Martinsklafter
The Martinsklafter ( French Toise de Saint-Martin ) is located at the key point of a Roman traffic route in Switzerland . It is located north of the town of Frinvillier on the steep slope of the Jura ridge east of the Rondchâtel gorge above the 19th century tunnel on the road from Biel to Péry in the canton of Bern .
Remnants of this traffic route have been preserved to this day. He connected the Roman settlement of Petinesca via the Col de Pierre Pertuis , bypassing the Taubenloch Gorge with the regions of Epomanduodurum and Augusta Raurica . The further northeast lying Bone en Bez was part of this connection.
- Martinsklafter
The niche with the eponymous recess above it
Information board of the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern
Cart lane of the Roman road
The path, located on a rocky steep slope, shows parallel deep furrows in the dangerous areas, some of which have been carved out of the rock. They served as a lane and kept the carts on the train. Remnants of step-like treads can be seen between the furrows. The construction of traffic routes with lanes has been known since Roman times.
A niche carefully carved out of the rock can be seen at the edge of the old traffic route. Some would like to recognize the location of a Martin figure in it. Others believe that the niche was intended for a Roman inscription discovered in 1918 in the immediate vicinity of the gorge. The inscription dedicated to the Roman Mars is now in the New Museum Biel in Biel. Although there is a connection between the name Mars and the place name (Martinsklafter / Toise de Saint-Martin), the term "fathom" refers to the horizontal throat above the niche. This is not the unit of measurement, but rather a recess for a roof, which protected the contents of the niche from the bad weather.
literature
- Ch. Gerber: La route romaine transjurane de Pierre Pertuis . Bern 1997.
- Société jurassienne d'ernulation (ed.) Guide archéologique du Jura et du Jura bernois , Porrentruy 1997 pp. 99-101
Web links
- Martinsklafter on ViaStoria / Swiss Culture Paths
- Information sheet (PDF file; 811 kB) of the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern (French)
Coordinates: 47 ° 10 '11.6 " N , 7 ° 15' 14.6" E ; CH1903: five hundred and eighty-six thousand and six / 224343