Hulbælte
Hulbælte or Hulbælterne ( German Lochgürtel ) are a genus from the Iron Age of Jutland in Denmark . These are small round pits that run five to seven times, in quincunx patterns, in rows three to four meters wide over some distance through the country. Hulbælterne were primarily designed as straight lines, but they also surround villages.
Hulbælter are known from around 20 places in Denmark, almost exclusively in central and western Jutland. The first perforated belt was discovered in 1960 in Green Toft, about 7 miles from Torsted. The many holes were difficult to explain and so the facilities received no further attention until 1999. With the excavation of the perforated belt of Lystbæk Gard (also Lystbækgaard) north of Torsted and the discovery of a row at Holstebro, it was clear that Hulbæltern deserved attention.
Find places
In the 1960s and 1970s a row of holes over 600 meters long was discovered near the village of Grøntoft in West Jutland. The holes, approximately 15 cm in diameter, were 15-20 cm deep and were arranged in 5-7 rows close together, forming a belt about 3.0 m wide. Some kind of entrance to the area was 12.5 m wide. The belt looked like the marks of a palisade that enclosed part of the village. It seemed to have emerged at the same time as the settlement that began in the Iron Age around 400 BC. Existed. In 1991 a similar plant was found near Lystbaekgaard, near Hover Å, only about 12 km from Grøntoft in West Jutland. It was a 3.5 m wide belt made up of 7–9 rows of closely spaced holes. Around 2200 holes were counted over a length of 100 meters in Lystbaekgaard. In an excavation field, the system of holes ended abruptly, only to continue after a few meters, as was the case at several points in Grøntoft. The row turned to the north. It formed a large L with a total length of over 200 meters. No doubt the belt was originally longer, but the south was destroyed by erosion. In the north it disappeared under a road and a plantation. In contrast to the hilly terrain at Grøntoft, the Hulbælte at Lystbaekgaard was level.
The plants at Lystbaekgaard and Grøntoft are not the only ones. A similar system of slightly offset Hulbælter runs through Nøvling Plantation and also through Bjødstrup on the motorway from Herning to Bording. At Liseborg on the outskirts of Viborg there is a straight Hulbælte almost 600 m long. The same applies to Rammedige southwest of Lemvig and Engedal between Viborg and Holstebro .
The function of the Hulbælterne has been the subject of controversy in recent years. Everything indicates that they were obstacles to approach. During the siege of Alesia in 52 BC. Caesar's troops are said to have used this technique (albeit with much larger pitfalls) to protect against falling out of the besieged. The holes remained open or were covered with branches and twigs.
See also
literature
- Lis Helles Olesen: Rammedige et forsvarsværk fra jernalderen . Holstebro Museums Årsskrift 2003, pp. 23–36.
- Bo Steen: Stolpehulsbæltet ved Risum Østergård . Holstebro Museums Årsskrift 2005, pp. 15–27.
- Bo Steen: Forsvarsanlæg and bebyggelse ved Tvis Møllevej . Holstebro Museums Årsskrift 2009, pp. 5–19.