Kleindeinbach small fort

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Kleindeinbach small fort
limes ORL Wp 12/22 ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Route 12
Dating (occupancy) no later than 260 AD
Type Small fort
size 24.90 × 24.90 m
(= 0.06 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation slightly polished rubble wall
place Kleindeinbach
Geographical location 48 ° 47 '50.8 "  N , 9 ° 45' 17.3"  E
height 413  m above sea level NHN
Previous Lorch Fort (west)
Subsequently Small fort Hintere Orthalde (east-northeast)
Backwards Small fort Freimühle (southeast)
Fort Schirenhof (southeast)

The small fort Kleindeinbach was a Roman military camp , which is today on the old corridor "Schlößle" northeast of the village of Kleindeinbach , a district of Großdeinbach , district of Schwäbisch Gmünd , in the Ostalb district in Baden-Württemberg . It was built in connection with the Rhaetian Limes , which ran along around 45 meters to the north and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 . The small complex was also a border fort between the Roman provinces Germania superior and Raetia .

location

Landscape model with the Schirenhof fort in the upper area of ​​the picture, the Freimühle fort in the center and the Kleindeinbach fort with the Limes at the bottom

The small fort called "Wp 12/22" by the Reichs-Limeskommission (RLK) is located just behind the wooden palisade of the Limes that runs almost exactly in a south-easterly direction . From this border fortification or a bridge shortly behind it comes wood that was most likely already built in 164 AD. This finding coincides with the palisade from Schwabsberg , which can be dated to the years 165/166 AD. The Roman builders built the small fortification in the middle half of the Rotenbachtaler western slope on a slightly protruding slope. From here it was possible to observe a section of the Limes, the provincial border in the Rotenbachtal and the Limes descending into this valley and climbing up again on the opposite side. The fort crew was able to contact the western Limes tower Wp 12/21 above them and the tower Wp 12/23 on the eastern slope; In addition, the cohort fort Schirenhof , located about two kilometers to the south-east, was also visible, which provided the best conditions for direct signal exchange, which could also take place via the small fort Freimühle further down .

Research history

The knowledge of an old fortified place has probably never been completely lost, as the old field name "Bürschel" (southern German for Burgstall ), on which the Kleindeinbach small fort is located, attests. At the beginning of the 19th century, the up to then partially preserved masonry of the fortification, which was also known as the "Schlößle", was completely razed. In 1888 and 1892 Ernst von Herzog and Major Heinrich Steimle examined the fortification on behalf of the RLK.

Building history

Plastic representation of the small fort and the course of the Limes

During the excavations on the 24.90 × 24.90 meter large, square complex made of existing Liassandstones , a 1.25 m wide enclosure wall with rounded corners was exposed. It was found that there was only one single-lane inlet in the middle of the south side, facing away from the Limes, which is around 45 meters to the north. Dieter Planck suspected that this system belonged to the Rötelsee type , which has been much better researched .

It is believed that the small fortification was designed for ten to twenty soldiers. Since the Kleindeinbach small fort was the easternmost fortification in the Roman province of Germania superior , it was speculated whether the crew had not been assigned here from the Lorch fort to the west .

The border area between Germania superior and Raetia in the Limes area is unusually densely occupied with Roman military bases. The proximity of the Lorch cohort fort on the edge of the Germania superior province and Schirenhof in Raetia also seem to confirm this impression. Perhaps a certain independent action of those responsible for the provincial administration becomes visible here. The expansion of the imperial border in Stein, which was only carried out in Raetia , could be evidence of this.

Limes course between the small fortifications Kleindeinbach and Freimühle

Traces of the Limes between the small fortifications Kleindeinbach and Freimühle
ORL Name / place Description / condition
Wp 12/21 Tower not visible.
Wp 12/22 Kleindeinbach small fort see above
Provincial border
The beginning of the Rhaetian Wall in the area sloping down to the Rotenbachtal
Cast of the fragment of the altar from the provincial border
A few meters east of the small fort Kleindeinbach, the western slope falls into the Rotenbachtal. 90 meters west of the Rotenbach is the beginning of the Rhaetian Wall and the province of Raetia . While in the province of Germania superior the imperial border was indicated with a wooden palisade or later with a rampart and ditch, Raetia afforded a three meter high and 1.2 meter wide white plastered stone wall with red grout lines simulating brickwork . This wall reached as far as the Danube. On behalf of the Reichs-Limeskommission, Steimle found the upper part of a large altar made of the pending parlor sandstone at this location in May 1895. The fragment is 66 centimeters high, 86 centimeters wide and 44 centimeters thick. Four rosettes can be seen on the front surface of its multi-stepped cornice, and no inscription can be seen under the cornice; the ray-shaped grooves visible there probably date from post-Roman times and could have been created during tool grinding, perhaps by lumberjacks. It is assumed that the altar was designed in color and that the missing inscription was painted on , possibly in honor of the Fines , the border deities. Such an inscription was found near Vinxtbach on the provincial border between Germania superior and Germania inferior . The Rotenbachtal fragment is now in the Limes Museum in Aalen . In 1983 another small excavation took place at this point. The city of Schwäbisch Gmünd then arranged for the beginning of the wall, made of Liassand stones, to be visibly preserved.
Rotenbach valley floor
In the course of the redesign of the fort area of ​​Freimühle, the older palisade and the younger Rhaetian wall were reconstructed in the Rotenbachtal south of the historical border.
Route of the Limes wall through the valley floor of the Rotenbach

Excavations in the Rotenbacher Talgrund, which were carried out in 1977 and 1983 in connection with the construction of a sewer system and a dirt road, were of particular importance for the dating of the imperial border. The brook itself has changed its course several times since antiquity, so the remains of the Limes wall still visible in the brook in antiquity were probably on dry land. The archaeologists were able to recover oak trunks with a diameter of up to 0.55 meters, which either come from the older Raetian wooden palisade or from a stream bridge located just behind it. Dendrochronological comparisons by the Botanical Institute of the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim under Bernd Becker (1940–1994) showed that all the trunks were felled in the winter of 163/164, which means that the palisade was built in the year 164 AD. This date coincides with other investigations on the Roman border fence, which confirms the uniform structure of the system. The samples obtained in Schwabsberg in 1969 and 1974 were dated to the year 165 AD by the two dendrochronologists Ernst Hollstein (1975) and Becker (1976). The Rhaetian Wall runs from the Rotenbacher Talgrund up the eastern slope of the valley and was reinforced in this area with rear support pillars due to the sloping terrain. After the construction of the dirt road, the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd restored the Rhaetian Wall as a fortified profile east of it.

KK Freimühle small fort

Monument protection

The Kleindeinbach small 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 Act of the State of Baden-Württemberg (DSchG) . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

See also

literature

  • Dietwulf Baatz : The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube . 4th edition, Mann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-786-12347-0 , p. 251.
  • Christian Fleer: Typification and function of the small buildings on the Limes. In: E. Schallmayer (Ed.): Limes Imperii Romani. Contributions to the specialist colloquium “Limes World Heritage Site” in November 2001 in Lich-Arnsburg. Bad Homburg v. d. H. 2004, ISBN 3-931267-05-9 , pp. 75-92 (=  Saalburg-Schriften 6).
  • Dieter Planck , Willi Beck: The Limes in Southwest Germany . 2nd edition, Theiss, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-8062-0496-9 .
  • Bernd Becker : Felling dates of Roman construction timbers based on a 2350 year old South German oak tree ring chronology . In Find reports from Baden-Württemberg 6 (1981), ISBN 380621252X , pp. 369-386.
  • Andreas Thiel : Pre- and Early History , p. 11 f. In Die Kunstdenkmäler in Baden-Württemberg. City of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Volume I: City history, city fortifications, Heiligkreuzmünster . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-422-06381-1 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Czysz , Frank Herzig: New dendrodata from the Limes Palisade in Raetia . In: Andreas Thiel (ed.): Neue Forschungen am Limes 3, Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2251-7 , p. 191.
  3. ↑ Bernd Becker : Felling dates for Roman construction timbers based on a 2350 year old South German oak tree ring chronology . In: Find reports from Baden Württemberg 6, Theiss, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 380621252X , pp. 369–386.
  4. ↑ Wp 12/77, stone tower, at 48 ° 54 '57.97 "  N , 10 ° 7' 51.61"  O .
  5. ^ Ernst Hollstein : Central European Oak Chronology . von Zabern, Mainz 1980. ISBN 3805300964 , p. 115.
  6. ^ A b Dieter Planck (ed.): The Romans in Baden-Württemberg . Theiss, Stuttgart 2005. ISBN 3-8062-1555-3 , p. 314.
  7. ↑ ORL = numbering of the Limes structures according to the publication of the Reich Limes Commission on the O bergermanisch- R ätischen- L imes
  8. ↑ Wp 12/21 at approximately 48 ° 47 '50.99 "  N , 9 ° 45' 0.39"  O
  9. ↑ Route of the Limes wall through the valley floor at 48 ° 47 ′ 53.9 ″  N , 9 ° 45 ′ 33.8 ″  E ; Reconstruction of the Limes palisade and wall (not at the original location) at 48 ° 47 ′ 26.01 ″  N , 9 ° 45 ′ 42.99 ″  E ; Limes course at 48 ° 47 '54.8 "  N , 9 ° 45' 50.34"  E ; Limes course at 48 ° 47 '59.5 "  N , 9 ° 46" 14.95 "  E
  10. ^ Ernst Hollstein: Central European Oak Chronology. von Zabern, Mainz 1980. ISBN 3805300964 . P. 115; Philipp Filtzinger (Ed.): The Romans in Baden-Württemberg . 3. Edition. Theiss, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-8062-0287-7 , p. 488.
  11. ↑ Hans Ulrich Nuber: Schwäbisch Gmünd in early historical times . In: History of the City of Schwäbisch Gmünd . Theiss, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-8062-0399-7 , p. 32.
  12. ↑ KK = unnumbered K linseed K astell.
  13. ↑ Small fort Freimühle at 48 ° 47 ′ 29.44 ″  N , 9 ° 45 ′ 49.42 ″  E