Sanctuary of Nideggen evenings
The Sanctuary of Nideggen evenings is a roman temporal Matronenheiligtum the district evenings the town of Nideggen in Düren . In the sanctuary, after the inscriptions found in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Matronae Veteranehae were venerated.
Finding
In the archaeological area of the sanctuary, there is a concentration of Roman country estates and related metal-smelting operations from the 2nd to 4th centuries. A larger area was excavated in the 1950s at several sites south of the Berg district .
On the western slope and foothills of the "Kirchberg", a narrow, wooded ridge (geological underground Triassic - red sandstone ), above the Rur and the Lüppenau estate, walkers found the first altar fragments with inscriptions in 1977 in the "Kirchbusch" corridor . These inscriptions were published in 1981. In autumn 1983 the area sloping down to the Düstal was prospected and discovered in six plans . The floor plan of a building and a fenced-in courtyard could be determined, which were found directly under the layer of the forest floor. No other buildings such as a temple have yet been identified, although the concentration of altar fragments 35 m north-west of the building suggests other structural structures with a cultic function, or a structural expansion of the complex.
building
The rectangular floor plan with northeast orientation (9.20 × 4.20 m) is in the easternmost part of the excavation area. The foundation walls have a height of 0.86 m to 1.05 m and are built directly onto the sandstone subsoil made of quarry sandstone and wedge-shaped on the north side in order to compensate for the sloping terrain. The 0.5 m thick walls that have been preserved are made of 5–17 cm wide sandstone blocks set against one another with a smooth face, the spaces in between are filled with quarry stone and pebbles and partially mortared. At the corners, massive cuboids were set as corner stones, which two remained. The north-east corner is disturbed and the masonry on the west side shows a 1.36 m long extension with a corner stone at the end. There is a 2.20 m wide entrance on the west side. No evidence of a laid floor was found in the interior, but shows charring in two places indicating the fireplace. Furthermore, shards of vessels and brick fragments have been found, so that when compared with other sites, the building is presumably a brick-roofed half-timbered building that was built on its sandstone plinth.
court
Six meters to the west of the building, an almost square, rectangular courtyard (9.30 × 9.10 m) was enclosed, which was fenced off on all sides by four sandstone pillars at regular intervals of 2.40 to 2.83 m. The rectangular shape (20 × 26–40 × 50 cm base; 44–74 cm height) based on the reconstruction from fragments can be found in other facilities in the region (temple district of Pesch). The rectangular incisions on the upper edge of the pillars indicate that they are typical of Roman fence posts. On the west side, the differing distance between two pillars with 1.72 m indicates this as the entrance to the facility. The floor of the inner surface consisted of red-yellow humus sand, rubble and numerous altar fragments, and there were finds of bronze coins scattered over the surface. Ceramic shards were found concentrated at the entrance outside the facility. Furthermore, large sandstone blocks in the inner surface were addressed as the basis for the installation of the matron stones. The base of a square column shoe was found next to the entrance and a scaled fragment of a column next to it. Scale columns were also found in the Pesch complex as part of the veneration of Jupiter, so that this find can be interpreted as a votive.
Finds
In addition to the matron stones fragmented in the mass, a late Neolithic winged flint arrowhead was found among material finds. Other finds in the context of the construction and operation of the facility were rather unspecific metal objects, coin finds and ceramics.
- Altars
Only one altar was completely preserved during the excavations north of the building and was found in good condition. Based on the found fragments of 53 pairs of upholstery and 54 base fragments, at least 54 matron stones were set up in the complex. Further dedications for the Matronae Veteranehae can be added from the inscribed fragments . These circumstances indicate that the complex is a (central) place of worship in addition to the older documented sites of the Veteranehae in the Nidegg districts of Wollersheim (3 documents) and Embken (9 documents), which have been considered spolia since they were found in late ancient graves and with a high degree of probability, with Frank Biller originally from the site of Abenden. The Abenden altar fragments show a variety of altar types from the simple type (base, inscription panel, cornice with volutes / upholstery, attachment and sacrificial bowl) to the more artificially designed form with figural matron relief and aedicula .
An inscription fragment of an aedicule altar ( Ma [tronis] / Tla [3] / et Ve [teranehis] ) preserved in three lines indicates that the appearance of the Veteranehae in the third line with et in front of it shows that there is a votive stone consecrated to two matron triads so that, according to Biller, in addition to the veterenehae, further, at least one further group of matrons was worshiped in evenings.
- Coins
The focus of the coin finds are three coins from Hadrian , six from Antoninus Pius and three from Marc Aurel . Almost all of the coin finds were made in the courtyard, only one coin comes from the “entrance” of the courtyard; an ace from the time of Claudius Gothicus possibly struck in Milan. The start coin of the series is an Augustan ace from the Lyon mint from the time from 10 to 3 BC. The final coin is a minted by Marcus Aurelius for Faustina from the period from 161 to 176 AD, minted in Rome.
- Metal finds
Among the finds made of metal, a small (3.2 × 1.2 cm) copper hinge brooch (early form of the Hofheim VI a type) from around AD 100 was made as part of a woman's costume, the hinge axis of which was cast from iron. With a trapezoidal cross-section, the bracket shows wave-shaped decorations that narrow from the head to the foot. The stepped foot ends in a semi-plastic decorative head. Triangular needle holder, wide arched square needle broken off at the tip. The distance between the needle and the bracket is 1.3 cm.
A twisted bow with a spiral-shaped end as a presumed part of a cavesson and an iron rod that possibly served as a roasting spit were found between small-scale finds such as nails across the entire area.
- Ceramics
Most of the ceramics found were rough-walled ware, terra sigillata , varnish ware and, to a lesser extent, smooth-walled and Belgian ware , the manufacture of which is dated from the second half of the 2nd century to the beginning of the 3rd century. Furthermore, fragments of the roof tiles with preserved wiping marks were found.
literature
- Frank Biller: Cultic centers and matron worship in the southern Germania inferior. Publishing house Marie Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2010, ISBN 978-3-89646-734-8 , pp. 131-161.
- Harald von Petrikovits : New research on the Roman settlement of the northern Eifel. In: Germania . Volume 34, 1956, pp. 99-125.
- Christoph B. Rüger : Inscription finds from the years 1975-1979 from the Rhineland. In: Ephigraphic Studies. Volume 12, 1981, pp. 287-307.
- Markus Sommer: The sanctuary of the Matronae Veteranehae in the evenings. In: Bonner Jahrbücher . Volume 185, 1985, pp. 313-352.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Christoph B. Rüger: Inscription finds from 1975-1979 from the Rhineland. In: Ephigraphic Studies . Volume 12, 1981, No. 9-11 (= AE 1981, 680 , AE 1981, 681 , AE 1981, 682 ).
- ↑ Catalog Sommer: No. F 1, p. 334 (illustration p. 333); Biller: p. 138f. (= AE 1986, 516 ).
- ^ AE 1986, 517 , AE 1986, 518 , AE 1986, 519 , AE 1986, 520
- ^ Frank Biller: Cultic centers and matron worship in the southern Germania inferior. Rahden / Westf. 2010, pp. 140f.