Hainstadt Fort
| Hainstadt Fort | |
|---|---|
| limes | ORL - ( RLK ) |
| Route (RLK) | Upper German Limes, route 6 (Main line) |
| Dating (occupancy) | Trajan period (around 100 AD) |
| Type | unknown auxiliary force unit (number or cohort) |
| size | 0.9 ha |
| Construction | Wood and earth fort |
| State of preservation | Ground monument, not visible |
| place | Hainburg - Hainstadt |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 4 '39.7 " N , 8 ° 56' 53.6" E |
| height | 105 m above sea level NHN |
Fort Hainstadt was a Roman fort in the area of the Main line of the Upper German-Raetian Limes . It is located southeast of the center of Hainburg - Hainstadt in the Offenbach district in Hesse . The fort seems to have been functionally the predecessor of the later cohort fort Großkrotzenburg or Seligenstadt , because it was probably not occupied for more than 20 to 30 years.
The fort area was completely built over at the end of the 1960s. Nothing of the fort is visible on site.
location
The fort was located in the area of today's main road (L 3065) and the fort road . A part of the northern fort ditch is covered by the main road, on the opposite side there is already the slope of the Main . To the neighboring forts of Großkrotzenburg and Seligenstadt, Kastell Hainburg is 2200 and 4000 meters away, respectively.
exploration
When the fort was discovered in 1967 during development measures for a new residential area, the part adjacent to the main road was already built over. Finds of nine Roman bricks with military stamps led Dietwulf Baatz to the conclusion as early as 1965 that a fort could be assumed here. Excavations followed in 1968 and 1969, in the course of which the remaining findings were combined to form a coherent overall picture of the fort. This was achieved by means of numerous cuts in areas not yet built on or during construction.
investment
For the most part, only the moat of the fort could be identified, a simple circular pointed moat which, according to the findings, only includes a single construction phase. The trench was still preserved with widths between three and four meters. Evidence of the ditch and four interruptions in the gate results in an area of 111.75 by 97.5 meters. The trench has been maintained but has never been dug again. This indicates a longer occupancy time than a marching camp, but probably no longer than 30 years.
Nothing has been proven of the fort fortification or the interior development; these layers were probably already victims of erosion near the river in earlier times . A bathing building near the Main is also suspected, but this could not be proven. Several smaller pits and a large number of finds show that a fence and building must have existed inside. The fort is believed to have been built using a wood-and-earth construction, the buildings made of wood. The numerous bricks found are probably not to be addressed as building roofs, but as remains of hearths or sewer covers, they could also have been carried away from the bathing building.
Later, after the troops had withdrawn, there was a civil settlement building inside, probably a small villa rustica . There are similar findings at the Odenwald Limes, for example from the castles Seckmauern and Hesselbach . How long the settlement existed and whether it had already been abandoned when the Limes fell could not be determined from the few finds.
Dating
Fort Hainstadt probably belongs to the same time as Fort Hanau-Salisberg or the smaller wood and earth fort Stockstadt . Salisberg belongs to an earlier Limes line from Nidderau -Heldenbergen via Mittelbuchen to the Main near Hanau, as has been proven by new discoveries of two Roman forts near Hanau-Mittelbuchen . The troops there were withdrawn with the completion of the cohort fort in Rückingen and Großkrotzenburg. An analogous process is likely to exist south of the Main for Hainstadt and Seligenstadt. According to this, Salisberg, Hainstadt and Stockstadt correspond to a Limesline of the Domitian - Trajanic period, which was replaced by a line Rückingen-Großkrotzenburg-Seligenstadt (all of which have an approximately similar starting date) towards the end of the reign of Emperor Trajan around 110 AD.
Finds
The finds from the excavations from 1967 to 1969 as well as previous readings support this approach. These include the presence of South Gallic Terra Sigillata , the coarse pottery and the predominantly early brick finds of the Legio XXII Primigenia and the coh. I civium Romanorum . Particularly noticeable is the occurrence of identical brick stamps from both units in Hainstadt and the Salisberg fort bath.
Finds of handmade Germanic goods indicate a further settlement by Alemanni in the 4th century AD. However, the finds break off as early as the 5th century. So there was no continuity to the settlement core of Hainstadt, which is located further to the north-west, and which arose from a Franconian foundation.
Monument protection
The Hainstadt fort is a ground monument under the Hessian Monument Protection Act . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.
See also
literature
- Dietwulf Baatz : The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube. 4th edition. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2347-0 , p. 176.
- Bernhard Beckmann: The Roman fort Hainstadt am Main (Ldkr. Offenbach). With an appendix by Dietwulf Baatz, Saalburg. In: Saalburg yearbook . Volume 28, 1971, pp. 29-51.
- Bernhard Beckmann: Hainburg-Hainstadt OF. In: Dietwulf Baatz and Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (eds.): The Romans in Hessen . 3. Edition. 1989. Licensed edition Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , pp. 333f.
- Bernhard and Christamaria Beckmann: The local ceramics from the area of the Roman Limes fort Hainstadt am Main (Ldkr. Offenbach). In: Bonner Jahrbücher . Volume 178, 1978, pp. 235-258.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dietwulf Baatz: Comments on the new brick stamps from Hainstadt. In: City and District Offenbach a. M. Studies and Research 12, 1965 pp. 350f.
- ↑ Beckmann 1971 p. 39.
- ↑ Beckmann 1971 p. 39; D. Baatz in Beckmann 1971 p. 51.
- ↑ Beckmann 1971 p. 39; Dietwulf Baatz : The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube. Berlin 2000 p. 176.
- ↑ Marcus Reuter : The small Roman fort of Hanau-Mittelbuchen and the course of the eastern Wetterau Limes under Domitian. In: E. Schallmayer (Ed.): Limes Imperii Romani . Contributions to the specialist colloquium “Limes World Heritage Site” in November 2001 in Lich-Arnsburg. Saalburg-Schriften 6, 2004 (Bad Homburg vdH 2004), pp. 97–106. Also internet source ( memento of the original from November 15, 2016 in the internet archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Beckmann 1971 pp. 31 and 36.
- ↑ Beckmann 1971 p. 37.
- ↑ D. Baatz in Beckmann 1971 p. 51.
