Oberleiser Berg (Praesidia)

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South-southeast view of the Oberleiser mountain

On the Oberleiser Berg there was a fortified Germanic hilltop settlement ( praesidiaria castra ) and ruler's residence from the 4th to 5th centuries AD . The 457 m high ridge is geologically part of the Leiser Berge massif in the Weinviertel , Lower Austria .

At the time of the Great Migration , the entire plateau, about 6.5 hectares in size, was probably built over with buildings. Its edges drop steeply in the north, west and east, and in the south it gradually merges into deeper terrain. The entrances were in the south and south-east. The ruler's seat was near the border with the Roman Empire - the Danube Limes ran about 40 km away - and was built according to the Roman model. Today there is an observation tower directly above the main building. In the eastern area, which is now wooded, there were still several workshop buildings and ovens in the 5th century.

Research history

The Oberleiser Berg has been known as a place where Roman bricks were found since the 19th century. Around 1872, Matthäus Much examined the ramparts. In the period after the First World War, Eduard Novotny and Ernst Nischer-Falkenhof recognized the ancient building remains as an advanced Roman base. Since 1925, the Institute for Prehistory of the University of Vienna has also carried out excavations on the mountain. Herbert Mitscha-Märheim suspected on the Oberleiserberg still a fort from the time of Marcomanni wars , but this view could not be proven archaeologically. Herwig Friesinger carried out the excavations on Oberleiserberg from 1976 to 1990 . The old findings, the fortifications and the chronological sequence of settlement were reinterpreted. There are references to textile and metal crafts. The individual finds (including, for example, bullet points, robe fibulae, glazed and smoothed ceramics) were mostly of Germanic and Roman origin and suggest close trade contacts with the Roman Empire . The coin finds range from Marcus Aurelius (161–180) to Theodosius I (379–395).

development

The mountains rising from the flat hill country of the Weinviertel have always been places of retreat for the people living in their surroundings in times of crisis. Around the middle of the 5th century AD, the settlement structure changed north of the central Danube . Around 375, the Huns crossed the Don , advanced to the Black Sea coast , triggering waves of migration to the west. The majority of the Suebi population in today's Marchfeld and Weinviertel began to fortify naturally protected high altitudes and either withdrew there in times of crisis or settled there permanently. The reason for this was the East Germanic tribes expelled from their settlement areas by the Huns, who tried to get into the Roman Empire in order to find protection there from the ever-advancing Huns.

Individual finds suggest that the mountain may have been inhabited by Teutons as early as the 2nd or 3rd century, but their presence has only been confirmed since the late 4th century. Some trade routes also crossed at Oberleiserberg. The predecessor of the settlement on the Oberleiser Berg could have been the German settlement in Niederlais, 3.3 km away, which was built in the 4th century. Presumably, its residents withdrew to the Oberleiser Berg in times of crisis. From this time on, Germanic princes and their entourage apparently settled on the hill. The fortified settlement is believed to have originated around 380 AD. Ammianus Marcellinus reports that Valentinian I - in the ancestral home of the Quads - had a fort built north of the Danube. Presumably there were several fortifications (bridgeheads?). Perhaps the late antique complex on Oberleiser Berg was one of them.

It is possible that the complex is one of the praesidiaria castra mentioned by the chronicler Ammianus Marcellinus as the seat of Germanic client kings . Presumably a Suebian military leader resided here at the time of construction phase 4. In the western Notitia Dignitatum , a Tribunus gentis Marcommannorum appears as garrison commander in the list of troops of the Dux Pannoniae Primae et Norici Ripensis . The location is missing, however, his residence is believed to be in the vicinity of the legionary camp Vindobona or on the Oberleiser Berg. In this context, it is also worth mentioning an exchange of letters between Marcomanness Fritigil and Ambrose of Milan , in which he recommends that her husband would do better to submit to Rome and put himself in the service of Rome. Maybe it was the o. E. Officer. The ruler's seat was either in the course of the campaign of the Gothic king Thiudimir against the Suav king Hunimund 469-470 or in the destruction of the Rugier empire by Odoacer around 488.

Late antique buildings

Findings sketch, 4th to 5th century

The results of the previous investigations suggest that the entire plateau was surrounded by a wall. The main building, comprising a total of four construction phases, was - just before the demolition of the site - on the western edge of the plateau and formed the center of the Praesidias. It also included some wooden farm buildings.

Phase 1

The manor was surrounded on three sides by a narrow courtyard wall made of quarry stone and clay. The long rectangular main building (stone building I), oriented from north to south, was divided into two rooms. The floors consisted of rammed earth or a gravel mortar screed, the southern hall also had a typical late antique floor heating system with Y-shaped heating channels (hose heating) made of clay and stone. The foundation was built using the mortar opus incertum technique.

Phase 2

Brick stamp of Ursicinus

In the early 5th century, Steinbau I was converted into a representative portico villa with a stone foundation and timber frame walls. A corridor and protruding risalits were added to the west facade . The 35 m long and 17 m wide villa could now be entered via the northern and southern risalits. The building was divided into a north and a south wing as well as a corner projection. The interior was divided into seven to eight living or utility rooms and a hall. The utility rooms were in the north wing and the rooms for representative purposes in the south wing. The structural design of the south wing was retained until the villa was destroyed. The courtyard area and stone building II also remained unchanged. To build the main building was u. a. local tufa used. In the remains of the villa there were also slab tiles - to cover the Y-shaped heating ducts - with the stamp of Ursicinus, the military leader of the Roman Limes troops on the central Danube under Valentinian I. The roof tiles (tegulae and imbrices) were probably made on site. Possibly there were still turret-like attachments made of clay on the roof.

Phase 3

From the first half of the 5th century, the corridor and the risalits were given new floor screeds. A stove was installed in room 3. A pit house, several ovens and a wooden frame were built in the courtyard area. The eastern courtyard wall was broken through by a single-nave gate, which could have been built in an earlier construction phase. To the north-east of the villa building another ten ovens with loading pit and some post buildings slightly sunk into the ground were found.

Phase 4

Around the middle of the 5th century, the manor was structurally massively redesigned, so the south wall was completely rebuilt. The courtyard wall was demolished and several new wooden structures were built in its place. The center of the complex was now a 35 m × 33 m square, which could be entered through a monumentally designed gate building facing the villa, which in turn was lined with a hall on the east side and rectangular buildings on the north and south sides. The gate ensemble consisted entirely of wood and was partially surrounded by a portico. Room 2 of the villa was additionally equipped with underfloor heating, in the rear area (room 7a) a new cellar was built about one meter deep into the rock. Presumably it was used to store valuables. Another entrance was built into the rear wall of the corner projectile. The wooden buildings are reminiscent of the description of Attila's residence by Priscus, who visited them in 449 in his function as envoy of the Eastern Roman emperor. You should probably mimic the architecture of late Roman villas and palaces. Presumably they were also built by craftsmen trained in the Roman Empire.

Stone building II

Preserved remains of the foundations of Steinbau II and the medieval church

To the north of the villa stood a larger two-room building, the multi-phase stone building II (8.15 m × 8.26 m), the substance of which, however, had been considerably destroyed in the 12th century due to overbuilding by a pilgrimage church, which was demolished in 1787. The foundations were also raised using the opus incertum technique. The rising walls consisted of half-timbered structures. Its timing and function are unclear. It may have been in use until the early Middle Ages.

Attachment

The plateau was surrounded by a multi-phase wall, which followed the course of the old Celtic ring wall. Remnants of a palisade could be located southwest of the villa. The trench is likely to have been leveled in the first half of the 5th century. A total of four construction phases could be distinguished:

Wrought

Findings sketch of the fine forge

160 m east of the manor house was a three-room, 12.40 m long and nine meters wide wooden structure, which was equipped with a T-shaped hose heater. Bricks with the stamp ARN URSICINUS MG were also found in the heating duct. The building was probably intended for residential use. A little to the south of it was a partially recessed, 5 m × 6 m, square post structure, which probably served as a blacksmith's workshop. It was in use from the middle to the end of the 5th century.

Monument protection

The facilities are ground monuments within the meaning of the Austrian Monument Protection Act . Investigations and targeted collection of finds without the approval of the Federal Monuments Office are a criminal offense. Accidental finds of archaeological objects (ceramics, metal, bones, etc.) as well as all measures affecting the soil must be reported to the Federal Monuments Office (Department for Ground Monuments).

Hints

A small permanent exhibition with excavation documentation and a selection of finds has been set up in the observation tower. The foundation walls of stone building I and II have been preserved, the fortifications can also still be seen in the terrain. The other finds from Oberleiserberg are in the Museum of Early History in Traismauer, the Museum Mistelbach, the Natural History Museum Vienna and the Institute for Prehistory and Early History at the University of Vienna.

See also

literature

  • Alois Stuppner: The Oberleiserberg near Ernstbrunn - a hill settlement of the 4th and 5th centuries. In: Heiko Steuer , Volker Bierbrauer (Hrsg.): Hill settlements between antiquity and the Middle Ages from the Ardennes to the Adriatic Sea , (= Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Supplementary volume 58). de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, pp. 427–456.
  • Manfred Kandler, Hermann Vetters (ed.): The Roman Limes in Austria. A guide. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-7001-0785-4 , pp. 282–287.
  • Alois Stuppner: Romans and Teutons on the Noric-Pannonian Limes . In: Verena Gassner / Andreas Pülz (ed.): The Roman Limes in Austria. Guide to the archaeological monuments , publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-7001-7787-6 , pp. 120–123.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Friesinger / Krinzinger: 2002, p. 282.
  2. res gestae, 29, 6, 2. Alois Stuppner 2008, pp. 452–454.
  3. Notitia Dignitatum occ. 34, 24.
  4. Alois Stuppner 2008, pp. 454–455, Friesinger / Krinzinger: 2002, p. 284.
  5. Friesinger / Krinzinger: 2002, p. 283.
  6. Friesinger / Krinzinger: 2002, p. 283.
  7. Alois Stuppner 2008, pp. 432–443.
  8. Friesinger / Krinzinger: 2002, p. 286
  9. Alois Stuppner 2008, p. 444.

Coordinates: 48 ° 33 ′ 32.5 ″  N , 16 ° 22 ′ 19.6 ″  E