Maisel small fort

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Maisel small fort
Alternative name Wp 3/39, Wolfsgarten
limes ORL - ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes,
route 3,
western Taunus route
Type Small fort
unit unknown vexillatio
size 650 m²
Construction stone
State of preservation Terrain deformations visible
place Glassworks
Geographical location 50 ° 13 '6.8 "  N , 8 ° 23' 26.1"  E
height 455  m above sea level NHN
Previous ORL 9: Alteburg Fort
(west)
Subsequently ORL 10: Feldberg Fort
(east)

The small fort Maisel (sometimes also counted as watchtower Wp 3/39 in older literature) is a Roman military camp on the western Taunus route (route 3) of the Upper Germanic Limes , which is no longer visible above ground and which was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 2005 . The ground monument is located northwest of Glashütten , a municipality in the Hessian Hochtaunuskreis .

Location and research history

In today's settlement, the former fort is located as a ground monument between Glashütten and Kröftel , a district of Idstein in the Rheingau-Taunus district . It is located in a piece of forest immediately west of the Kröfteler Weg, which connects the two places. Topographically, it is 455 meters above sea level on a mountain range extending to the north. Since a watchtower would have been expected at exactly this point, the small fort was initially counted as Wp 3/39. The path between Glashütten and Kröftel was addressed as possibly pre-Roman, but this is not certain.

The small fort was already documented by Carl Rossel (1815–1872) and Karl August von Cohausen (1812–1894) and finally examined and described in more detail in 1892 by the Reichs-Limeskommission under the direction of the route commissioner Louis Jacobi (1836–1910).

A local information board provides the information that the remains of the small fort were originally interpreted as a wolf trap before explorations took place here, which, among other things, is related to a possible well. Hence the name Wolfsgarten is derived .

Findings

KK Maisel = Wp 3/39

The measurements of the commission showed a square fort from the outside 29.60 meters and inside 23.20 meters in length. Cohausen, on the other hand, determined the shape of an irregular, originally a square, with the side lengths he measured 24.20 meters, 27.70 meters, 24.70 meters and 24.50 meters, the north corner of which was about two out of the theoretical square Meter jumped out. The defensive wall was made of dry stone, its thickness was between 2.90 and 3.15 meters. It was constructed as infill or shell masonry, the outside of which was carefully crafted from hewn 15 × 30 centimeter greywacke stones. The area between the bowls was filled with small stones and gravel. In front of the wall there was a 0.80 to 0.90 meter wide berm solidified with Latvians and rubble . A 3.70 meter wide and 1.20 meter deep pointed ditch connected to the berm. The only gate of the complex was on the north side of the fort. It was not in the middle, but shifted about two meters to the west. The trench in front of the gate ceased, the passage width was about 3.30 meters.

In the interior of the fort, traces of cooking spots and the remains of a heater could be detected. Stamped bricks from the Legio XXII Primigenia and the Cohors IIII Vindelicorum (4th cohort of the Vindeliker , brickworks at Großkrotzenburg fort ) were used to build the heating . There was also a denarius from the reign of Emperor Vespasian (69–79) and bronze coins from Emperors Trajan (98–117) and Gordian III. (238-244). In addition, traces were found towards the center that indicate a possible well, as well as a round depression in the southwest corner of the camp.

gallery

and display information about the image
Overview of the remains of the small fort

  • View from Glashütten to the forest with the small fort Maisel. You can also see the way to Kröftel.

  • Remains of the masonry

  • The forest area with the tracks

  • Local information board on the Limes hiking trail

Limes course between the small fort Maisel and the fort Kleiner Feldberg

From the small fort in Maisel, the Limes initially continues in an easterly direction with a slight tendency to the north and runs almost exclusively through forest and forest edge areas. On its way it climbs a total of almost 240 meters, where it is at the "Red Cross" at 695 m above sea level. NN reached the highest point of the route, and then fell a few meters again to Kastell Feldberg. Also at the “Red Cross” it changes direction and swings in a broad arc in a more north-easterly direction between Wp 3/45 and the Feldberg fort.

Traces of the Limes structures between the Maisel fort and the Kleiner Feldberg fort .
ORL Name / place Description / condition
KK Maisel small fort see above
Wp 3/40 presumed, but not archaeologically proven, tower site
Wp 3/41 presumed, but not archaeologically proven, tower site
Wp 3/42 presumed, but not archaeologically proven, tower site
Wp 3/42 * "At the glass head" In 1896 and 1899 the commission excavated the tower sites of two wooden tower mounds, of which the western part was 125 m, the eastern part 200 m behind the Limes ditch. The towers themselves were 22 m apart. The western hill was surrounded by a quadrangular ditch with a side length of about twelve meters. The eastern hill had a circular drainage ditch 13 m in diameter.

  • Palisade at Wp 3/42 *

  • Wp 3/42 *,
    floor plan and profiles

Wp 3 / 42a presumed, but not archaeologically proven, tower site
Wp 3/43 "Emsbach Gorge" Tower location of a stone tower that was examined by the Reich Limes Commission in 1897. The tower had a rectangular floor plan with sides 4.30 m by 4.45 m. Its wall thickness was 94 cm on the west side and 87 cm to 88 cm on all other sides.

  • Location of Wp 3/43

  • Floor plan of Wp 3/43

  • Today's depiction as a cairn

Wp 3 / 43a
Pillar construction at Wp 3/43
Another building was located about 180 meters from Wp 3/43, directly on the left bank of the Emsbach. The building was first examined by Karl Rossel (1815–1872) and Karl August von Cohausen (1812–1894). They were followed by Louis Jacobi (1836–1910) in his role as route commissioner for the Reich Limes Commission. With a circumference of 8.20 / 8.45 × 9.75 / 10.00 meters, the building has a unique floor plan for the Limes route in the Taunus. The thickness of the surrounding wall built from the existing Taunus quartzite is 1.50 meters on the south side, 1.20 meters on the west side and one meter each on the north and east sides. The two narrower walls are each supported by two buttresses, about one meter wide and 0.70 to 0.90 meters protruding from the line of the wall, to the rather steep slope in this area. The exceptionally massive structure leaves questions about its function unanswered. Its military function seems to be clearly secured due to the unambiguous findings, including bricks with the stamps of the Legio XXII Primigenia , but its exact purpose is uncertain. The roof-tile-roofed, once multi-storey building barely closed a gap in the chain of watchtowers, as there was already a line of sight between the previous watchtower 3/43 and the subsequent watchtower 3/44. However, it may have replaced the two watchtowers in the late Limes period.

In 2014, the first archaeological investigation since the 19th century took place, whereby the lead archaeologist Thomas Becker was only supposed to document the changes that had taken place since the first excavation and the construction was then covered with 180 cubic meters of earth by a specialist company for future conservation. The subsequent excavation showed that predatory graves had tampered with the structure in the 1980s. The masonry was still up to 1.30 meters high, without its foundation or only its lower end being visible. Becker was able to grasp the layer of soil up to which the early excavations had reached. Some finds that had escaped the excavations of the time were recovered in it, including ceramics for the first time, as well as an informative coin, a tetradrachm , which was made in AD 268/269 during the reign of Emperor Claudius II (268-270) Alexandria had been coined. The small traces of circulation indicate that the course was only for a short time. The piece will therefore have come to the Taunusboden during the 270s. In addition to the finds already mentioned, the following old finds that deviate from the usual watchtower spectrum have become known: flax-blue glass, a white metal brooch and a sealed capsule . Like all other finds from this excavation site, these finds can also be clearly dated Roman.

Wp 3/44 Presumed, but not archaeologically proven, tower site.
Wp 3/45 "At the Red Cross"
Wp 3/45
Tower location of a single stone tower in front of a Limes crossing. The tower had a rectangular floor plan with sides 4.5 m to 4.6 m and had 75 cm thick masonry. It was 10 m behind the center of the large trench and 13.4 m from the palisade trench. The part of the tower, which was still visible in the mid-1920s, later fell victim to road construction work.
Wp 3/45 * "At the Red Cross" Tower sites of two wooden towers that were completely excavated in 1896.

The western tower was surrounded by an almost square moat with slightly rounded corners. The side length of the trench was 11.5 m, the original depth 1.8 m. With its shape - a steep, almost vertical slope on the outside stands opposite a gentle slope on the side facing the tower - it is reminiscent of a typical Fossa Punica . In the center of the system, the 1.3 m to 1.7 m deepened post holes of a square wooden tower with a side length of 4.7 m to 4.8 m could be identified. On three sides between the corner posts there were still remnants of the dry stone masonry with five slots each for the beams crossing at right angles.

The eastern tower was about 12 m away from the west and had a circular trench 12 m in diameter. The embankments of this 1.5 m deep trench had the same peculiarities as those of the excavation of the western tower. On the southeast side, the trench was interrupted over a width of 1.90 m. In the center were the postings of a rectangular wooden tower with the side ratios of 3.8 / 3.9 m to 3.7 m.

  • Palisade at Wp 3/45 *

  • Wp 3/45 * Floor plans of the two towers

  • Wp 3/45 *, eastern tower during the excavations

  • Today's representation of the site

Wp 3/46 Presumed, but not archaeologically proven, tower site.
ORL 10 Feldberg Fort see main article for the Kleiner Feldberg Castle

  • Limes doubling at Feldberg Fort

Monument protection

As part of the Upper German-Rhaetian Limes, the Maisel fort and the facilities mentioned have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 2005 . There are also ground monuments according to 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

Remarks

  1. ↑ Wp = W oh p east, watch tower. The number before the slash denotes the Limes section, the number after the slash denotes the respective watchtower.
  2. ^ Carl Rossel: The Roman border defense in the Taunus . Limbarth, Wiesbaden 1876, p. 64 and Fig. 23.
  3. ^ Karl August von Cohausen: The Roman border wall in Germany. Military and technical description of the same . Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1884, pp. 143, 13 and plate 12, fig. 4.
  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 = 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.
  7. ↑ Wp 3/40 at 50 ° 13 '10.28 "  N , 8 ° 23' 42.73"  O .
  8. ↑ Wp 3/41 probably at 50 ° 13 '17.7 "  N , 8 ° 24' 22.59"  O .
  9. ↑ Wp 3/42 probably at 50 ° 13 '20.86 "  N , 8 ° 24' 40.31"  O .
  10. ↑ Wp 3/42 * West at 50 ° 13 '16.52 "  N , 8 ° 24' 51.51"  E ; Wp 3/42 * at 50 ° 13 '16.98 "  N , 8 ° 24' 53.12"  O .
  11. ↑ Wp 3 / 42a presumably at 50 ° 13 '23.14 "  N , 8 ° 24' 55.22"  O .
  12. ↑ Wp 3/43 at 50 ° 13 '25.23 "  N , 8 ° 25' 18.04"  O .
  13. ↑ Wp 3 / 43a at approximately 50 ° 13 '26.25 "  N , 8 ° 25' 26.25"  O .
  14. ↑ a b c Thomas Becker: Pillar construction at glassworks examined and covered . In: Der Limes 1, 2015, pp. 8–11; here: p. 8.
  15. ↑ 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. 128.
  16. ↑ a b Thomas Becker: Pillar construction at glassworks examined and covered . In: Der Limes 1, 2015, pp. 8–11; here: p. 11.
  17. ↑ a b Thomas Becker: Pillar construction at glassworks examined and covered . In: Der Limes 1, 2015, pp. 8–11; here: p. 9.
  18. ↑ Wp 3/44 at 50 ° 13 '27.4 "  N , 8 ° 25' 32.19"  O .
  19. ↑ Wp 3/45 at 50 ° 13 '32.65 "  N , 8 ° 26' 12.13"  O .
  20. ↑ Wp 3/45 * West at 50 ° 13 '28.98 "  N , 8 ° 26' 17.38"  E ; Wp 3/45 * East at 50 ° 13 '29.02 "  N , 8 ° 26' 18.99"  O .
  21. ↑ Wp 3/46 probably at 50 ° 13 '40.53 "  N , 8 ° 26' 36.82"  O .
  22. ↑ Kleiner Feldberg Fort at 50 ° 13 ′ 37.7 ″  N , 8 ° 26 ′ 40.8 ″  E