Small fort Güßgraben

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Small fort Güßgraben
Alternative name Small fort on Güßgraben
limes ORL - ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Rhaetian Limes,
route 15
Dating (occupancy)
left by 260 AD at the latest
Type Small fort
size 18.5 × 18.5 m = 0.03 ha
Construction stone
State of preservation Rubble walls in the area
place Pubic heads
Geographical location 48 ° 54 '49.2 "  N , 11 ° 32' 20.6"  E
height 450  m above sea level NHN
Previous Böhming Castle (northwest)
Subsequently Small fort on the Hinteren Seeberg (southeast)
Backwards Fort Pfünz (west-southwest)
Fort Kösching (south)
Fort Pförring (south-east)

The small fort Güßgraben (also small fort on the Güßgraben ) was a Roman fortification of the Rhaetian Limes , which was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 2005 . The small fort was built around 27 meters from the Roman border and is now located on the area of Schamhaupten , a district of the Altmannstein community in the Eichstätt district , Bavaria .

Location and research history

Floor plan of the small fort
The fort and its surrounding area

The small fortification in the Güßgraben forest department was built to the southwest of the border fortifications that ran from northwest to southeast at this point. The Limes crosses the upper section of the Schambach valley in a dead straight line. The location of the small fort was chosen slightly higher than the boundary line on the southern slope of the valley. In the past , Friedrich Ohlenschlager (1840–1916), the responsible line commissioner of the Reich Limes Commission (RLK), only marginally cut through its remains due to the dense tree population . No more excavations have taken place since then.

Building history

What is known so far is the square floor plan of the facility with a floor space of around 17 × 17 meters. To the east, and possibly the west, there was a single-gate inlet in the center of the enclosing wall. More detailed investigations at these approaches were obviously not carried out. The employees of the RLK came to the assumption of a western gate, since the rubble wall of the wall in the area of ​​the wall center was somewhat deepened. The width of the wall, which was built on locally existing limestone slabs, was measured at 1.05 meters and was still 0.70 meters high in places during the RLK. No other buildings could be found inside at that time, but wooden structures along the defensive wall for the occupation can be expected. When find material were "only sparse remains the same as those from the guards and some iron nails of potsherds" salvaged. All that is visible today is the rubble of the fort wall in the forest around 27 meters behind the Limes. It is assumed that the interior construction has been carried out in half-timbered construction, as in similar systems.

In Roman times the area was cleared and the view of the Limes was free. To the south of the fortification, on the northern slope of the Teufelskopf, numerous artificial pits could have served the ancient craftsmen to extract stone material for the construction of the Limes wall and the fort.

The rubble hill of the former Limes watchtower WP 15/18 is located around 100 meters north-west of the facility. The nearest small fort on the Hinteren Seeberg is around 2.5 kilometers to the south-east.

Along with the towers, small forts were one of the main bases of the Roman troops directly behind the Limes. However, their use is usually unknown.

Limes course from the small fort Güßgraben

Traces of the Limes between the small fortifications Güßgraben and Am Hinteren Seeberg.
ORL Name / place Description / condition
KK Small fort Güßgraben see above
Wp 15/19 The Limes, also called the Devil's Wall here, leads as a clearly visible rubble wall with a palisade ditch from the small fort Güßgraben in a south-easterly direction and after about 500 meters crosses a dry valley. To the east, the 505 meter high Öchselberg falls into this valley. At its slope edge is between 476 and 480 m above sea level. NHN Wp 15/19 accepted. This location would have allowed the Romans to monitor the dry valley, which cuts through the Limes from north to south, in which an ancient old road is suspected. The archaeologists were able to approximately determine the former location with the help of longitudinal profile measurements. During these measurements, the line of sight between the nearest Limes watchtowers is checked, based on the reconstruction models by Dietwulf Baatz . Based on his calculations of the former average tower heights, it is assumed that the eye level of the guards on the upper floor of a tower was 7.60 meters above the ground.
Wp 15/20 "Öchselberg"
The location of Wp 15/20
Wooden and stone tower
At Wp 15/20 the Raetian Wall reaches its highest point on the Öchselberg, although it rises slightly further south. At this watchtower, the Limes runs along the south-east facing plateau of the Öchselberg and can be easily recognized in the area. The older wooden tower hill is covered by the Limes wall, which was built later. To the east of this square a 4.9 × 5.1 meter stone tower was found, which had a stone slab covering inside.
Wp 15/21 The debris wall of the Limes, which continues to move in a south-easterly direction, is getting lost on the descent into the Steinsdorfer Grund. Above this south-east-north-west oriented valley, which narrows sharply in the area of ​​the Limes, on the western slope of the Öchselberg at around 480 meters above sea level Wp 15/21 is assumed. From here it was possible to see the ground around 50 meters below. On the opposite side of the valley, on the rise of the terrain to the 492 meter high Hinteren Seeberg, according to the ORL, the watchtower Wp 15/22 was around 40 meters lower than Wp 15/21 and a little further to the west was the small fort on Hinteren Seeberg. Both posts and the fort had visual contact with one another. In addition, at least from Wp 15/21, Wp 15/23 located in the summit area of ​​the Hinteres Seeberg could be viewed.
KK Small fort on the Hinteren Seeberg

Monument protection

The small fort Güßgraben and the facilities mentioned are protected as registered ground monuments within the meaning of the Bavarian Monument Protection Act (BayDSchG) . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to authorization, accidental finds must be reported to the monument authorities.

literature

See also

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ A b Ernst Fabricius, Felix Hettner and Oscar von Sarwey (eds.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire , Section A, Volume 7: The routes 14 and 15, Petters, Heidelberg 1933, p. 35.
  2. ↑ a b Thomas Fischer, Erika Riedmeier-Fischer (ed.): The Roman Limes in Bavaria . Pustet, Regensburg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7917-2120-0 . P. 150.
  3. ↑ a b Hermann Kerscher: On the course of the Raetian Limes through the Köschinger Forest - an overview based on airborne laser scan data. In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2006. p. 103.
  4. ↑ ORL = numbering of the Limes structures according to the publication of the Reich Limes Commission on the O bergermanisch- R ätischen- L imes
  5. ↑ KK = unnumbered K linseed K astell
  6. ↑ Hermann Kerscher: On the course of the Raetian Limes through the Köschinger Forest - An overview based on Airborne laser scan data. In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2006. p. 104.
  7. ↑ At Wp 15/20 West ; at Wp 15/20 East .
  8. ↑ Hermann Kerscher: On the course of the Raetian Limes through the Köschinger Forest - An overview based on Airborne laser scan data. In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2006. p. 103, fig. 127.
  9. ↑ At Wp 15/21 .