Bir Mahalla small fort

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Bir Mahalla small fort
Alternative name Bir Mehalla
limes Limes Tripolitanus
rear Limes line
section Eastern Sand Sea
Dating (occupancy) diocletian (?)
Type Small fort
Construction stone
State of preservation Stone building with a rectangular floor plan
place Bir Mahalla
Geographical location 33 ° 3 ′ 21 ″  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 27 ″  E
height 310  m
Previous Praesidium Si Aioun (southeast)
Subsequently Small fort Tisavar (west)
Backwards Wadi-Skiffa-Clausura (east; backward Limes line)
Wadi-Skiffa-Clausura (south) (southeast; backward Limes line)
Wadi-Zraia-Clausura (northeast; backward Limes line)
The small fort (left) in the Limes Tripolitanus network

The small fort Bir Mahalla or Bir Mehalla is a site in the ascending mountains of Dahar in southern Tunisia , Tataouine governorate . As a late Roman military camp, the small, rectangular facility could have taken on security and surveillance tasks on the Limes Tripolitanus in the Province of Tripolitania . The border fortifications formed a deep system of forts and military posts.

location

The small fortification, founded in the sloping terrain on the upper reaches of the Wadis bel Recheb, is located on the rise of an ancient pass road coming from the Eastern Sand Sea over the strata of the Dahar mountains in the middle of an arid Arthrophytum steppe. The pass road began at the small fort Tisavar , which was located on the lower reaches of the same wadi, and led over the Wadi Skiffa to the Djebel Demmer, a mountain group on the ridges of the Dahar, which was secured there by several barriers (Clausurae) . The Wadi-Skiffa-Clausura was on the upper reaches of the Wadi Skiffa , and the Wadi-Skiffa-Clausura (south) was located in a neighboring valley to the south, which was also accessible from Bir Mahalla . and the Wadi-Zraia-Clausura could be reached via the Wadi Zraia .

A small unit of Roman soldiers controlled the movement of goods in Bir Mahalla and, in conjunction with other rear positions, secured the access to the Dahar and the densely populated area of ​​the province in the east against unauthorized border crossings. In the area of ​​the eastern descent from the Djebel Dahar was the important fort Talalati, built to secure the border in AD 263 . In the building inscription found there, this border section is referred to as Limes Tripolitanus .

Research and construction history

As the name Bir (fountain) suggests , one of the rare water points on the edge of the desert has existed in this area since ancient times. The archaeologist and Limes pioneer Paul Gauckler (1866–1911) published the find for the first time by presenting a previously unpublished report by the explorer Paul Blanchet (1870–1900) to science . In it, he first reported on the discovery of a Roman well at least six meters deep or a Roman cistern with a circular opening. It was located south of the wadis bel Recheb some distance before the confluence with the wadis Zeridib and Mahalla. Next to the water point, the remains of two stone troughs were well preserved. In a small valley about 400 meters from this point, Blanchet found a tower-like “Roman outpost” , which was built very similar to the Tibubuci Centenarium .

The facility, which may also be viewed as a military centenarium , was sometimes referred to as a fortified farm after it was discovered. This older opinion has challenged recent research. Today, consideration is being given to Bir Mahalla - which in terms of building type could have been built in the 3rd century at the earliest - as part of the late antique, tetrarchic expansion stage of the Limes, when the northwestern Centenarium Tibubuci was also created. Possibly the crew should check nomads from the Sahara before they reach the Clausura .

literature

  • Paul Gauckler : Enquête sur les installations hydrauliques romaines en Tunisie. Vol. 1, Tunis 1900, p. 204.
  • Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , pp. 94-95.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Michael Mackensen : forts and military posts of the late 2nd and 3rd centuries on the "Limes Tripolitanus" . In: Der Limes 2 (2010), pp. 20–24; here: p. 22.
  2. ↑ Wadi bel Recheb at 33 ° 4 '32.79 "  N , 9 ° 49' 7.52"  O , 32 ° 55 '20.15 "  N , 9 ° 35' 16.2"  O
  3. ↑ Helmut Leippert, Hans Zeidler : Vegetation Geography - North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria) 32 ° −37 ° 30′N, 6 ° −12 ° E (= Africa maps , series N, supplement 7), Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin / Stuttgart 1984 , ISBN 3-443-28336-5 , p. 53.
  4. ↑ fortlet Tisavar at 33 ° 0 '30.97 "  N , 9 ° 36' 58.38"  O
  5. ↑ Wadi-Skiffa-Clausura at 33 ° 2 '16.89 "  N , 10 ° 9' 12.82"  E
  6. ↑ Wadi-Skiffa-Clausura (south) at 33 ° 0 ′ 32.79 ″  N , 10 ° 9 ′ 45.6 ″  E
  7. ↑ Wadi-Zraia-Clausura at 33 ° 6 '13.63 "  N , 10 ° 9' 17.7"  E
  8. ↑ Kastell Talalati at 32 ° 59 '13.29 "  N , 10 ° 20' 38.75"  O
  9. ↑ CIL 8, 22765 .
  10. ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines) C.N.R.S., Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , pp. 94-95; Centenarium Tibubuci at 33 ° 12 '58.07 "  N , 9 ° 48' 1.35"  E
  11. ^ David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. Batsford, London 1995, ISBN 0-7134-5742-2 , p. 106.
  12. ^ Maurice Euzennat : Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale. In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. 1972, pp. 7-27; here p. 19 ( full text ).
  13. ↑ Jean-Marie LASSERE: Ubique populus. Peuplement et mouvements de population dans l'Afrique romaine de la chute de Carthage à la fin de la dynastie des Sévères (146 a. C. – 235 p. C.). (Études d'antiquités africaines), Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1977, ISBN 2-222-01950-8 , p. 360.