Moor path in the Aschen Moor

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Excavation and documentation of the moor path in the Aschen Moor, 2019
The marked out route of the moor path before the excavation, 2019

The Moorweg im Aschener Moor , abbreviated as Pr 6 in technical terms , is a prehistoric moor path originally 4.2 km long, which runs in the Aschener Moor west of Aschen in the Lower Saxony district of Diepholz . It originated in the pre-Roman Iron Age around the years 65 to 40 BC. BC and is one of the longest plank paths in north-west Germany . The path construction has been preserved to this day due to the favorable conservation conditions for organic material in the moor . Large parts of the path have only recently been destroyed by mechanical peat extraction. A 350-meter-long remnant in the subsoil of an untouched moor area is permanently preserved in the center of the moor. A footbridge with an observation tower, built in 2019, leads there along the course of the former moor path . It should make the prehistoric moor path and the moor a tourist experience.

construction

Construction drawing of the Pr 6 moor path by Hugo Prejawa based on the excavation findings , 1896

The approximately 2.5-meter-wide moor path has two different construction principles. Partly it is designed as a pile path with a tread made of round wood , partly as a plank path using split planks . Various types of wood such as birch , oak , alder , ash , pine and poplar were used as building materials .

History and usage

The moor path ran through the moor in a northeast-southwest direction. It led from an elevated terrain spur near Lindloge through the moor to an elevation with a mineral subsoil north of Kroge . The 4.2 kilometer long moor path considerably shortened the approximately 40 km long route around the moor. The moor path did not, as usual, run at the narrowest point of the moor, but crossed it diagonally for reasons that were previously unknown. Halfway there, the path avoided a swamp .

The time of construction can be traced back to the period between 65 and 40 BC based on dendrochronological studies on the oak planks. Limit Chr. The previous investigations have shown that the moor path with its woods has been well preserved in the damp subsoil.

In 1997, the prehistoric Mamoun Fansa put the useful life of the path at 175 years, although this long period is doubted by other scientists due to material wear and tear. Although it may have been a trade route, archaeologists suspect that the route was primarily used for agriculture. The claw parts found in cows indicate this.

Research history

Moor path uncovered by excavation, 2020

The moor path was discovered in 1817 near the Lindloge settlement in the east of the Aschener Moor and was first described by moor researcher Carl Heinrich Nieberding . Due to numerous excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the moor path in the Aschen Moor is one of the best-researched moor paths in Lower Saxony. The moor researcher and Diepholz building inspector Hugo Prejawa and the moor archaeologist Hajo Hayen were mainly involved in the investigations . The path was named with the abbreviation Pr 6 in recognition of the achievements of Hugo Prejawa, after whom moor paths in the Dümmer region are named. In the meantime, large parts of the once 4.2 km long path have been destroyed by mechanical peat extraction.

Previous excavations

In 1977 Hayo Hayen and Reinhard Schneider uncovered 170 meters of the path at its northeastern end during an excavation. From 1988 the Institute for Monument Preservation (IfD), as the forerunner of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation (NLD), examined several sections of the route. The focus was on the purpose of the path and its historical significance. An excavation of the NLD in 2001 could not be completed due to adverse weather conditions. In 2011, the moor path was exposed over a length of 25 meters. In 2017, a 40 meter long section was exposed and documented. The excavation was carried out by an excavation company at the expense of the mining peat company. The woods found were dendrochronologically and dendroecologically analyzed using samples. This enables information on the environment, the forest and forest management to be obtained at the time the path was built. Some wood was salvaged to be preserved in the Lohne industrial museum . The museum has been conserving historic woods from Lower Saxony since 2005.

Intervention by the Lower Saxony Homeland Federation

Because of the ongoing peeling of the moor and the associated final destruction of the moor path, the Lower Saxony Heritage Association asked the Lower Saxony state government in its red folder in 2017 which measures are planned for conservation and documentation. The state government replied in the White Map that a twelve-hectare moor area in its natural state with a 350-meter-long section of the moor path as a healing skin area remains exempt from peat extraction. The state of Lower Saxony bought this area in 2016 and placed it under nature protection.

Excavation 2019 to 2022

Visit of the excavation site by the Lower Saxony Minister of Science Björn Thümler , 2019
Exposed substructure of the moor path

Sections of the moor path were still available up to 2019 for a total length of around one kilometer. From 2019 to 2022 an excavation will be carried out over a length of 520 meters with systematic exploration and documentation of the moor path. The investigations are the largest excavation project on a moor path for decades. The excavation was necessary because the water level of the moorland had sunk due to the ongoing peat extraction and the path would otherwise have dried up and fallen into disrepair. According to the investigations, only a 350-meter-long section of the originally 4.2 km long path will remain in an area that has not yet been pitted, the “healing skin area”, where it is 1.6 meters deep.

The excavation is being carried out as part of the “Nature experience on the prehistoric plank path in Aschener / Heeder Moor” project of the Dümmer Nature Park Association , which runs from 2017 to 2021. The project is supported by the European Fund for Regional Development and other sponsors, including the city of Diepholz, the Weser-Hunte Regional Association and several peat plants with 700,000 euros. The excavations are carried out by an excavation company with professional support from the moor archeology department of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation . The route is documented as a 3D view and can then be experienced virtually later.

Found objects

During the excavation, which began in 2019, large amounts of wood from the plank path were uncovered, which the Lohne Industrial Museum can only conserve to a small extent for reasons of capacity. The associations Römer AG Leine and Augustus-Gesellschaft from Hanover , which looked after the Roman marching camp in Wilkenburg , attempted conservation in Wilkenburg on a small part .

During the excavation, various finds came to light, including small figures, pieces of leather clothing, a carriage axle and a wheel. The archaeologists also found two 80 centimeter long rods that they consider to be measuring rods. A special find was a processed piece of wood. Archaeologists see it as the construction element of an Iron Age wagon for fastening the wagon body. The find provides insights into the structure of wagons as used by the Teutons .

  • Exposed wood of the moor path with repair area through wattle, 2019

  • A find made of leather

  • Uncovered find, possibly a wooden part of an Iron Age wagon, 2019

  • Excavated woods at the site that were sampled dendrochronologically

  • Three planks of the moor path recovered and stored in ashes on the Groß Mehrholz farm, 2019

  • Preservation of excavated wood in a sugar solution by the Römer AG Leine and the Augustus Society from Hanover

presentation

The new footbridge through the moor during construction, 2019
The bridge leads to the healing skin area
The healing skin area in the center of the Aschen Moor as a moor in its natural state

The prehistoric moor path will be made tangible as part of the project “Nature experience on the prehistoric plank path in Aschener / Heeder Moor”, which will run from 2017 to 2021, for purposes of recreation, tourism and education. For this purpose, a barrier-free 1.5 meter wide footbridge called the Moorloipe was built in 2019 over almost a kilometer . 120 leading employees of DB Fahrwegdienste built it as part of a "social event". The material of the path is made of recycled plastic , which is more resistant than wood. The new path runs close to the original path and leads to a central moor area in which there is a 12 hectare moor area that has been preserved in its natural state. A lookout tower is to be built on the unspoilt moorland known as the Heile-Haut area . The new moor path and the observation tower are to be opened in summer 2020.

literature

  • Hajo Hayen: The Bohlenweg VI (Pr) in the Grosse Moor am Dümmer in: Material booklets for the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony 15 , Hildesheim, 1977
  • Alf Metzler , Andreas Bauerochse: A "classic" boardwalk in the Aschener Moor near Diepholz. in: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony , 2/2002
  • The moor path Pr 6 in: Moor times. 3 × Moor in Oldenburger Münsterland , published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name, Diepholz, 2003, pp. 65–67
  • Alf Metzler: Moorweg Pr 6 in the Aschener Moor - an Iron Age infrastructure measure? in Archeology in Germany 1/2013 ( online, beginning of text readable )
  • Marion Heumüller, Ingo Jüdes: Bohlenweg PR VI. New investigations on Bohlenweg Pr VI, Ldkr. Diepholz in: FAN-Post 2018 of the Friends of Archeology in Lower Saxony , p. 27 ( Online , pdf)
  • Marion Heumüller: A linear (excavation) project. All about the 2000 year old Bohlenweg Pr 6 in: FAN-Post 2020 of the Friends of Archeology in Lower Saxony, pp. 23-25

Web links

Commons : Moorweg im Aschener Moor  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nature and monument protection in the NSG Aschener Moor / Heeder Moor press release of the NLWKN from January 24, 2017
  2. ^ Perfectly preserved moor path in the district newspaper of September 14, 2011
  3. ↑ Mamoun Fansa, R. Schneider: The Iron Age Bohlenweg VI (Pr) in the Great Moor on the Dümmer between the Geest peninsula Lindloge, Ldkr. Diepholz, and Kroge bei Lohne, Ldkr. Vechta. in: Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Nordwestdeutschland , 20, pp. 41–77
  4. ↑ Martin Wein: Monument conservationists clear another 25 meters of boardwalk in: Syker Kurier from September 26, 2011
  5. ↑ 2 tons of sugar for preservation in Oldenburgische Volkszeitung from March 19, 2019
  6. ↑ Red Map 2017, Significant archaeological monuments are literally vanishing into thin air: The “Pr VI” plank path and other prehistoric moor paths are threatened with ultimate destruction as they dry out! ( Memento from August 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), pp. 31–32 (pdf)
  7. ↑ Weisse Mappe 2017, Significant soil monuments are literally vanishing into thin air: The “Pr VI” plank path and other prehistoric moor paths are threatened with ultimate destruction due to drying out! ( Memento from August 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), pp. 18–19 (pdf)
  8. ↑ Excavation of the Bohlenweg will be more expensive than initially planned in the newspaper of May 23, 2018
  9. ^ Emergency recovery in the moor in: Die Rarke from July 19, 2019
  10. ↑ Archaeological excavations on Bohlenweg Pr 6 have started at the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation
  11. ↑ Jannick Ripking: Historical boardwalk as a nature experience in the district newspaper of May 24, 2019
  12. ↑ Exciting finds in the 2,000-year-old Bohlenweg at ndr.de from October 21, 2019
  13. ↑ Nature experience on the historic Bohlenweg in the district newspaper of June 22, 2017
  14. ^ "Social Event": 120 railway executives are building in the moor in the district newspaper of 6 September 2019
  15. ↑ 2,000 year old plank path is excavated at ndr.de on July 8, 2019
  16. ↑ 120 executives of Deutsche Bahn build nature adventure trails in the moor near Diepholz in: Diepholzer Kreisblatt dated September 6, 2019

Coordinates: 52 ° 38 ′ 40.1 ″  N , 8 ° 19 ′ 11.4 ″  E