Small fort on the Reckberg

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Small fort on the Reckberg
limes Lower Germanic Limes
Dating (occupancy) a) 1st century
b) End of 1st / beginning of 2nd century
to middle of 3rd century
Type Small fort
size 33 m × 34.5 m
Construction a) Wood-earth warehouse
b) Stone fort
State of preservation Invisible ground monument, reconstructed watchtower
place Neuss - Grimlinghausen
Geographical location 51 ° 10 '30.3 "  N , 6 ° 45' 59.5"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 10 '30.3 "  N , 6 ° 45' 59.5"  E
height 42  m above sea level NHN
Previous Novaesium (east-southeast)
Subsequently Durnomagus (south-southeast)

The small fort on Reckberg is a former Roman fortification of the Lower Germanic Limes . Today's ground monument is located together with the neighboring, reconstructed watchtower on Reckberg in a forest east of the Neuss district of Grimlinghausen .

location

The two buildings, which presumably belong to the same period, were on two sand dunes on the edge of the lower terrace of the Rhine, about three kilometers east of the legionary and auxiliary camps of Novaesium . From these dunes, the so-called “First” (watchtower) and “Second Reckberg” (small fort), which lay between the river and the Roman road running from Novaesium to Durnomagus , a wide view over the Rhine lowlands and the neighboring garrisons was guaranteed. In today's settlement geography, the two soil monuments are located in a small wooded area in the middle of agricultural areas between the Neuss districts of Grimlinghausen and Uedesheim , immediately north of the “Am Reckberg” road.

Small fort

The small fort was on the western slope of the "Second Reckberg" and had two construction periods. The younger stone fort had an almost square floor plan with its side dimensions of 33.0 m by 34.5 m. The defensive wall was 1.9 m thick. Their corners were rounded, on their insides were the drawn-in cheeks of the 5.4 m deep towers. With its single gate, a simple construction with also recessed cheeks and a passage width of three meters, the fortification was oriented towards SSW, towards Römerstraße. In front of the defense there was a 6.5 m wide, double pointed ditch, which at the time of its excavation still reached a depth of 4.25 m below the ground level. A small trench was found on the east side of the camp, which was presumably used to drain a guard path that ran there. Another double pointed ditch with a total width of seven meters, however, which was discovered a little outside the complex, probably belongs to an older fort built using a wood-earth construction method.

The small fort on Reckberg was probably built at the beginning of the second century, possibly also at the end of the first century, and was perhaps used until the middle of the third century.

Watchtower

Watchtower on the Reckberg (Neuss)

About 200 m northwest of the small fort on "Second Reckberg", Constantin Koenen uncovered a square wall about 5 m by 5 m in size on the northern slope of "First Reckberg" around 1900, which was one of the foundations of a Roman watchtower. The sandstone foundations were one meter thick. The actual, half-timbered tower towered above them. A fence with a palisade and ditch, as is known from the Upper German Limes , can be assumed, but was not noticed by Koenen. There is also no information about the age of the watchtower, presumably it was built at the same time as the small fort.

In 1991, a reconstruction of the tower was built not far from the place where the Roman watchtower had originally stood.

Settlement and burial ground

About one hundred meters west of the fort, south of the Römerstrasse (today's street "Am Reckberg"), the ruins of a fifty-meter-wide Roman settlement were located, the associated burial ground another fifty meters away on the eastern slope of the "Ersten Reckberg". Only the finds from the cemetery could be used to date the settlement, as finds from the settlement strip could have reached there immediately next to the heavily frequented Limes Road even after the settlement was abandoned. The cemetery was evidenced by the finds from the end of the first to the first half of the third century.

Monument protection

The Roman remains on the Reckberg are ground monuments according to the law for the protection and care of monuments in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Monument Protection Act - DSchG) . Research and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval. Incidental finds are to be reported to the monument authorities.

See also

literature

  • Gustav Müller: The military installations and settlements in Novaesium . In: Heinrich Chantraine u. a .: The Roman Neuss . Theiss, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-8062-0356-3 , pp. 53 ff., In particular pp. 86-88.
  • Gustav Müller: Neuss. Novaesium . In: Heinz Günter Horn (Ed.): Die Römer in Nordrhein-Westfalen Licensed edition of the 1987 edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-59-7 , p. 580 ff., In particular p. 586.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Law on the protection and maintenance of monuments in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Monument Protection Act - DSchG)