Mainhardt-Ost small fort

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Mainhardt-Ost small fort
limes ORL Wp 9/69 ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes
Vorderer Limes, route 9
Dating (occupancy) at the earliest around AD 159/160 (or AD 233?)
until AD 259/260 at the latest.
Type Small fort
size 25.4 × 25 m
(= 0.06 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation not visible anymore
place Mainhardt
Geographical location 49 ° 4 ′ 49.5 "  N , 9 ° 33 ′ 43.5"  E
height 467  m above sea level NHN
Previous Mainhardt Castle (north)
Subsequently Small fort Hankertsmühle (south)
The Vordere Limes with the older Neckar-Odenwald-Limes to the west
The small fort according to the excavation results from 1975

The small fort Mainhardt-Ost was a Roman fortification of the principate on the Upper Germanic "Front Limes" , which in 2005 achieved the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site . The small fort was discovered on the ground of what is now a part of the municipality of Mainhardt in the district of Schwäbisch Hall , Baden-Württemberg and, after research, destroyed by new buildings.

location

The small fort was built at a distance of around 4.5 kilometers from the small fort Hankertsmühle to the south . A similar distance could also be determined for the small fort Ebnisee to Rötelsee and could be typical for the smaller military stations on the Limes. The distance to Fort Mainhardt is only around 300 meters, to the Limes it is 30 meters. The Roman military facilities and the camp village ( vicus ) of Mainhardt were built on the northern foothills of a plateau about three kilometers wide. To the west, a brook flowing into the Brettach river valley , which has left a deep cut in the terrain, bordered the ancient settlement. The land slopes steeply to the north and east towards the Brettach. The location was largely determined by the Front Limes , which ran straight from northwest to southeast and took no account of the respective topographical terrain. The border line crossed the narrow river valley north of the settlement and climbed the slope to the plateau between the Brettach, which bends to the southeast and the forts.

Research history

Until well into the 20th century, the fort, which was completely forgotten in local history, was only just under a field. The last owner of the property said that in some places he had to keep lifting the plow because it was hindered by rocks. In the spring of 1975, development and sewerage work began in the planned Mainhardt-Ost new building area, with two construction pits for a one-family house and a two-family house being dug in the northern part of the area on what was then the Herrenwiesen corridor . The local researcher Horst Clauß, who observed this work, discovered there on April 26, 1975 remains of the wall in a sewer ditch under today's Keltenring and hid Roman ceramic shards . The proximity to the Limes immediately made him think of a Roman military installation. On the same day, an investigation was carried out in which the rounded southwest corner of the fort could be exposed. On April 29, the Department of Soil Monument Preservation of the Baden-Württemberg State Monuments Office began its work under the direction of excavation technician Eugen Stauß. The emergency excavation had to be completed by May 19 of the same year . Despite the rapid involvement of the authorities, the construction company had pushed ahead with the earthworks on the neighboring property and unnecessarily destroyed almost the entire northern flank of the small fort.

Building history

During the excavations it became apparent that the 0.90 meter wide surrounding wall, built from roughly hewn local sandstone, was still well preserved and up to 0.70 meters high in places. In the interior of the square, 25.4 × 25 meter complex, numerous post pits were recorded along this wall . Larger and smaller pits appeared at regular intervals, particularly on the west side. The pits belonged to a wooden battlement, which leaned against the defensive wall and was supported at the back by wooden stands. The gate facing east towards the Limes - the only one in the complex - was fully examined. It had a clear width of three meters and was flanked by two 3.30-meter-long tongue walls that jumped into the interior of the camp. A single post pit was found in the middle of the gate passage, which could possibly have belonged to a small tower erected above the entrance or to a secured platform.

As an obstacle to the approach, there was an approximately two meter wide pointed ditch around the fortification. However, due to the tight schedule imposed by those responsible for the planned rebuilding, only part of this trench could be uncovered before it was destroyed.

The findings inside the small fort could not always be clearly recognized due to various earth movements that had taken place since the end of the Front Limes . Various post pits and ditches that belonged to the wooden interior construction emerged under a final layer of fire interspersed with fired clay . The floor plans of these buildings could no longer be properly determined, but they can be supplemented by excavation results from comparable small forts such as the Rötelsee complex. In Mainhardt-Ost, for example, there was a development arranged in a square that opened towards the gate. The resulting inner courtyard was fortified in the ground, which could still be determined during the excavation.

On function and dating

Around 20 to 30 men were stationed in the small fort Mainhardt-Ost. The archaeologist and Limes expert Dieter Planck summarized a number of small forts on the Upper Germanic Limes, which are similar in size, construction and distance from the border wall, under the name Rötelsee type field guards . On the basis of datable finds in the systems he has examined, he assumes that this type probably only emerged in the late 2nd century. The archaeologist Andreas Thiel dated this type of fort even more recently, to the late Limes period. The reduction in the number of troops at that time resulted in a reorganization of the border surveillance. In the place of the constantly manned tower positions, the small fort of this type had now appeared in order to cope with the surveillance of the border with a crew that would no longer have been sufficient to fill the tower positions.

Along with the towers, small forts were one of the main bases of the Roman troops directly behind the Limes. In the course of the Limesfall , which led to the abandonment of the Agri decumates (Dekumatland) in 259/260 AD , the remaining Roman border fortifications were evacuated by the troops if they had not already been violently destroyed. Coins from the reign of Emperor Gallienus (253–260) were found in the Rötelsee small fort. From the also on the Near Limes built fortlet Haselburg a is Antoninian is Gallienus coined earlier 259th

Finds

The found material includes some iron objects and the ceramics that are represented in large numbers. As has also been proven at similar small forts on the Front Limes , Mainhardt-Ost did not belong to the early phase of this Limes line. A large number of ceramic pots with heart-shaped or sickle-shaped edges, which are typical of the late 2nd and first half of the 3rd century, were particularly striking.

Monument protection

The ground monument is protected as a registered cultural monument within the meaning of the Monument Protection Act of the State of Baden-Württemberg (DSchG) . Research and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval. Incidental finds are to be 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 .
  • Horst Clauss: The small fort Mainhardt-Ost. In: Württembergisch Franken. Yearbook of the Historical Association for Württemberg Franconia. 72, 1988, pp. 355-360.
  • Dieter Planck: The Romans in Baden-Württemberg. Roman sites and museums from Aalen to Zwiefalten. Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3806215557 , p. 204.
  • Dieter Planck, Willi Beck: The Limes in Southwest Germany . 2nd edition, Theiss, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-8062-0496-9 .
  • Dieter Planck: The discovery of a small fort on the Limes in Mainhardt, Schwäbisch Hall district. In: Archaeological excavations in Baden-Württemberg 1975. 1976, p. 35ff.

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Andreas Thiel : On the function of the small fort on the Upper German Limes . In: Yearbook 2003/2004 of the Heimat- und Altertumsverein Heidenheim an der Brenz e. V. Heidenheim 2004, ISSN  0931-5608 , p. 72f.
  2. ↑ fortlet Hankertsmühle at 49 ° 3 '19.36 "  N , 9 ° 34' 18.23"  O .
  3. ↑ fortlet Ebnisee at 48 ° 55 '33.6 "  N , 9 ° 37' 9.3"  O .
  4. ↑ fortlet Rötelsee at 48 ° 53 '11.72 "  N , 9 ° 38' 1.84"  O .
  5. ^ Horst Clauss: The small fort Mainhardt-Ost. In: Württembergisch Franken. Yearbook of the Historical Association for Württemberg Franconia. 72, (1988), pp. 355-360; here: p. 360.
  6. ^ Dieter Planck, Willi Beck: The Limes in Southwest Germany . 2nd edition, Theiss, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-8062-0496-9 , p. 73.
  7. ↑ a b c d e Horst Clauss: The small fort Mainhardt-Ost. In: Württembergisch Franken. Yearbook of the Historical Association for Württemberg Franconia. 72, 1988, pp. 355-360; here: p. 355.
  8. ^ Dieter Planck: Mainhardt (Schwäbisch Hall district) (short report). In: Find reports from Baden-Württemberg, Volume 8. 1983. P. 299.
  9. ↑ Dieter Planck: The Upper Germanic and Raetian Limes. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World . History and culture of Rome as reflected in recent research. Part II. Principate. Volume 5, 1. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1976, ISBN 3110066904 , p. 422.
  10. ↑ a b c Horst Clauss: The small fort Mainhardt-Ost. In: Württembergisch Franken. Yearbook of the Historical Association for Württemberg Franconia. 72, 1988, pp. 355-360; here: p. 356.
  11. ^ Egon Schallmayer: The Limes. Story of a border. C. H. Beck Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3406480187 , p. 65.