Mormont (mountain)

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Mormont
View of the Mormont summit

View of the Mormont summit

height 605  m
location Canton of Vaud , Switzerland
Dominance 3.7 km →  Les Bioles
Notch height 108 m ↓  La Sarraz
Coordinates 531065  /  167711 coordinates: 46 ° 39 '25 "  N , 6 ° 32' 17"  O ; CH1903:  531065  /  167711
Mormont (mountain) (canton of Vaud)
Mormont (mountain)

The Mormont ( French Haut du Mormont ) is a 605 m high hill in the Swiss canton of Vaud . This predominantly forested range of hills belonging to the municipality of Eclépens near La Sarraz is 4 km long, on average 1 km wide and rises up to 160 m above the surrounding valley plains. The name is mentioned for the first time in 814 as Mauromonte . While the current name has been passed down from 1344, the names Maurimons and Mauremont appeared in the 19th century . The name goes back to the Latin personal name Maurus and therefore meansMount of Maurus .

geography

The European main watershed runs over the Mormont between the catchment areas of the Rhine and Rhone . It reaches in the Entreroches Gorge, which crosses the eastern part of the Mormont, at 455  m above sea level. M. their lowest point on Swiss territory. As a crossbar, the Mormont forms the southern end of the Orbe plain (drained by the Nozon and the Orbe to the Rhine) and separates it from the broad valley of the Venoge , which borders on the south and flows to Lake Geneva . In the west, the range of hills is replaced by the limestone plateau at the foot of the Jura , to the east it merges into the high plateau of the Gros de Vaud .

geology

In geological and tectonic terms, the Mormont represents an anticline of the Jura, which is disturbed by several fault lines . It continues to the east under the molasses sediments of the Gros de Vaud. The yellow and beige limestones of the Mormont, which alternate with marly layers, were deposited in a shallow sea in the Lower Cretaceous around 100 million years ago and contain a relatively large number of fossils . In the Pliocene , the Mormont anticline arose in connection with the Jura fold. The tectonic processes associated with the formation of the Jura caused the complex nest structure of the range of hills. The Mormont got its present form with the glacial overprint by the ice age Rhone glacier .

archeology

In January 2006 the canton archaeologist Denis Weidmann from Vaud had the Mormont searched by experts and, according to Swiss Celts specialists, made a find of enormous scientific importance. The Mormont was between 120 and 80 BC. A place of worship or a sanctuary of the Helvetii , which is unique in shape, size and richness in all of Europe. Similar sanctuaries are known from Gournay-sur-Aronde and Ribemont-sur-Arcy .

Find material was recovered from over 250 pits and sacrificial shafts dug into a moraine , the depth of which varies between 0.8 m and 5 m. These included ceramic and bronze vessels , iron tools, jewelry, grinding stones and coins. Fauna remains document the use of the pits as fanum . The full skeleton of a large horse is an early import from the south. Human bodies in extreme positions, skull depots and skeletal parts indicate rituals of the Helvetii at the end of the Iron Age. The image of the religion of the Celts could be corrected on the basis of the traces brought to light.

The excavations also confirm the doubts about Julius Caesar's report about the departure of the Helvetii from their homeland in 58 BC. They show an unbroken continuity and vitality of the cult for this period.

Since the Mormont was released for the extraction of lime for cement production, only an emergency excavation could be carried out. The original plan was to dismantle the top of the hill as the next zone in 2006–2009. This would mean that posterity would have lost this site, which is unique in Europe, forever. The excavations should now continue until 2014/15. The scientific evaluation of the finds is very complex.

natural reserve

As a result of the chalky subsoil, remarkable flora and fauna have established themselves on the Mormont, which is why the area is one of the landscapes and natural monuments of national importance .

use

View of the Mormont quarry during operation (2014)

The Mormont is crossed by the gently curved Entreroches Gorge, a very narrow dry valley , the highest point of which is only 10 m higher than the Orbe plain or the Venogetal. From 1638 to 1648 the Entreroches Canal was built through this gorge between Yverdon and Cossonay , which was supposed to establish a waterway connection between the Rhine and the Rhône. Because the section of the Venoge was not expanded due to lack of money, the canal never had supraregional importance. Remnants of it are still visible in the gorge.

In 1855 the railway line from Yverdon to Lausanne was inaugurated, which crosses under the Mormont in two short tunnels; the 100 m long open stretch in between passes the Entreroches Gorge. There is a large limestone quarry on the parish of Eclépens , which today belongs to Holcim .

The company Holcim, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim , has submitted a new application for an extension of the mining permit to the size of around 300,000 m², which would affect the hilltop, which is part of the Vaudois fauna and flora in the federal inventory of landscapes and natural monuments of national Meaning (BLN) was added. In June 2015, the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud decided that the Mormont summit zone must not be changed.

In order to demonstrate against the expansion of the quarry, environmental activists occupied the Mormont with the ZAD de la colline in October 2020 ; ZAD stands for Zone à défendre («zone to be defended»). On March 30, 2021, approximately 150 police officers began clearing the site. Around noon, activists threw stones and pyrotechnics at the police. The police used tear gas and rubber shot. Built barricades and obstacles had to be cleared away by the police. In Zurich there was a demonstration by 150 activists on March 30th as a protest against the eviction.

literature

  • Eduard Dietrich among others: Le Sanctuaire helvète du Mormont. In: Archeology Switzerland , issue 30, 2007/1.

Movie

Web links

Commons : Mormont  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ «A rescue, not a massacre»: The Helvetier sanctuary discovered in Vaud provokes archaeological spirits. In: nzz.ch . November 7, 2006, archived from the original on June 13, 2011 ; accessed on April 2, 2021 .
  2. ↑ Association for the Preservation of the Mormont (UEM): Save the Mormont. Retrieved April 2, 2021 . «Sauvons le Mormonz»: Mormont ou Mort-Mont? In: Schweizer Heimatschutz, Heimatschutz Patrimoine 2/2015. P. 26 , accessed April 2, 2021 (French). Lauriane Barraud: L'Etat défend mordicus le sommet du Mormont à Eclépens. In: 24heures.ch . June 11, 2015, archived from the original on April 26, 2016 ; accessed on April 2, 2021 (French).
  3. ↑ ClimateStrike : The ZAD de la Colline is evacuated, the Swiss -German climate strike supported with a peaceful blockade. In: presseportal-schweiz.ch. March 27, 2021, accessed March 30, 2021 . Felicie Notter: «Zone à défendre» - Occupation of protected zones in French-speaking Switzerland: The new form of protest. In: SRF.ch . December 11, 2020, accessed March 30, 2021 .
  4. ^ Protest camp on Mormont Hill - Almost all people evauced from the Holcim site. In: srf.ch. March 30, 2021, accessed March 30, 2021 . Police declare the evacuation of the protest camp in Vaud to be over. In: SWI swissinfo.ch . March 31, 2021, accessed April 2, 2021 .