Klein Freden (desert)
Klein Freden is a desolate, fallen settlement in the Fredenberg district in Salzgitter - Lebenstedt , which existed from around the 8th to the 13th century. Their remains were discovered in 1993 when a new building area was being developed . During the excavations carried out up to 1996 , the former location was largely archaeologically examined. Klein Freden is one of the largest extensively excavated sites of the Middle Ages in Lower Saxony and is considered to be one of the best-researched desert areas in southeastern Lower Saxony.
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location
Klein Freden lay on the top of an elongated gravel island in a lowland through which the Flothe and Fuhse waters flow . Because of the surrounding waters and swamps, it was a protected settlement that had been visited by people since the Bronze Age . About two kilometers to the south rise the Lichtenberge of the Salzgitter ridge , in which Lichtenberg Castle, first mentioned in 1180, stands.
Today the former village center is located within Fredenberg in the area of the elementary school, as well as the Dürerring, Spitzwegpassage and Leiblweg streets. It was almost completely built over when it was developed as a new development in the 1990s. A smaller area at the edge of the desert was archaeologically examined again during an excavation in 2005.
history
In historical sources, Klein Freden is first mentioned in the Steterburg Annals in 1180 as in parvo Vreden . Klein Freden belonged to the prince-bishopric of Hildesheim and was sold in 1339 to the neighboring bailiwick of Salzgitter-Lichtenberg , which was already owned by the Guelphs at that time . The residents of Klein Freden were relocated to the shelter of nearby Oberfreden and the settlement fell into desolation . In 1548 the former settlement is called Wiese.
excavation
During construction work for a primary school in a newly developed area in the Fredenberg district, remains of medieval buildings were discovered in the ground in 1993. The discovery initially led to an emergency excavation by the Braunschweig branch of the Institute for Monument Preservation . The excavations , led by archaeologist Michael Geschwinde , developed into a key archaeological project that lasted until 1996. Extensive uncovering made it possible to almost completely explore the layout of the medieval settlement. The excavations were under great time pressure because of the planned construction work. After more than a year of excavation, it became clear in 1995 that the large area could no longer be examined in a timely manner using conventional excavation methods. From this point, the references were having an electro-optical total station documented, which allowed the immediate digitization of findings in the field and the fast acquisition of large areas. Around 30,000 m² of the desert, which extends over a total of around 50,000 m², was examined.
Finds
The house layouts that were discovered are multi-house farms typical of this area in the Middle Ages. A clear allocation of the building traces in the ground was not always possible because the house floor plans were incomplete or overlapped. The nine residential buildings found were constructed using the post construction and the earlier swell construction.
36 pit houses could be recognized. It was an outbuilding for handicraft activities for textile production, which could be proven by found loom weights and traces of a loom. Finds and findings were well preserved in a mine house that burned down in the 11th century. A completely preserved ceramic vessel, an iron flax hackle, parts of a door lock and a key were found there for fire protection. The carefully applied clay plaster was still on the inner walls.
The found ceramic vessels, such as ball pots, grooved handle cups made of gray and yellow earthenware and Guelph ceramics, can be assigned to the first half of the 13th century. The non-ferrous metal finds include a knife sheath fitting, a spur buckle and a profiled buckle, which are also dated to the 13th century.
The only building with a stone foundation was in the center of the settlement. Inside, the remains of paving and chimney-like remains of a fireplace were visible. Therefore it could have been a two-story representative house. Based on the location and the construction method, it was only created at the beginning of the 13th century. The stone construction shows that not only simple farmers lived in Klein Freden.
The other of the 2,313 findings include four cellars, eleven earth cellars and storage pits, 27 pits, a straw store, 33 trenches, nine ovens, nine ovens, five lanes and a total of 1,341 post pits .
vegetation
During the excavations, 13 wells were discovered, which were evenly scattered over the area of the earlier settlement. Their shafts, made of limestone and up to 5.5 m deep, contained rich finds. There were animal and plant remains as well as completely preserved ceramic vessels. Seeds and remains of plants have been well preserved in the damp well sediments. They were subjected to an archaeobotanical investigation in order to gain knowledge about the medieval vegetation conditions around the settlement. About 90 cultivated and wild plant species could be identified. There are only a few cultivated plants among them. Fruit plants are completely absent, while the otherwise common species such as hazelnut, blackberry and raspberry are underrepresented. Grains of wheat , rye , oats and barley bear witness to the cultivation of grain in the settlement. Weed species allowed conclusions to be drawn about a three-field economy on clay soil and arable soils rich in bases . The abundance of evidence for the presence of nitrogen-loving plants such as nettles has been interpreted to mean that large areas were once grazed by horses. Due to their nitrogen-rich droppings, these plants settled preferentially. A similar spectrum of plants was found in a well as during the excavation of the Düna manor .
Results and evaluation
According to the results of archaeological investigations, Klein Freden was built in the 8th and 9th centuries and at that time had the character of a medieval hamlet with loose buildings. In terms of function, it was initially viewed as a Fronhof , with the focus on textile production. In the 11th century there was a massive expansion of the settlement, the development of which was concentrated in the northeast. At the end of the 12th century, the pit houses used for weaving were leveled and arable farming declined in favor of grazing. During this time, several wells were built, which apparently served for pasture use. The bone material found, which is dominated by horses and especially stallions, speaks for horse keeping and horse breeding for the nearby Lichtenberg Castle. Without there being any proof, the horses kept during this period could have served as messenger and pack horses , which were called parafredi or parafredos at the time. The place name Klein Freden, which was first mentioned in 1180 as in parvo Vreden , could be derived from this term .
After the investigation was completed, an information board on the Klein Freden desert was set up on the edge of the former excavation site in the Braunschweig landscape . In 2017 the table was renewed and supplemented with more recent findings that had emerged from research into the archaeological finds.
literature
- Michael Geschwinde , Susanne Hanik, Gisela Wolf: Salzgitter-Fredenberg. Archeology, archeozoology and paleo-ethnobotany of a medieval settlement ( Online , pdf, 1.8 MB)
- Sonja MA König, Michael Geschwinde: Cloth and horses. The high mediaeval farm Klein Freden in Salzgitter. In: Mamoun Fansa , Frank Both, Henning Haßmann (editor): Archeology | Land | Lower Saxony. 400,000 years of history. State Museum for Nature and Man, Oldenburg 2004. Pages 329–332.
- Sonja König: ... lütken Freden wisk ... The medieval settlement Klein Freden near Salzgitter from the 9th - 13th century. Siedlung - Fronhof - Horse keeping in the series of material booklets on the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony , Volume 36, Rahden / Westphalia, 2007
Web links
- Description at Braunschweigische Landschaft on denkmalpflege.bsl-ag.de
- Time travel Fredenberg
- Medieval horse station discovered in Wolfenbütteler Zeitung on September 18, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chronicle Lichtenberg , chap. Genesis, pp. 65–124
- ↑ Where courier horses once grazed near the city of Salzgitter from September 14, 2017
Coordinates: 52 ° 8 ′ 50.8 ″ N , 10 ° 17 ′ 21.6 ″ E