Ochsenfurt-Hopferstadt district moat
The circular moat of Ochsenfurt- Hopferstadt in the district of Würzburg in Bavaria was photographed for the first time by aerial photo archaeologist Otto Braasch in the winter of 1978/79 . In 2001, a geophysical survey provided more precise information on the building details, state of preservation and shape of the circular trench .
The magnetic picture shows an oval trench structure made up of three concentric trenches, each about 18 m apart. The outermost ring has a diameter of 150 to 160 m, the innermost measures around 80 m and encloses over 5000 m². This makes it the largest circular moat in Bavaria. Archaeologists are currently researching their traces in the ground. The outer trenches have inner palisades at a distance of four to five meters and are each interrupted by 16 earth bridges. The inner oval has only two trench segments with the two transitions that point roughly to the east and west. There are about 45 pits in the inner surface.
Systems of this size with one or more concentric trenches and diameters between 40 and 150 meters are known in number in Lower Bavaria and in the central Danube region from the Middle Neolithic . In the terrain above ground mostly no longer visible and usually only to be found by aerial photos and to be proven by magnetics, these mine works are among the oldest monumental structures in Europe, which were built by the ceramic culture between 5500 and 5000 BC. Were erected.
Due to its size and construction, this complex can also be assigned to the group of Middle Neolithic circular trenches. This is also reflected in the found material. The area of distribution of the monument type, with the Hopferstadt moat as the largest facility of its kind to date, has advanced to the northwest to close to the Main , an area that was previously only assigned to settlement by later Neolithic cultural groups . Further statements, for example on the cultic use of the facility, are only possible after additional investigations.
literature
- Circular moats - monuments between heaven and earth. in: Archeology in Germany (AID). Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, 6. ISSN 0176-8522 .
- J. Fassbinder: Neolithic monumental structure In: Archeology in Germany (AID). Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, 3.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 37 ′ 43.6 ″ N , 10 ° 3 ′ 43.5 ″ E