Hunzel Fort

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hunzel Fort
limes ORL 5 ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes ,
route 2 (Lahn-Aar)
Dating (occupancy) Middle of the 2nd century
(replaced Marienfels Castle )
to the middle of the 3rd century.
Type Numerus fort
unit unknown number
size 84 m x 89 m = 0.75 ha
Construction stone
State of preservation invisible ground monument
place Hunzel / Naststätten
Geographical location 50 ° 14 '47.9 "  N , 7 ° 49' 40.3"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 14 '47.9 "  N , 7 ° 49' 40.3"  E
height 270  m above sea level NHN
Previous Small fort Becheln
(northwest)
Subsequently Small fort Pohl
(east)
Backwards ORL 5a: Marienfels Castle
(south; earlier)

The fort Hunzel is a former Roman garrison at the Upper Germanic Limes , the status since 2005 UNESCO world cultural heritage has. The camp, designed for a numerus , is located today as a ground monument outside the settlement area of Hunzel ( Verbandsgemeinde Nastätten ), a local community in the Rhineland-Palatinate Rhein-Lahn district .

location

Location of the fort
at the time of the excavations (1896)

The former Hunzel fort is located on the land that is now used for agriculture, around 750 m west of the center of Hunzel at a height of around 207 m. The distance between the fort and the actual Limes line running north of the camp is around 165 m. In between, a gently sloping side valley begins with the so-called “Engwiesen”, which is formed by the Hunzelbach, which continues eastwards towards the valley of the Mühlbach. The camp is located about 1.3 km northeast of the Marienfels Castle (ORL 5a), which it replaced in the middle of the 2nd century.

Research history

The Hunzel fort was archaeologically excavated in 1896 by Robert Bodewig , the local route commissioner of the Reich Limes Commission . The excavations were impaired by the extreme wetness of the soil in the northern part of the camp, and the findings inside the fort were already severely disturbed by the plowing of the site at the time of the excavation.

A smaller follow-up examination was carried out in 1992 in connection with sewer construction work.

Findings

Fort floor plan and terrain profiles based on the findings of the RLK (1896)
Site plan of the fort and the neighboring watchtowers

Fort

The Hunzel military camp is an almost rectangular stone fort. The length of its pretorial front was 84.50 m, that of its rear front 83.50 m. On the principal sides, the inequalities were even less pronounced with 89.20 m on the right and 89.00 m on the left. In total, it thus covered an area of ​​approximately 7500 m² (0.75 ha). The camp was surrounded by an average of 1.20 m thick defensive wall, the stones of which were bricked with lime mortar. The rounded corners of the fence were not provided with towers. In front of the wall - after a berm about one meter wide - there was a four meter wide and 1.37 m deep ditch. The four- gate fortification was oriented with its Porta praetoria (front gate, main gate) to the northeast, towards the Limes. The porta Praetoria , the Porta principalis dextra (right side gate) and the Porta principalis sinistra (left side gate) were each flanked by two defensive towers, while the Porta decumana (rear gate) had no towers.

The Via Principalis (the two side gates connecting Lagerstrasse) and two buildings could be identified from the interior development . The main staff building of the camp, the Principia , were largely preserved. The Principia were a total of 27.40 m by 19.75 m stone building, the outer walls 60 m and the intermediate walls 50 cm thick. From the front (NE) one got through two transverse halls into a central atrium . The atrium and transverse halls were flanked on both sides by two longitudinal halls. This part of the building complex was followed by a courtyard. Finally, the rear of the facility was formed by a five-room suite. The middle of these five rooms, the flag shrine ( Aedes ), had a semicircular apse protruding 1.50 m from the wall . Of the second stone building, which was near the Porta decumana , only a seven meter long and 80 cm wide wall could be detected. This finding was interpreted as a storage building (Horreum) .

Vicus

The fort vicus could only be localized to a certain extent over a length of about 100 m due to a few stray finds southeast of the Porta decumana . The fort baths were searched in vain that RLK was at the time believed that the Baths of abandoned fort Marienfels by the crew of Hunzeler fortification were further used.

Dating and occupancy

Fort Hunzel was built around the middle of the 2nd century AD. It replaced the Marienfels castle, which was only 1.3 km to the southwest, and existed until the middle of the 3rd century. Details about the occupation of the camp, a number , are not known.

Limes course between the Hunzel fort and the Pohl small fort

From the Hunzel fort, the Limes stretches eastwards to the following small fort Pohl. In doing so, it first passes the area of ​​today's center of the municipality of Hunzel and then runs through agriculturally used and forest terrain. It is superbly preserved in the forest area, but has largely disappeared on the agricultural areas. On its way to Pohl , it rises continuously by a total of almost 70 meters.

Traces of the Limes structures between Fort Hunzel and the small fort Pohl :

ORL Name / place Description / condition
ORL 5 Hunzel Fort see above
Wp 2/19 "On the back field" Ernst Fabricius , who as route commissioner headed the excavations of the Reich Limes Commission in 1900, could only determine the tower site to a certain extent on the basis of a high concentration of finds and fire rubble. Since the Limes ditch is no longer particularly well preserved in this area (3.50 m wide by 1.05 m deep), it can be assumed that the tower has been demolished over the centuries as a result of intensive plowing or washing away of the site.
Wp 2/20 "On the Billscheskopf"
Wp 2/20
The remains of a stone tower were discovered in 1898 on a knoll about 100 m from Hunzel. The square tower had a side length of 4.23 m. It was 5.50 m to 5.80 m away from the middle of the Limes trench. The moat in front of the tower was interrupted, but not the Limes palisade.

A suspected wooden tower could not be found in a second excavation in 1900.

Today nothing can be seen in the area.

Wp 2/21 "Am Landgraben"
Wp 2/21 site plan
Wp 2/21 terrain profile
Wp 2/21 stone tower
Wp 2/21 wooden towers
At the tower site of Wp 2/21, which had already been mentioned by August von Cohausen (1884), Fabricius was able to prove a stone tower and two wooden towers in 1898.

The square stone tower had a side length of around 4.50 m and 80 cm thick walls. It was surrounded by a rectangular trench, the greatest width of which was found to be 1.50 m and its maximum depth of 60 cm. The drainage ditch was interrupted on the northern side facing the Limes ditch, and a drainage ditch began at its southeast corner.

The two wooden towers were on one and the same platform, about 8.50 m in diameter, which was surrounded by an inner and an outer ring moat. The diameter of the inner trench was about 12 meters (with a width of 3.30 m), that of the outer trench was around 19 meters (with a width of 2.50 m). Only the inner ring trench had an interruption on its northern side. The posts for the two wooden towers were sunk into the platform . The posts of the inner tower were 30 cm thick, their distance from each other was 2.61 m. The posts of the outer tower were 4.92 m apart with a post thickness of 33 cm by 35 cm. The findings clearly showed that the inner one was the older of the towers, which had been destroyed by fire.

Wall and moat of the Limes ran immediately north of the tower point, whereby the ring ditches of the wooden tower point were intersected by the wall. Both the wall and the large moat, but not the palisade moat, had a narrow interruption immediately northwest of the stone tower.

The tower can still be found in the area today.

Wp 2/22 Square stone tower with a side length of 5.40 m and a wall thickness of 85 cm. The tower was located 32 m from the middle of the bottom of the large trench, which at this point was 5.80 m wide and 1.60 m deep. The trench showed no interruption in this area. An older wooden tower could not be found. Today nothing can be seen in the area.
Wp 2/23 Suspected, but not proven, tower site in the immediate vicinity of the small fort Pohl.
KK Small fort Pohl see main article small fort Pohl

Monument protection

The Hunzel Fort and the aforementioned ground monuments have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage as a section of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes since 2005 . In addition, the facilities are cultural monuments according to the Monument Protection and Conservation Act (DSchG) of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

See also

literature

Web links

  • Kastell Hunzel on the website of the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Culture Rhineland-Palatinate
  • Fort Hunzel on the website of the German Limes Commission
  • The one at Kastell Hunzel ( memento from May 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on the old website of the tourist information office of the Nastätten municipality

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b The slightly sloping terrain drops from the rear to the Praetorial Front by 5.50 m, from the right to the left flank of the fort by 6.10 m.
  2. ↑ ORL = numbering of the Limes structures according to the publication of the Reich Limes Commission on the O bergermanisch- R ätischen- L imes.
  3. ↑ ORL XY = consecutive numbering of the forts of the ORL.
  4. ↑ Wp = W oh p east, watch tower. The number before the slash denotes the Limes section, the number after the slash denotes the respective watchtower.
  5. ↑ Wp 2/19 at 50 ° 14 '49.83 "  N , 7 ° 49' 54.09"  O .
  6. ↑ Wp 2/20 at 50 ° 14 '55.66 "  N , 7 ° 50' 30.74"  O .
  7. ↑ Wp 2/21 at 50 ° 14 '56.87 "  N , 7 ° 51' 7.66"  O .
  8. ↑ Wp 2/21 at 50 ° 14 '56.88 "  N , 7 ° 51' 8.47"  O .
  9. ↑ a b Measured from outer edge to outer edge.
  10. ↑ Wp 2/22 at approximately 50 ° 15 '3.32 "  N , 7 ° 51' 38.5"  O .
  11. ↑ Wp 2/23 at approximately 50 ° 15 '5.5 "  N , 7 ° 52' 4"  O .
  12. ↑ KK = unnumbered K linseed K astell
  13. ↑ DschG or DSchPflG RP