Small fort Adolfseck

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Small fort Adolfseck
limes ORL - ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes,
route 3,
western Taunus route
Dating (occupancy) Perhaps the middle of the 2nd to the middle of the 3rd century.
Type Small fort
unit unknown vexillatio
size 18 m × 20 m = 0.04 ha
Construction stone
State of preservation invisible ground monument
place Adolfseck - Bad Schwalbach
Geographical location 50 ° 9 '53.8 "  N , 8 ° 4' 39.6"  E
height 272  m above sea level NHN
Previous Kemel Fort (west)
Subsequently Fort Zugmantel (east)

The small fort Adolfseck (also Adolphseck in older publications ) was a Roman military camp on the western Taunus route (route 3) of the Upper German Limes , which was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 2005 . The ground monument , which can no longer be seen above ground, is located north of Adolfseck , a district of Bad Schwalbach in the Hessian Rheingau-Taunus district . The Adolfseck ski jump can be found in the immediate vicinity .

Location and research history

Small
fort Adolfseck at the Aar crossing point (1901)

The Limes crossing over the Aartal was at a point where the otherwise narrow valley widened a little and the valley walls sloped down more gently. In order to gain the optimum position for the transition, the Limes temporarily buckled a little to the south. A good 40 meters south of the Limes crossing there was probably a bridge or fortified ford , which is supported by the evidence of a dam-shaped road and the discovery of two mighty wooden posts, which could be dendrochronologically dated to the year 170 and whose ends were provided with iron shoes. The fort was located on a flood-free terrace in the Aar valley, a good 50 meters east of the start of the suspected Aar bridge (the bank of the Aar in ancient times was almost 100 meters away) and around 30 meters south of the Limes. Its positioning made it ideally suited to monitor the Aar bridge and the Limes as well as to block the Aar valley. In today's settlement topography, the soil monument is located in the agriculturally used areas just outside the northern outskirts of Adolfseck, roughly in the middle between federal highway 54 and the approximately 120 meters east of this parallel railway line.

At the end of October 1901, the fort was partially excavated by the Reichs-Limeskommission (RLK) under the direction of the local route commissioner Heinrich Jacobi (1866-1946) and the Frankfurt engineer Wehner.

In 2010 a geomagnetic survey of the fort area and its surroundings took place. However, the research results of the Reich Limes Commission were not made more precise by these investigations. The course of the Limes could also not be determined, which is probably due to the fact that material washed away from the mountainside has deposited in this area.

Findings

Bridge piles from the Limes river crossing (1901)

The north wall of the small fort could still be determined. At the time of the excavation, it was preserved up to 0.70 meters high and was 1.80 meters thick. The masonry consisted of Taunus slate set in clay . The northeast corner was slightly rounded. In addition, the south-east corner of the fort could be determined, which was also slightly rounded. Traces of the fort ditches were also found. The image of the fort can be reconstructed to some extent from these few findings .

The small fort Adolfeck was a rectangular stone fort 20 meters long in north-south and 18 meters wide in east-west direction. It was thus placed across the valley and parallel to the Limes, but with its only fixed gate facing north, facing the Limes. In front of the defensive wall ran - after a one meter wide berm - two pointed trenches, each two meters wide and one meter deep. The trench was interrupted in front of the northern gate.

Nothing is known of the crew, probably a vexillatio . Also, no significant statements can be made about the occupancy period, perhaps it existed from the middle of the second to the middle of the third century. Today nothing can be seen in the area.

Limes course between the small fort Adolfseck and the fort Zugmantel

After the Limes has crossed the Aar at the small fort Adolfseck, it tends to move towards east-north-east on its route to Fort Zugmantel. On this path, which mainly leads through wooded area, occasionally also through agricultural areas, it climbs altogether from 272 to 475 meters. It reaches its highest point at 487 m. NHN at the watchtower Wp 3/11. Not far to the east of the crossing of the Aar, two different Limes lines can be identified in some sections: an older, somewhat rearward-facing line, which takes the topographical features more into account and is therefore irregular, and a younger one, which strives for a more straight line. The older line is probably of Domitian origin and was possibly established as early as the end of the Chatten Wars , around the year 85 AD. It only went through the first two expansion phases of the Limes (forest lane with post path, wooden towers and palisade) and was probably replaced towards the middle of the 2nd century by the younger line, advanced up to 800 meters further north, which immediately became the third Expansion phase (with stone towers instead of wooden towers) was carried out. The small fort Adolfseck was probably built as part of this expansion.

Traces of the Limes structures between the small fort Adolfseck and the fort Zugmantel
ORL Name / place Description / condition
KK Small fort Adolfseck see above
Wp 3/1 "Am Hundsküppel"
Wp 3/1
Tower location of a rectangular stone tower, which had been damaged by stone robbery before the activities of the Reich Limes Commission. The investigations in 1901 revealed a rectangular tower with a side length of 4.55 × 4.65 meters. The walls were 0.78 to 0.83 meters thick.

The tower was located around twelve meters south of the center line of the Limes ditch and was surrounded by a ditch, the width of which could still be determined as 1.60 to 1.70 meters. The position of the tower ensured a clear view of the Pohlbach - and the Aartal and beyond to the end of route 2 near Kemel .

Wp 3/2 "Wassergall"
Wp 3/2
Tower location of a rectangular stone tower with sides 4.65 × 4.70 meters. Its wall thickness was 0.80 meters.

The view extended to Wp 2/51 on the "Galgenkopf" east of Kemel at the end of route 2.

Wp 3/3 Due to the distance between Wp 3/2 and Wp 3/4 assumed but not archaeologically proven tower site.
Wp 3/4 "At the Borner Wegestern"
Location of Wp 3/4
Clear findings can be seen at the tower point 3/4
Floor plan of Wp 3/4
Tower site of a stone tower excavated in 1901. The tower probably had a rectangular floor plan, but only its south side with 4.25 meters and its west side with 4.55 meters in length have been fully documented. The wall thickness was 0.90 meters. The front of the tower was twelve meters from the center of the large trench, or 15.10 meters from the palisade trench of the Limes passing north. The position of the tower was so cleverly chosen that, assuming a cleared forest, the view would have extended to the small forts “Auf dem Pohl bei Kemel” and far into the area in front of the Pohlbach valley and the Dietzgrund . The Wp 3/4 is the first tower in the Limes course to which a wooden predecessor tower (Wp 3/4 *) of the older extension line has been proven. The older tower is just under half a kilometer as the crow flies south of Wp 3/4.
Wp 3/4 *
Location of Wp 3/4 *
Floor plan of Wp 3/4 *
Location of WP 3/4 *
Tower site of a wooden tower that was first examined in 1896 and dug up again in 1901. It is the predecessor of the stone tower Wp 3/4, 475 meters to the north.

The tower was built on a circular platform about eight meters in diameter. Its corner posts formed a rectangle with a side length of 2.60 to 2.80 meters. The approximately square post holes had a side length of about 0.60 meters, the thickness of the posts themselves was assumed to be 30 centimeters. The tower platform was surrounded by two circular trenches. The inner trench had steep slopes and an average depth of 1.60 meters. Its diameter from trench center to trench center was 10.50 meters. The diameter of the outer trench was 18 meters. It was also steeply sloped, but was only 1.05 to 1.30 meters deep.

Wp 3/5 "On the Sangerts"
The Römerrundweg Hohenstein also leads past tower point 3/5
Wp 3/5
Tower site of a stone tower that was examined in 1901. The tower had a slightly irregular floor plan. While the south and west sides were each 4.65 meters long, the north side was 4.55 meters and the east side was only 4.45 meters. The wall thickness was 85 cm throughout.

The tower was 408 m above sea level. NN at the highest point of the ridge and was 17.3 meters from the center of the large trench and 21 meters from the palisade trench.

Wp 3/5 *
The SS 3/5 * on the Römerrundweg Hohenstein. The ditch is visible under the brush
Wp 3/5 *
Tower site from two neighboring wooden tower mounds. At the time of the excavation, the western tower hill was severely disturbed by a forest aisle that cut through it. He had two ring trenches of 10.40 meters and 17.60 meters in diameter. A search for the post holes in the tower structure was not carried out.

The eastern tower hill is only a few meters from the western one. It has not yet been archaeologically examined. The hill is in the shape of a rectangle with rounded corners and, with its dimensions of 13 × 16 meters, takes up an area of ​​around 200 square meters. The square offered - provided the area was cleared - excellent visibility in all directions.

Wp 3/6 "Boar cock"
The SS 3/6 on the Römerrundweg Hohenstein
Wp 3/6
Tower site of a stone tower that was excavated in 1901. At that time, the tower's masonry was still up to 45 centimeters high. The almost square tower had sides between 4.45 meters and 4.50 meters. The walls were 0.80 meters thick. The distance from the tower to the center of the large trench passing in the north was 16 meters, and that to the palisade trench 19.5 meters.
Wp 3/7 "On the old Hahner Strasse"
Wp 3/7
Unsecured tower site of a suspected stone tower. The tower must have been almost completely excavated before the work by the Reich Limes Commission began. The traces of any existing trenches were also permanently destroyed in this stone robbery. Even in the follow-up examinations carried out in 1927, only conspicuous stone concentrations could be found on the surface.

A geophysical survey carried out in 2003 appears to confirm the Commission's findings.

Wp 3/8 and Wp 3/8 * "On Eisenstrasse"
Wp 3/8
Location of WP 3/8
Tower location for which the Reichs-Limeskommission assumed a possible stone tower (which, however, was not proven) and a possible wooden tower (of which only extremely uncertain traces could be determined). At that time the site was only secured by a certain accumulation of sigillates and other ceramics. Geophysical investigations in 2003 led to the result that the tower site actually consists of a stone tower and two wooden towers. The finding of the double wooden tower was interpreted to mean that the older and younger Limes line meet again at this point.

The Reichs-Limeskommission even suspected the location of a small fort, probably due to its location on Eisenstrasse . However, there were no indications of this. Like WP 3/10, the watchtower can be accessed through the Roman circular path that begins at Hofgut Georgenthal .

Wp 3 / 8a Due to the average distance between the Limes watchtowers and the topographical conditions, a suspected but not archaeologically proven tower site.
Wp 3/9 "Georgenthaler Hof"
Wp 3/9
Tower location of two stone towers, which atypically (seen from the Limes) were not next to each other, but one behind the other. The tower site was examined in 1901 by Louis Jacobi (1836-1910).

The tower in the north, closer to the Limes, had an approximately square floor plan with sides of 4.60 meters (north side), 4.55 meters (east side), 4.53 meters (south side) and 4.70 meters (west side). Its wall thickness in the area of ​​the foundation was 0.90 meters.

The southern tower is only 1.55 to 1.65 meters away from the northern one. With its side lengths of 3.70 meters (north and south sides) by 3.65 meters (east and west side), it had a significantly smaller footprint. The rising masonry was 0.73 to 0.85 meters thick, and a foundation plinth protruded between ten and 25 centimeters on the outside.

The northern tower was 16.75 meters south of the bottom of the large trench and 19.35 meters south of the palisade. The overview of the northern Limes apron was good, the side view was relatively limited on both sides. The tower point is accessible through the Roman circular path at Hofgut Georgenthal.

Wp 3/10 "Am Ritterweg"
Wp 3/10
Source of WP 3/10
Palisade reconstruction on WP 3/10
1901 examined rubble mound of a stone tower. The tower had a rectangular floor plan with the dimensions 4.70 × 4.62 meters. The wall thickness was 0.90 meters. Immediately to the south of this tower there was another, but it was already so badly disturbed that precise measurements were no longer possible.

The Roman circular path that begins at Hofgut Georgenthal passes here. The Limes exhibition of the Rheingau-Taunus district can be found in the Hofgut. The tower is located in the district of Pohl . The term is typical for terms related to the Limes. It probably corresponds to the earlier name for stake . A palisade reconstruction can also be found nearby.

Wp 3/11 "Fladenheiligenstock"
Wp 3/11
Tower location of two stone towers lying directly next to each other. Both towers were excavated by Louis Jacobi in 1901.

The western tower had a slightly irregular floor plan with the aspect ratios of 5.10 / 5.02 meters to 4.60 / 4.98 meters. The rising masonry was 0.85 to 0.90 meters thick, and a foundation plinth protruding ten to fifteen centimeters was found on the inside. On the southern side of the tower, the wall was sunk nearly two meters into the ground.

The eastern tower was significantly smaller with its aspect ratio of 4.40 meters to 3.30 meters. Its wall thickness was 0.75 meters. The foundation base protruded ten centimeters on the outside.

The distance between the towers was only three feet. The Limes moat ran north of the tower. Its distance (from the bottom of the large trench) to the northern front of the western tower was 15.30 meters.

Wp 3/12 "On Orlen-Hambacher Strasse"
Wp 3/12
Tower location of a stone tower with an aspect ratio of 4.56 meters by 4.78 meters. These details refer to the north side with 4.78 meters and the east side with 4.56 meters. The other two sides have not been fully captured. The wall thickness was 0.83 to 0.85 meters.

The tower was not exactly parallel to the Limes, the large moat of which passed at a distance of eleven to 11.5 meters, but was twisted slightly to the northeast. The view will have extended to Wp 3/11 in a westerly direction and to Wp 3/14 in an easterly direction.

Wp 3/13
Palisade moat at Wp 3/13
Due to the distance between Wp 3/12 and Wp 3/14, a suspected but archaeologically unproven tower site. In the area, which has been heavily affected by agriculture and runoff, the remains of the former tower are likely to have been lost for a long time.

In a swampy meadow in this area, however, Louis Jacobi was able to examine the palisade ditch more closely in 1895. In the exposed piece, a total of nine oak stumps that were 20 centimeters in diameter and 25 centimeters high were found in the 1.50 meter deep and half a meter wide trench. Four of them were arranged in the form of a square, to which the others were connected in a row. All the posts had been wedged with stones on at least one side.

Wp 3/14 "At the Zugmantelschneise"
Wp 3/14
Tower site of two stone towers that had already been examined by Karl August von Cohausen and then dug up again by Louis Jacobi.

The smaller, western tower had a square floor plan with a side length of 3.40 meters. The wall thickness was 0.50 meters. Outside the stone tower, four post holes were found that could be connected to one another to form an irregular square with sides between 4.50 meters and 5.40 meters, thus indicating a wooden previous tower. This older tower rotated five to six degrees from the line of the stone tower. There was only weak evidence of an even older wooden tower in the form of soil discoloration inside the stone tower, which was addressed as a possible double post hole. Such a tower is by no means secured. No traces of an expected ring ditch around the wooden tower were found.

The larger, eastern tower was 5.5 meters from the western tower. It had a rectangular floor plan with an aspect ratio of 4.10 meters by 4.30 meters and had a wall thickness of 0.60 meters, which was only found on the east side.

The view from the tower point extended in a westerly direction to the watchtower Wp 3/11 and in an easterly direction to the Limes crossing over Hühnerstraße and beyond to the Zugmantel fort. The Hühnerstraße was an important connection route dating back to pre-Roman times between the Limburg Basin, densely populated by Teutons, and the Rheingau with Aquae Mattiacorum , today's Wiesbaden , as the capital of the Civitas Mattiacorum and Mogontiacum , today's Mainz , as the capital of the Roman province of Germania superior .

Wp 3/15
Limes profile in the area of ​​Wp 3/15 / Kastell Zugmantel
Reconstructed watchtower in the Wp 3/15 area at Zugmantel Fort
Lost tower part of a stone tower. Its remains fell victim to construction work on Bundesstrasse 417 , the old Hühnerstrasse, in 1966 .

Not far to the east of the actual find site, the reconstruction of a stone tower and a piece of Limes with a palisade were built in 1971/72. An archaeological hiking trail that leads to the Zugmantel fort begins at this point.

ORL 8 Fort Zugmantel see main article Fort Zugmantel

Monument protection

The small fort Adolfseck and the adjacent Limes facilities 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 within the meaning of 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 : The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube. 4th edition. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2347-0 , p. 116ff.
  • Dietwulf Baatz and Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann: The Romans in Hesse. Licensed edition of the 1982 edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , p. 379ff.
  • Ernst Fabricius , Felix Hettner , Oscar von Sarwey (Hrsg.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roemerreiches / Abt. A, Vol. 2.1. Lines 3 to 5. Petters, Heidelberg / Berlin / Leipzig 1936, p. 50ff. as well as panels 2 and 3, figs. 1 to 10.
  • Christian Fleer: Typification and function of the small buildings on the Limes. In: E. Schallmayer (Ed.): Limes Imperii Romani. Contributions to the specialist colloquium “Limes World Heritage Site” in November 2001 in Lich-Arnsburg. Bad Homburg vdH 2004, ISBN 3-931267-05-9 , (=  Saalburg-Schriften  6), pp. 75–92.
  • Margot Klee : The Limes between Rhine and Main. From the beginning of the Upper German Limes near Rheinbrohl to the Main near Grosskrotzenburg. Theiss, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-8062-0276-1 , pp. 65f.
  • Egon Schallmayer : Geophysical prospection on the Limes in Hesse . In: Andreas Thiel (ed.): New research on the Limes . Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2251-7 , (=  contributions to the Limes World Heritage Site  3), pp. 64–66.

Remarks

  1. ^ Entry by Thomas Becker on the small fort Adolfseck in the database " KuLaDig " of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on July 19, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b W p = 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.
  3. ↑ The differentiation in the literature is made by adding an * (asterisk) after the watchtower number. The watchtowers marked with such an asterisk belong to the older line. Wp 3/4 * denotes a wooden tower point of the older line, while Wp 3/4 denotes a stone tower of the younger line in the same Limes section. See also the note on the numbering of the Limes watchtowers.
  4. ↑ ORL = numbering of the Limes structures according to the publication of the Reich Limes Commission on the O bergermanisch- R ätischen- L imes
  5. ↑ KK = unnumbered K linseed K astell
  6. ↑ Wp 3/1, stone tower, at 50 ° 9 '58.71 "  N , 8 ° 5' 8.88"  O .
  7. ↑ Wp 3/2, stone tower At 50 ° 10 '0.34 "  N , 8 ° 5' 22.4"  O .
  8. ↑ Wp 3/3 at approximately 50 ° 10 '4.69 "  N , 8 ° 5' 41.77"  O .
  9. ↑ Wp 3/4, stone tower, at 50 ° 10 '11.92 "  N , 8 ° 6' 2.8"  O . Source: Entry on Limes watchtower 3/4 near Hohenstein-Born in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on July 19, 2017.
  10. ↑ Wp 3/4 *, wood tower, at 50 ° 9 '56.66 "  N , 8 ° 6' 14.32"  O . Source: Entry on Limes watchtower 3/4 * near Hohenstein-Born in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on July 19, 2017.
  11. ↑ Wp 3/5, stone tower, at 50 ° 10 '19.63 "  N , 8 ° 6' 42.66"  O .
  12. ↑ Wp 3/5 *, wood tower West, at 50 ° 10 '10.27 "  N , 8 ° 6' 51.8"  O . Source: Entry on Limes watchtower 3/5 * near Hohenstein-Born in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on July 19, 2017.
  13. ↑ Wp 3/5 *, wood tower East, at 50 ° 10 '10.27 "  N , 8 ° 6' 51.8"  O . Source: Entry on Limes watchtower 3/4 * near Hohenstein-Born in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on July 19, 2017.
  14. ↑ Wp 3/6, stone tower, at 50 ° 10 '24.77 "  N , 8 ° 7' 3.64"  O . Source: Entry on Limes watchtower Wp 3/6 near Hohenstein-Steckenroth in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on July 19, 2017.
  15. ↑ Wp 3/7, Steinturm ?, at 50 ° 10 '34.53 "  N , 8 ° 7' 39.64"  O .
  16. ^ Egon Schallmayer : Geophysical prospection on the Limes in Hesse . In: Andreas Thiel (ed.): New research on the Limes . Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2251-7 , (=  contributions to the Limes World Heritage Site , 3), p. 65 f.
  17. ↑ Wp 3/8, stone, wood tower, at 50 ° 10 '45.98 "  N , 8 ° 8' 28.4"  O . Source: Entry on Limes watchtower Wp 3/8 near Hohenstein-Steckenroth in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on July 19, 2017.
  18. ^ Egon Schallmayer : Geophysical prospection on the Limes in Hesse . In: Andreas Thiel (ed.): New research on the Limes . Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2251-7 , (=  contributions to the Limes World Heritage Site , 3), p. 66.
  19. ↑ Wp 3 / 8a at about 50 ° 10 '46.25 "  N , 8 ° 8' 27.61"  O .
  20. ↑ Wp 3/9, stone towers, at 50 ° 10 '52.96 "  N , 8 ° 9' 9.02"  O .
  21. ↑ Wp 3/10, stone tower, at 50 ° 10 '56.46 "  N , 8 ° 9' 46.06"  O .
  22. ↑ Wp 3/11, stone tower, at 50 ° 11 '2.77 "  N , 8 ° 10' 22.09"  O .
  23. ↑ west side 5.10 meters, east side 5.02 meters; North side 4.60 meters, south side 4.98 meters.
  24. ↑ Wp 3/12, stone tower, at 50 ° 11 '15.49 "  N , 8 ° 11' 4.31"  O .
  25. ↑ Wp 3/13 at approximately 50 ° 11 '21.96 "  N , 8 ° 11' 24.92"  O .
  26. ↑ Wp 3/14, stone towers, at 50 ° 11 '31.83 "  N , 8 ° 11' 53.49"  O .
  27. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, pp. 162, 5 and 6.
  28. ↑ Wp 3/15, stone tower, at 50 ° 11 '35.12 "  N , 8 ° 12' 7.47"  O .
  29. ↑ Wp 3/15, Steinturm reconstruction at 50 ° 11 '35.01 "  N , 8 ° 12' 8.76"  O .
  30. ↑ ORL XY = consecutive numbering of the forts of the ORL