Small fort Henchir Mgarine

Small fort Henchir Mgarine
Alternative name	Agarlabas / agarlavas?
limes	Limes Tripolitanus
Dating (occupancy)	2nd year up to ; 5th year
Type	Small fort
size	67 m × 67 m (= 0.45 ha)
Construction	stone
State of preservation	partially well-preserved complex with visible structural structures
place	Henchir Mgarine
Geographical location	33 ° 46 ′ 17.8 " N , 9 ° 24 ′ 54.6" E
height	91 m
Subsequently	Clausura Bir Oum Ali (northwest)
Backwards	Small fort Henchir Temassine (east)

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The small fort (top left) in the Limes Tripolitanus network

The small fort Henchir Mgarine is a former Roman military camp of the principate , the crew of which was responsible for rearward security and surveillance tasks on the Limes Tripolitanus in the province of Africa proconsularis , later Tripolitania . The Limes here consisted of a deep system of forts and military posts. The small facility is located near the regional road P16 coming from Gabès between El Hamma and Kebili in Schott Fedjedj on the northern edge of the Djebel Tebaga in southern Tunisia , Gabès governorate .

Location and research history

The plant was built in front of the northern edge of a large, west-east extended depression , which is dominated by a sedimentary basin with a salt lake . In the south rises the crescent-shaped anticline of the Djebel Tebaga , stretching from northeast to southwest . The Tebaga mountain ranges, which descend steeply to Schott Fedjedj, form a natural barrier. For the strategists entrusted with the Roman border security, the situation arose to set up suitable barrier systems to the south and north of the mountain formation in order to build up enemy attacks on the economically important coastal imperial area. At the same time, effective controls should be given to legal and illegal trade. South of the Djebel Tebaga, the Tebaga-Clausura was an elaborate barricade made of walls, towers and ramparts, from the end of which the entire bulkhead and the small forts Henchir Temassine and Henchir Mgarine could be seen over the cliffs of the ridge. The forts erected on the southern edge of the bulkhead were located on an important west-east running route that led from Turris Tamalleni (Telmine) via Aquae Tacapitanae (El Hamma) to the port of the trading center Colonia Tacapae (Gabès). Immediate securing of the salt lake was not seen as necessary, since all movements there could be seen from afar. Therefore only the roads leading to the south and north were secured with small forts and small barriers.

Aerial photographs reveal the small fort as well as field inspections. Before the brief report by the French archaeologist Pol Trousset in 1974, only the central building had been described. Even the British archaeologist David J. Mattingly only made small additions to Trousset's report ten years later. Mattingly conducted inspections of the site to date the pottery.

Surname

The Itinerarium Antonini , a 3rd century directory of the most important Roman imperial roads, could give an indication of the name of the garrison site. There a station called Agarlabas or Agarlavas is named, which according to the description could be located here. But other locations are also assumed for this name.

Building history

The square, around 67 × 67 meters (= 0.45 hectare) sandstone fortification has an approximately 1.40 meter wide surrounding wall and is elevated on a three meter high hill. The four corners of the complex are rounded off, without the remains of corner towers being detectable. After the superficially explored findings, the only entrance to the small fort is assumed to be in the middle of the south-east wall. A central building made of Opus africanum can be seen within the wall ring , which is relatively well preserved. Nevertheless, it must be noted that the site had already suffered from severe stone robbery during investigations in the late 20th century, especially with regard to the smaller stone material. After a French-Tunisian project carried out from 1968 to 1970 to explore the southern Tunisian section of the Limes Tripolitanus, Trousset pointed out a wall inside the small fort in 1974 that ran parallel to the north-western fortification at a distance of around seven meters. In 1982 Mattingly was able to observe similar wall remnants along the south-west and south-east perimeter walls at the same distance. Mattingly assumed that Henchir Mgarine could be an enlarged version of the Tisavar model . Thus, uniform rooms for teams as well as utility and service rooms would have been built around a free-standing central building along the surrounding wall.

Dating

The garrison owned an extensive camp village ( vicus ) with pottery. After field inspections it could be shown that ceramics could be assigned mainly to the 3rd century. In this assessment, however, the vessel shapes belonging to the second and fifth centuries should not be disregarded. The dating of the civil settlement may take up a longer period than the military location.

literature

Paul Toussaint: Résumé des reconnaissances archéologiques exécutées par les officiers des brigades topographiques d 'Algérie et de Tunisie pendant la campagne de 1903-1904 . In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques . Paris 1905, pp. 56-74; here: p. 70.
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 . P. 52.
David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 100.

Remarks

↑ 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.
^ Tebaga-Clausura, north-western end point at 33 ° 45 '10.7 " N , 9 ° 32' 11.01" E33.752972222222 9.5363916666667
↑ ^a ^b ^c 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 . P. 52.
^ So Bordj Tamra . In: 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 . P. 21.
^ ^A ^b David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 100.

[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] Tebaga-Clausura, north-western end point at 33 ° 45 '10.7 " N , 9 ° 32' 11.01" E33.752972222222 9.5363916666667

[Trousset_1974_52-3] 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 . P. 52.

[4] So Bordj Tamra . In: 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 . P. 21.

[Mattingly_1994_100-5] A ^b David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 100.