Heidenwall (Oldenburg)

The Heidenwall in Oldenburg ( Lower Saxony ) was a ring wall that was built in the 11th century , the wooden remains of which have been preserved in the ground. The fortifications near the Hunte probably served to control a ford on the river, over which a trade route led from the south or from Bremen to East Frisia . The builder and when the system was abandoned are not known. In terms of town history, it is a possible predecessor of a castle that stood 2.3 km further east of the site of today's Oldenburg Castle .

The ring-shaped wooden foundations of the heath wall uncovered by the excavation

location

The Heidenwall was built in what was then a damp and boggy lowland area that was not suitable as a settlement site. It was located between two branches of the river Hunte, which served as water-bearing moats . Today the remains of the fortification are in the east of the city between an industrial area, the Hemmelsbäker Canal and the Hunte.

construction

Wooden fans of the Heidenwall in the foundation area

According to the results of the excavation carried out in 2007, the Heidenwall was an approximately circular structure consisting of a wood / earth wall. The wall was built as a wooden box construction. In the first stage it had an outer diameter of around 45 meters, in the second stage it was around 54 to 56 meters. The fortifications consist of wooden boxes in block construction that were joined together to form a large ring. The inside of the boxes was filled with clay, which, when dry, gave the wall the necessary stability. The width of the boxes is about four meters radially and about five meters tangentially. The height of the fortification should have been at least five meters. Sand had been poured in from the inside to stabilize the wall. The date when the trees were felled could be dendrochronologically dated on the logs found . According to this, the first expansion stage of the fortification took place in 1032, and about 10 years later there was a second construction phase. A flat row of boxes of similar size, filled with peat plagues, was placed in front of the older wood / earth wall , which was not connected to the inner row of boxes. The porch was probably built for static reasons and was intended to provide protection against washouts and washings on the moat and in the area of the berm . Alder and oak wood were mainly used in the construction of the Heidenwall .

history

The builders of the Heidenwall are not known, as the written sources in northwest Lower Saxony for the first half of the 11th century are incomplete. Archbishop Unwan (1013-1029) had already emerged as the builder of a strong wall fortification in nearby Bremen . One of his successors, Archbishop Hermann (1032-1035), began to fortify the Bremen Domburg with a stone wall, which Archbishop Bezelin (1035-1042) provided with a large gate, above or next to which a tower rose in Italian style. In the Ammerland , on the southern border of which the Heidenwall is located, a Count Huno appeared in 1059. A Count Egilmar , who is first attested in 1091, was evidently closely related to him . 1108 he is mentioned in connection with the "Aldenburg" (Oldenburg) as a count in the border area of Saxony and Friesland. The Dukes of Billung had great influence in Saxony at this time , and their relationship with the Archbishops of Bremen deteriorated increasingly from the mid-30s of the 11th century. The focus of their possessions was in the Lüneburg Heath , the Weser Uplands and East Westphalia , but also in Friesland ( Jever ; with mint and fortifications) they exercised the rights of the count. The Heidenwall would therefore be an important connection point at a ford over the Hunte. The question of whether it was the original Oldenburg / Omersburg remains open.

Map displays

Since the Heidenwall was a landmark , it was shown on maps early on. It appears for the first time in the dike atlas by Johann Conrad Musculus from 1625/26 as a drawing of a mound under the name Heydenwall . Further map references and representations come from the years 1702, 1729 and 1740. In a map from 1802 he is only mentioned by name. After the hill was torn down with the construction of the Hemmelbäker Canal around 1830, the Heidenwall disappeared from the maps and was forgotten. Up to the present day it was assumed that its remains had been completely removed by water and dike construction measures. That is why the monument protection authorities did not list it in the list of cultural monuments as a ground monument, as required by the Lower Saxony Monument Protection Act .

Rediscovery

The rediscovery of the ring wall, which was believed to be lost, goes back to the Oldenburg historian Martin Teller , who had long since identified the location with the help of old maps. He also recognized the location of the ramparts by means of aerial photographs, the outlines of which were visible through vegetation features in the vegetation. When plans to create a 29 hectare industrial area in the east of Oldenburg became known in 2006, he alerted the Oldenburg base of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation . The ground movements caused by the removal, application and sand flushing would also have affected the location of the ring wall and destroyed it.

excavation

The wooden boxes of the heather wall uncovered by the excavation

Based on the advice of the Oldenburg historian Martin Teller, the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation undertook a test excavation in May 2007, which led to the discovery of surprisingly well-preserved components of the fortification. Afterwards, only four weeks were available for a rescue excavation due to the planned construction work. The city of Oldenburg, the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture provided substantial material and financial resources with 20,000 euros.

The excavation using heavy equipment, the THW and an excavation company took place in June and July 2007 under great time pressure. A high groundwater level caused by weather conditions and construction work made matters worse. Some deeper areas could not be investigated because they were under water. Well-preserved wood findings could be recovered and preserved. The excavation resulted in only a few finds, as the interior of the ring wall was not examined. In total, a third of the facility was excavated. Other areas of the complex that have not been excavated are located under the dike of the Hemmelsbäker Canal, others were already removed when the canal was built around 1830. After the excavation was completed, the excavation site was backfilled and is hardly recognizable in the area. The lowest layer of the foundation wood was left in the moist soil, which preserves it permanently. Due to the archaeological importance of the Heidenwall, its area has been excluded from the development of the industrial area.

rating

With an outer diameter of 54 to 56 meters, the Heidenwall is one of the small ring walls in northwest Germany . Two comparable castle walls are the Neue Burg in Hamburg and the castle in Itzehoe , which were built in 1024 to 1025 and 1000. Characteristic for the Heidenwall is the relatively small interior space (approx. 500 to 550 m²) with a diameter of around 25 meters. The historical significance of the Heidenwall lies in the fact that the timbers of the wall fortifications and their substructures were extremely well preserved due to their location in the damp soil environment. Otherwise in Central Europe in the 11th century this is almost only the case with Slavic castles, where the wood in the groundwater area has been well preserved because of their location in lowlands and lakes.

The Heidenwall, dated dendrochronologically to the years 1032/33 and 1042, was relevant for the 900th anniversary of Oldenburg in 2008, as the place was first mentioned in historical sources in 1108 as "Aldenburg".

Presentation and further exploration

A reconstruction of the ramparts at the original site was ruled out. Nevertheless, there are plans to present the wooden remains to the public. For this purpose, 38 upper logs were removed from the system and subjected to a conservation process lasting several years. They are to be seen later in the exhibition of the Oldenburg City Museum .

The Heidenwall research group was founded at the end of 2007 to conduct extensive research into the facility. In addition to the Oldenburg City Museum , the participating organizations are the University of Oldenburg , the Department of Prehistory and Early History at the University of Göttingen , the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation and the Arcontor excavation company commissioned with the excavation.

On Tree Day in April 2013, trees and shrubs were planted in the area of the Heidenwall by members of the Neuenwege home and citizens' association , NABU and other home associations from Oldenburg. In addition, an information board was set up on the history of the discovery of the Heidenwall.

literature

Albrecht Eckhardt (ed.): The dike atlas of Johann Conrad Musculus from 1625/26 , Oldenburg (Holzberg) 1985. ISBN 3-87358-250-3
Heinrich Schmidt : Settlement beginnings. Place and castle in the early and high Middle Ages . In: Christoph Reinders-Düselder: History of the City of Oldenburg, Vol. 1: From the beginnings to 1830 . Verlag Isensee, Oldenburg 1997, pp. 12-35, ISBN 3-89598-400-0 .
Hans-Wilhelm Heine : “Early Castles” between the Ems, Elbe and Werra. A research report . In: Stefan Hesse (Hrsg.): Spurensicherung. 25 years Kreisarchäologie Rotenburg (Wümme) (Archaeological reports of the district Rotenburg (Wümme); Vol. 11). Verlag Isensee, Oldenburg 2004, pp. 305-344, ISBN 3-89995-171-9 .
Gerhard Stahn, Mathias Wiegert: The Heidenwall in Oldenburg . In: Archeology in Germany , 2007, issue 6, pp. 47-48, ISSN 0176-8522 .
Heinrich Schmidt: Oldenburg 1108. Interpretation of a document . In: Oldenburg Yearbook. History, Archeology, Natural History , Vol. 107 (2007), pp. 11-25, especially 19 ff. ISSN 0340-4447
Jana Esther Fries , Hans-Wilhelm Heine: The "Heidenwall". An 11th century castle; a rescue excavation as a contribution to the history of Oldenburg . In: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony , Vol. 27 (2007), Issue 4, pp. 118–124, ISSN 0720-9835 . ( Online, PDF, 392 kB)
Hans-Wilhelm Heine: The "Heidenwall" in Oldenburg. An archaeological contribution to the first mention of Oldenburg in 1108 (guide to the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony; vol. 27). Verlag Isensee, Oldenburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89995-537-8 .
Hans-Wilhelm Heine: "collis gentilium". The "Heidenwall" in Oldenburg (Oldb.), Results of the 2007 excavations . In: Burgen und Schlösser , Vol. 49 (2008), Issue 4, pp. 211–222, ISSN 0007-6201 .
Hans-Wilhelm Heine: The "Heidenwall" near Oldenburg (Oldb.). A wood and earth castle, dated 1032/33 or 1042. In: Peter Ettel (Ed.): Château Gaillard 24. Actes du colloque international de Stirling (Écosse), 30 août-5 September 2008, Caen 2010 . Böhlau, Cologne 2010, pp. 115–121, ISBN 978-2-902685-77-6 .
Jana Esther Fries : Castle between river and moor. The "Oldenburger Heidenwall." In: Archeology in Lower Saxony , 2008, pp. 56–59.

Web links

Commons : Heidenwall (Oldenburg) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Description of the Heidenwall near the city of Oldenburg

Description of the rescue excavation on Heidenwall ( memento from February 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) at the Lower Saxony archaeological portal (deleted photos)