on a scale of 1: 5000 in 1886 at a suggestion by Rudolf Virchow . He called the Wallburg east of the Pipinsburg Heidenschanze, while it had been called Heidenstatt until then. He now referred to the Wallburg north of it as a pagan city. Since his confusion found its way into the Prussian land survey of 1893 with the first topographical map on a scale of 1: 25000, the southern Wallburg is now called Heidenschanze and the northern Heidenstadt.
After a reinterpretation of the coordinates in the world atlas of Claudius Ptolemy (around 150 AD), the Heidenschanze near Sievern is identified with the Fabiranum settlement listed there .
construction
The Heidenschanze had a core size of two hectares due to the inner wall. The outer wall secured an area of 10 hectares. This makes the Heidenschanze one of the most important fortifications of the Roman Empire in north-west Germany, the walls of which are still largely recognizable in the area today. Initially, the outer ring consisted only of a fence construction with a trench in front, which remained that way in some places. In a second construction phase, the fence was removed, a sand wall piled up and palisades built. The palisade timbers were up to 30 × 40 cm thick, which means around 4,200 planks with a wall length of approx. 1.4 km. In the boggy areas of the facility, cobblestones were built into the wall so that the wall could not sink so easily. At the front of the wall there were planks or tree stumps so that the wall would not slide into the ditch. There were also planks on the inside, albeit almost vertically and slightly sunk into the ground. The sand was packed between these planks and the palisades and it is assumed that there was a guard walk there.
Excavations
The first excavation at the Heidenschanze was carried out in 1906 by the archaeologist Carl Schuchhardt and brought the remains of the gate in the inner ring. There are no more plans for the excavation and it is only known that a chamber gate was located there.
Werner Haarnagel undertook more extensive excavations in 1958 , which he recorded in a 37-page report. First a 180 m long search trench was dug, which showed that there was an interior structure mainly near the wall. In the middle was a free space. In addition, the wall was cut in 3 places in order to explore the structure of the wall in the excavations in the outer wall and to look for a second inner gate in the inner wall, but this turned out to be negative. The most interesting thing about Haarnagel's excavations, however, was the gate system of the outer ring, which, according to the findings, was built and improved in three or four construction phases.
The first gate had tail gate cheeks and also a threshold beam that could be seen as a dark discoloration in the floor. The gate wings probably opened inwards and it is likely that there was a guard passage above. The second gate had straight gate walls and was apparently provided with a thatched roof, as some posts were found in the ground that were too far apart to be able to support the gate wings, but measured about 40 × 30 cm. Presumably there was a guard at this gate too. The third gate was a chamber gate, which protruded about 3 m over the palisade and had an inner width of only 2.5 m. The partial gate to the entrance was provided with a stop. Like the previous gate, it probably had a thatched roof and was guarded. A discoloration was discovered about 10 m in front of the gate, which most likely came from the foundation of a watchtower that had been built there.
The last excavation at Heidenschanze was carried out in 1999–2001 and served to supplement the existing data from 1958 and to correct it if necessary. The excavation was documented and evaluated with digital photography and newer identification methods. Since the excavation site was on a bog, the palisades have been well preserved due to their storage in the moist soil environment. The year of fall could be determined dendrochronologically as 79 AD.
Dating
While Schuchardt assumed that the Heidenschanze was a Saxon people's castle from the period between the 4th and 7th centuries, Haarnagel was able to use ceramic finds to prove that it was from the period between 50 BC. BC and late 1st century AD. This could be demonstrated dendrochronologically and using the C-14 method during the 1999 excavation.
The Heidenschanze was probably expanded against the background of the political and economic unrest of the time. So did 12 BC. A Roman fleet approached the Frisians around 5 AD, another landed on the left bank of the Elbe and 10 years later a third penetrated to the mouth of the Weser, which impaired free trade. Further reasons for the reinforcement of the Heidenschanze were the clashes of the Marcomanni and Cherusci in 17 AD and the rising of the Saxons in 28 AD.
Golden bracteates
About 250 meters southeast of Heidenschanze, 11 gold bracteates were found in 1942 - at a depth of 1.35 meters . Remains of a braided leather strap, on which the bracteates were worn as a necklace, had been preserved in an eyelet. An A bracteate shows a male head with headdress turned to the left. It bears the rune inscription "I cut runes". Two C-bracteates are identical and show a human head above a strongly stylized rider. The remaining eight bracteates carry the image of a snake-like animal with a bird of prey. These D bracteates have decorated edge zones of different widths, but five were embossed with the same picture stamp. The origin of the gold bracteates from the 6th century is southern Scandinavia . The site in the moor indicates an offering.
To the north-east of the Grapenberg, another calyzed bracteate was picked up in a sand pit in 1950. It is a B-bracteate which, despite damage, shows a human figure with a bowed head within a wide decorative frame.
literature
- Werner Haarnagel: The excavation on the Heidenschanze near Wesermünde in 1958. In: Rafael v. Uslar (Ed.): Studies from Old Europe II. Cologne, Graz 1965, pp. 142–178
- Werner Haarnagel: The ring ramparts Heidenschanze and Pipinsburg in the Wesermünde district, Sievern district in: Helmut Ottenjahn (ed.), Ringwall and Burg in the archeology of West Lower Saxony , exhibition in the "Burg" Arkenstede of the museum village of Cloppenburg, Cloppenburg, 1971, p. 11-18
- Matthias D. Schön: The Heidenschanze near Sievern - a fortification that is almost 2000 years old. in: Archeology in Lower Saxony , Volume 3, Oldenburg, Isensee Verlag, 2000, pp. 57–59
- Felix Bittmann, Matthias D. Schön: Pollen bring it to the day in: Archeology in Lower Saxony , Volume 4, Oldenburg, Isensee Verlag, 2001, pp. 63–66.
- Andreas Kleineberg, Christian Marx, Eberhard Knobloch , Dieter Lelgemann (eds.): Germania and the island of Thule. The decryption of Ptolemy´s "Atlas of the Oikumene" . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2010, ISBN 978-3-534-23757-9 (131 pages with partly colored maps).
- Iris Aufderhaar: Sievern Cultural Center? in: Babette Ludowici (Ed.): Saxones , Theiss, Darmstadt 2019, pp. 166–167