Lochmühle fort

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Lochmühle fort
limes ORL - ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes
route 4 (East Taunus) / route 3 (Hochtaunus route)
Dating (occupancy) Mid 2nd century to 260
Type Small fort
unit Vexillatio of the Cohors II Raetorum civium Romanorum equitata
size 18 × 22 meters
(= 0.04 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation Ground monument with perceptible traces of the ground
place Lochmühle near Wehrheim
Geographical location 50 ° 16 '55.7 "  N , 8 ° 35' 10.8"  E
height 305  m above sea level NHN
Previous ORL 11: Kastell Saalburg (southwest)
Subsequently ORL 12: Kapersburg Fort (northeast)

The small fort Lochmühle is a Roman fort at the transition from the western Taunus route (route 3) of the Upper Germanic Limes , which was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 2005 , to the east Taunus route (route 4).

Location, research and construction history

Today's ground monument , of which weak terrain deformations can still be seen, is located southwest of Wehrheim , a municipality in the Hessian Hochtaunuskreis in a wooded area of ​​the Lochmühle leisure park . It was presumably an outpost of the Saalburg fort , which was around three kilometers away, and was used to secure the difficult-to-access Köpperner valley . The small facility is one of the attractions of the amusement park. A short educational trail, the Römer Parcours , explains the facility in a child-friendly way. The Limes ran around 30 meters from the garrison . It is conceivable that a wooden watchtower preceded the small fort.

The rectangular, 18 × 22 meter (around 400 square meters) small fort was excavated in 1871 by the archeology pioneer Karl August von Cohausen (1812-1894). It turned out that the facility had a 1.60 meter wide surrounding wall with rounded corners. In the north-west was the only gate of the fortification, which was directed towards the Limes. Remains of underfloor heating were found in the southeast area of ​​the small fort .

The small fort was probably occupied by around 30 men at the time it was in use. The surrounding watchtowers were also supplied from here.

Findings and today's presentation

  • Lochmühle small fort based on research by the Reich Limes Commission

  • Attempted reconstruction on a notice board

  • Northeast corner of the small fort

  • Limes in the Lochmühle area

  • Access in the northwest

  • Limes palisade at the small fort

Limes course between the small fort Lochmühle and the fort Kapersburg

Traces of the Limes structures between the small fort Lochmühle and the Kapersburg fort
ORL Name / place Description / condition
KK Lochmühle fort see above
Wp 4/1 " In the Köpperner community forest " The tower location of a stone tower excavated and conserved by Louis Jacobi in 1893 was already documented by Karl August von Cohausen . The floor plan of the tower had an aspect ratio of 5.28 m to 5.40 m, the thickness of its walls was 88 cm to 93 cm. The tower was 29 meters away from the apex of the Limeswall passing the tower in a northerly direction.
Wp 4/2 " On the Gray Mountain "
Wp 4/2
The tower site of a stone tower already documented by Cohausen, which was excavated and preserved by Louis Jacobi in 1893.

In this tower with an approximately square floor plan, an interior space of 3.45 m by 3.58 m side length was enclosed by a 1.00 m to 1.10 m thick wall. The distance from the tower to the top of the Limes Wall was 25 m.

Wp 4/3 " In the Rodheim Forest "
Profile of the Limes at Wp 4/3
The documented tower site of a stone tower, which was already documented at Cohausen, was archaeologically examined by Friedrich Kofler in 1872 and again in 1893 .

The tower, made of quartzite , had an almost square floor plan, the external dimensions of which were 5.75 m by 5.75 m and the internal dimensions 3.78 m by 3.75 m. On the outside, the red dummy joints applied to the white plaster could be detected. The tower was surrounded by a weakly preserved ditch, the distance between the tower and the apex of the Limeswall was 25 meters.

Wp 4/4 "Grenzstein 15/194" Tower location of a stone tower with unusual dimensions, only 350 m above sea level from Wp 4/3. The tower had already been documented by Carl Rossel and Cohausen and was excavated by Fritz Kofler in 1893. According to his documentation, the floor plan of the tower was 7.70 m long and 6.10 m wide. The thickness of the masonry was 95 cm. Both the outside and the inside are said to have been plastered with white mortar, which was painted with a red dummy joint paint.
Wp 4/5 "North side of the Gray Mountain"
Wp 4/5
position
Wp 4/5
floor plans and profile
Complex group of Limes structures, which had already been documented by Carl Rossell and Karl August von Cohausen and then repeatedly examined by Friedrich Kofler and Eduard Anthes . The group consists of two wooden towers, a stone tower and another building that has been addressed as an auxiliary building.

The western wooden tower, which was about 80 m from the top of the Limeswall, was surrounded by a double ring ditch system. The pointed, inner ditch had a diameter of 13.4 m and was interrupted on its north side, towards the Limes ditch, to a width of around 1.5 m. A transition with stone embroidery led through the interruption. The diameter of the outer, completely closed trench was 21.0 m. In the center of the complex, in 1893, Kofler discovered 1.40 m below the tower hill, an 8.10 m diameter, multi-layer stone layer in the form of a cladding. The ceramic finds beneath this layer were of prehistoric character, the finds above were of Roman origin. In 1896, Anthes determined the four post holes in the tower, which formed a rectangle with an aspect ratio of 4.50 m to 4.25 m.

The eastern wooden tower was 34 meters from the western tower and 91 meters from the Limes Wall. It only had a simple ring trench 15 meters in diameter. In the center of the system were the post holes of the stud frame, which formed a square with a side length of 5.60 m.

Immediately to the northwest of the eastern wooden tower point, another hill was examined in 1872 by Cohausen and in 1875 by Fritz Kofler and finally in 1896 by Eduard Anthes. Cohausen and Kofler want to have identified stone packings in the center of the system and a ring of upright stones surrounding the building. Kofler also found a circular trench around nine meters in diameter and 0.30 to 0.98 m deep. These results were not confirmed by Anthes, who noted a square structure with sides of 5.40 m made of dry stone. In the absence of unambiguous findings , the building was somewhat vaguely referred to as an outbuilding for an indefinite purpose.

The stone tower was only 28 meters away from the wall. It had a rectangular floor plan with an aspect ratio of 5.75 m to 5.85 m. Its walls were about a meter thick. After the tower had been examined by Kofler around 1873/1874, it was "excavated by gentlemen from Homburg in autumn 1876" .

In a study, the archaeologist Thomas Becker examined the animal bones recovered from sentry post 4/5, which the soldiers left behind as food waste. At this point in the tower it turned out that the small ruminants - sheep and goats - dominated here in terms of the number of bone fragments. The beef and the pork were also important.

Wp 4/6 "Young beeches" Tower location of a single stone tower documented by both Rossel and von Cohausen, which was examined by Kofler in 1893. The tower had a rectangular floor plan of 5.666 m to 5.45 m side length. Its masonry was one meter thick and had a base protruding 27 cm on the inside. The outside was plastered with mortar, while the inside was just smeared with clay. The floor was made of rammed earth. The distance from the tower to the top of the Limes Wall was around 50 meters.
Wp 4/7 " On the Käspfad " Tower part of a single stone tower mentioned by Rossell and Cohausen and excavated by Kofler in 1893. The tower had a square floor plan with sides of 5.40 m, the thickness of the foundation walls was 93 cm. The outer walls were covered with white mortar plaster on which red dummy joints were painted. The tower was about 25 m away from the Limes.
Wp 4/8 " Knight graves "
Wp 4/8 "Knight's Graves"
The tower consists of a south-west and north-east wooden tower and an outbuilding made of dry stone. In this respect a very similar investment to Wp 4/5. The stone tower there was missing in Wp 4/8. Presumably the younger wooden tower was replaced by the isolated stone tower Wp 4/7.

In addition, at the northeastern edge of the ensemble there is an older Roman earth hill, which in the form of an irregular square with a wooden fence delimited an area of ​​around 750 m². While Baatz (1974, 1993 and 2000) still referred to the complex as a small fort, the more recent literature (Rupp / Birley 2005 and Klee 2009) is more reserved and speaks of a “Roman earth hill”.

Wp 4/9 " At the wave mountain " The tower part of a single stone tower mentioned by Karl August von Cohausen, which was examined by Friedrich Kofler in 1893. The tower had a square floor plan with a side length of 5.65 m. The thickness of its walls was 1.15 m. The outside of the tower was plastered with white mortar. In the plaster layer there were deeply carved dummy joints that were painted red.
Wp 4/10 Vaguely suspected but not proven tower location.
ORL 12 Kapersburg Castle see main article Kapersburg Castle

Monument protection

The small fort Lochmühle and the adjoining Limes structures have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage as a section of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes since 2005 . In addition, they are ground monuments according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

See also

literature

  • Dietwulf Baatz and Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (eds.): The Romans in Hessen . 3. Edition. 1989. Licensed edition Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , p. 346.
  • Dietwulf Baatz: The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube. 4th edition. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2347-0 , pp. 142-145.
  • Ernst Fabricius , Felix Hettner , Oscar von Sarwey (ed.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire / Abt. A, Vol. 2.1. Legs 3 to 5, leg 3 . Petters; Heidelberg, Berlin and Leipzig 1936, p. 151f. and panel 11, fig. 3.
  • Ernst Fabricius, Felix Hettner, Oscar von Sarwey (ed.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire / Abt. A, Vol. 2.1. Legs 3 to 5, leg 4 . Petters; Heidelberg, Berlin and Leipzig 1936, pp. 51–59 and plate 3, figs. 1–4.
  • Christian Fleer: Typification and function of the small buildings on the Limes. In: Egon Schallmayer (Ed.): Limes Imperii Romani. Contributions to the specialist colloquium “Limes World Heritage Site” in November 2001 in Lich-Arnsburg. Bad Homburg vd H. 2004, ISBN 3-931267-05-9 (Saalburg-Schriften 6), pp. 75–92.
  • Margot Klee : The Roman Limes in Hessen. History and sites of the UNESCO World Heritage. Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7917-2232-0 , pp. 109-112.
  • Margot Klee: The Limes between Rhine and Main. Theiss, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-8062-0276-1 , pp. 86-89.
  • Charles-Marie Ternes : The Provincia Germania Superior in the picture of the younger research. In: Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . Series II, Volume 5, 2. de Gruyter, Berlin 1976, p. 798.
  • Vera Rupp , Heide Birley: Hikes on the Wetteraulimes. Archaeological hikes on the Limes from the Köpperner Tal in Taunus to the Drususeiche near Limeshain . Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1551-0 , (Guide to Hessian Pre- and Early History, 6), pp. 72–83.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Ernst Fabricius , Felix Hettner , Oscar von Sarwey (ed.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roemerreiches / Abt. A, volume 2.1. The routes 3 to 5. Petters; Heidelberg, Berlin and Leipzig 1936, p. 39 as well as plate 8, fig. 6, p. 39.
  2. ↑ ORL = numbering of the Limes structures according to the publication of the Reich Limes Commission on the O bergermanisch- R ätischen- L imes
  3. ↑ KK = unnumbered K linseed K astell.
  4. ↑ 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. An additional asterisk (*) refers to a guard on the older Limes line.
  5. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, pp. 105, 16.
  6. ↑ At 50 ° 17 '7.54 "  N , 8 ° 35' 17.91"  O .
  7. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, p. 104, 15.
  8. ↑ At 50 ° 17 '23.86 "  N , 8 ° 35' 28.43"  O .
  9. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, p. 104, 14.
  10. ↑ At 50 ° 17 '26.01 "  N , 8 ° 35' 50.64"  O .
  11. ^ Carl Rossel: The Roman border defense in the Taunus . Limbarth, Wiesbaden 1876, p. 11, note 13.
  12. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, p. 104, 12.
  13. ↑ Limesblatt, column 257.
  14. ^ Carl Rossel: The Roman border defense in the Taunus . Limbarth, Wiesbaden 1876, p. 9.
  15. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, p. 102 ff., 11 as well as plate 9, fig. 7.
  16. ↑ At 50 ° 17 '36.81 "  N , 8 ° 36' 33.54"  O .
  17. ↑ Limesblatt, column 258.
  18. ↑ At 50 ° 17 '36.93 "  N , 8 ° 36' 35.36"  O .
  19. ↑ At 50 ° 17 '38.68 "  N , 8 ° 36' 15.19"  O .
  20. ↑ ORL A II.1, section 4, p. 55.
  21. ↑ Thomas Becker : Archaeozoological investigations on animal bone finds from watchtowers and small forts on the Limes . In: Peter Henrich (Ed.): The Limes from the Lower Rhine to the Danube . Contributions to the Limes World Heritage Site 6, 2012, pp. 157–175, here: p. 160.
  22. ^ Carl Rossel: The Roman border defense in the Taunus . Limbarth, Wiesbaden 1876, p. 9.
  23. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, p. 102, 8.
  24. ↑ At 50 ° 17 '54.47 "  N , 8 ° 37' 3.76"  O .
  25. ^ Carl Rossel: The Roman border defense in the Taunus . Limbarth, Wiesbaden 1876, p. 9, note 7.
  26. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, p. 102, 5.
  27. ↑ At 50 ° 18 '14.95 "  N , 8 ° 37' 20.48"  O .
  28. ↑ At 50 ° 18 '17.82 "  N , 8 ° 37' 27.27"  O .
  29. ↑ At 50 ° 18 '18.93 "  N , 8 ° 37' 29.19"  O .
  30. ↑ At 50 ° 18 '20.03 "  N , 8 ° 37' 31.4"  O .
  31. ↑ Dietwulf Baatz : The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube. 4th edition. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2347-0 , p. 145.
  32. ↑ Dietwulf Baatz: Limes. Hochtaunus route . In the S. and Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann: The Romans in Hesse. Licensed edition of the 1982 edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , p. 398.
  33. ↑ Vera Rupp, Heide Birley: Walks on the Wetteraulimes. Archaeological hikes on the Limes from the Köpperner Tal in Taunus to the Drususeiche near Limeshain . Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1551-0 , (Guide to Hessian Pre- and Early History, 6), p. 77.
  34. ^ Margot Klee: The Roman Limes in Hesse. History and sites of the UNESCO World Heritage. Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7917-2232-0 , pp. 109-112.
  35. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, p. 99, 3.
  36. ↑ At 50 ° 18 '31.13 "  N , 8 ° 37' 50.87"  O .
  37. ↑ ORL XY = consecutive numbering of the forts of the ORL.
  38. ↑ 50 ° 18 '46.95 "  N , 8 ° 38' 8.39"  E