Small fort Pfatter

Small fort Pfatter
limes	Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, Danube line
Dating (occupancy)	early Trajan to the 2nd half of the 3rd century
Type	Small fort
unit	unknown number
size	approx. 60 m × 70 (?) m ; (= approx. 0.42 ha)
Construction	Wood earth
State of preservation	ground monument visible in aerial photographs
place	Pfatter - Gmünd
Geographical location	48 ° 58 '26.9 " N , 12 ° 24' 56.2" E
height	322 m above sea level NHN
Previous	Kumpfmühl fort (west)
Subsequently	Fortress of Straubing (east)

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The small fort Pfatter , or Pfatter-Gmünd , is a former Roman military camp that was responsible for guarding a section of the Danube in the “wet Limes” between Regensburg and Passau. The auxiliary fort is located about 2.7 kilometers as the crow flies east of Pfatter in the Upper Palatinate district of Regensburg , Germany .

location

The location of the small fort on the Rhaetian Danube Limes

The ground monument, which cannot be seen with the naked eye, is located in the "Fischeräcker" parcel on the Gmünd district, partly under agricultural land and partly overlaid by a flood dam. In Roman times, the fortification served to secure the Roman province of Raetia and was strategically located at an old crossing over the Danube (Danuvius) not far from the so-called Donausüdstraße . This road, coming from Regensburg , was an important military and trade route connecting the provinces along the Danube.

The small fort built directly on the flood-proof high bank is around 360 m south of the current course of the Danube. The region on the edge of the Gäuboden is characterized by mineral-rich, well-ventilated loess soils that are very fertile and relatively easy to work.

Research history

An "intermediate fort in the Regensburg-Straubing section, for example near Pfatter" was suspected as early as 1930 by the later state archaeologist Paul Reinecke (1872-1958), who was thinking that the distances between the fortifications along the Danube Limes, which were known at the time, were far too large for complete surveillance made.

The site has been observed from an aerial archaeological point of view and has been regularly flown over since 1978 . However, it was not possible to determine the unclear findings. After 1990, the approximately 600 meter long "Fischeräcker" parcel was prospected by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation , and fragments of several military diplomas came to light among other things . The state purchase of a Roman complex of finds from an arm of the Danube near Pfattern-Gmünd in 1999 proved to be significant for the site. Bernd Steidl , head of the Roman department in the State Archaeological Collection, stated at the time that these finds are rare today had occurred to have "rediscovered a previously completely unknown Roman site of the importance of a military camp".

From the year 2000, the American officer and ancient historian George A. Wood, who died in the Iraq war in 2003, took on the site. In addition to a flight, he also undertook thorough site inspections. However, it was not until August 2001, during a systematic overflight for the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation, that aerial photo archaeologist Klaus Leidorf succeeded in recording the trenches of the complex and thus providing evidence of a Roman military camp. In addition to the traces of the garrison, the pictures also showed pits and remains of settlements. In order to check the findings more closely, the site was inspected with magnetometers in May 2005 . Both the small fort and parts of the camp village ( vicus ) were recorded.

Findings

Fort

The rectangular, slightly trapezoidal small fort had an area of around 60 m × 70 m (approximately 0.42 ha). The Roman planners had pushed the structure up to the edge of the flood edge, which resulted in the fortification being reshaped in 1929 with a mighty flood dam, which has since covered the north-eastern half of the fort on the Danube side as well as the Limes accompanying path. Even magnetometers cannot penetrate the dam, which means that this area remains unknown to research and the ultimate length of around 70 m cannot be precisely determined. The small fort Steinkirchen , which is 0.44 hectares in size, offers itself as a comparison property.

The double ditch surrounding the garrison, which served as an obstacle to the approach and for drainage, was suspended in front of the south gate. The outer trench reaches an east-west extension of around 90 m in the southern part, in the north this extension will have been somewhat narrower due to the trapezoidal shape of the facility. A wood reinforcement of the enclosure cannot be determined and may not have existed either.

The dense interior development is oriented towards the south gate. The only possible stone building that could be found in 2005 was in the southwest corner and was around 14 × 20 m in size. The further magnetometer measurements from the inside of the fort are unclear and indicate an intensive wooden structure and burned structures. In addition, cellars and pits filled with earth or fire rubble can be identified. As expected, the Lagerringstrasse (Via sagularis) running inside the camp along the former fence was empty on the measurement images. A possible multi-phase structure of the fort, which the 150-year-old finds suggest, can only be determined through an excavation.

Vicus

The direct apron of the small fort - almost 40 m in the west and east, 20 m in the south - remained empty during the 2005 investigations. The fort vicus showed itself in the adjoining areas, with the focus in the south. Dense, strip-shaped structures indicate a typical mid-imperial camp village with striped houses .

Troop

The department assigned to Pfatter, whose name was unknown, was probably a numerus (Eng. "Unit"). These units belonged to the Roman auxiliary troops and mostly consisted of regionally recruited young locals who did less pay than the actual auxiliary troops (auxilia) and less strict standard service.

Found good

Fort and vicus area

Since the 1990s, during the intensive field inspections up to 2005, many reading finds emerged from the ground, including a large number of ceramic shards as well as coins, fibulae, weapons and costume components, as well as the aforementioned fragments of at least three military diplomas from the Hadrianic - Antonine period. It can be seen from these diplomas that there were veterans among the resident population .

Danube old arm

A rich Roman complex of small finds associated with the small fort, which comes from the nearby arm of the Danube near Pfatter-Gmünd, was acquired in 1999 for the State Archaeological Collection in Munich with funds from the "Friends of Bavarian Pre- and Early History" . To find material includes more than 150 coins from the 1st to the 4th century, 41 brooches, two finger rings - including one made of silver with carnelian - Gemme - several bronze decorative fittings of belts and harnesses, iron weapons parts and equipment as well as many fragments of pottery and brick fragments, including one with the stamp of the 3rd Italian Legion from Regensburg. Noteworthy is a clasp in the shape of the so-called " Thracian Rider ", a rider deity from the lower Danube in military costume. The lead model of a broached brooch in the Celtic trumpet ornament style from the 2nd century testifies to a small workshop for non-ferrous metal processing .

Find evaluation

The evaluation made by Steidl of all finds from Pfatter-Gmünd - in particular the long series of coins and the primers - indicated that a fort was founded in Trajan times around the year 100 AD in 1999 . The end of this fort site will have come in the 80s of the 3rd century - probably as a result of German invasions. This is supported by a hoard of coins from a nearby archaeological site that was interpreted as a Roman estate ( villa rustica ) . Individual finds show that the place was of reduced importance until the 4th, possibly even the early 5th century.

Lost property

The find is in the Archaeological State Collection in Munich.

Monument protection, archiving of findings

The small fort Pfatter is a ground monument in the sense of the Bavarian Monument Protection Act as "D-3-7040-0001: Danube fort with vicus and cemetery of the Roman Empire as well as settlements of the Neolithic, the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Bronze Age and the Late Latène Age as well as settlement before and Early historical time in the aerial photograph, including a trench with two trenches. ” registered and protected. Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to authorization, accidental finds must be reported to the monument authorities.

literature

Wolfgang Czysz , Andrea Faber, Christof Flügel , C. Sebastian Sommer : Sites on the Danube Limes in Bavaria / Sites on the Danube Limes in Bavaria . 2006, pp. 12-13. ( PDF )
Jörg Faßbinder , Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , pp. 73-76. ( PDF )
Thomas Fischer , Erika Riedmeier-Fischer: Pfatter, district of Regensburg, Opf. Small fort and vicus of the middle imperial period . In: This: The Roman Limes in Bavaria. History and locations along the UNESCO World Heritage Site . Pustet, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7917-2120-0 , p. 198.
Thomas Schmidts : A Roman coin find of the 3rd century from Pfatter-Seppenhausen, district of Regensburg . In: Bavarian history sheets . 67, 2002, ISSN 0341-3918 , pp. 43-77.
Bernd Steidl : Military diplomas from the new Raetian Danube fort by Pfatter . In: Bavarian history sheets. 70, 2005, ISSN 0341-3918 , pp. 133-152.
George A. Wood: The Roman Fort Pfatter . In: Contributions to archeology in the Upper Palatinate and Regensburg. Volume 6, ed. from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Verlag Dr. Faustus, Büchenbach 2004, ISSN 1617-4461 , pp. 235-250.

Web links

Small fort Pfatter near Arachne - object database of the German Archaeological Institute and the Archaeological Institute of the University of Cologne.

Remarks

^ Paul Reinecke: A new fort on the Raetian Danube border (Steinkirchen, District A. Deggendorf). In: Germania, 14, 1930. pp. 197-205; here: p. 200.
↑ ^a ^b Bernd Steidl : Finds from a new Danube fort. In: Munich Yearbook of Fine Arts. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2000, pp. 260-261; here: p. 260.
↑ MilitaryTimes: Army Capt. George A. Wood
↑ ^a ^b Jörg Faßbinder , Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , pp. 73-74.
↑ ^a ^b Jörg Faßbinder, Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , p. 74.
↑ ^a ^b Jörg Faßbinder, Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , p. 75.
↑ ^a ^b Jörg Faßbinder, Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , p. 76.
^ Anne Johnson (German adaptation by Dietwulf Baatz ): Römische Kastelle . Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1987, ISBN 3-8053-0868-X , pp. 36-37
↑ ^a ^b Bernd Steidl: Finds from a new Danube fort. In: Munich Yearbook of Fine Arts. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2000. pp. 260-261; here: p. 261.
↑ Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments: List of monuments, Upper Palatinate Region, Regensburg, Pfatter (PDF file; 135 kB) , as of July 5, 2012, p. 5

[1] Paul Reinecke: A new fort on the Raetian Danube border (Steinkirchen, District A. Deggendorf). In: Germania, 14, 1930. pp. 197-205; here: p. 200.

[Prestel_2000_260-2] Bernd Steidl : Finds from a new Danube fort. In: Munich Yearbook of Fine Arts. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2000, pp. 260-261; here: p. 260.

[3] MilitaryTimes: Army Capt. George A. Wood

[Faßbinder_2005_73-74-4] Jörg Faßbinder , Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , pp. 73-74.

[Faßbinder_2005_74-5] Jörg Faßbinder, Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , p. 74.

[Faßbinder_2005_75-6] Jörg Faßbinder, Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , p. 75.

[Faßbinder_2005_76-7] Jörg Faßbinder, Martin Pietsch: Closing the gaps on the Danube Limes - the small fort of Pfatter-Gmünd . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2005 . Edited by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Society for Archeology in Bavaria e. V. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISSN 0721-2399 , p. 76.

[8] Anne Johnson (German adaptation by Dietwulf Baatz ): Römische Kastelle . Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1987, ISBN 3-8053-0868-X , pp. 36-37

[Prestel_2000_261-9] Bernd Steidl: Finds from a new Danube fort. In: Munich Yearbook of Fine Arts. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2000. pp. 260-261; here: p. 261.

[10] Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments: List of monuments, Upper Palatinate Region, Regensburg, Pfatter (PDF file; 135 kB) , as of July 5, 2012, p. 5