Oppidum Milseburg

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Remains of the Iron Age ring wall around the Milseburg
Reconstruction of the Iron Age ring wall at the foot of the Milseburg
Remains of the Iron Age settlement on the Milseburg
The presumed gatehouse on the Milseburg

The Oppidum Milseburg is a town-like settlement ( oppidum ) from the Iron Age on the Milseburg mountain in the area west of the Danzwiesen district of the Hofbieber community in the direction of the neighboring Kleinsassen district , in the Fulda district in the Rhön .

History and layout of the oppidum Milseburg

The ring wall on the Milseburg was settled in the Iron Age. It was probably created towards the end of the Hallstatt period and was in use until the late La Tène period , i.e. until the 1st century BC. Inhabited. The facility encompasses an area of ​​more than 35 hectares. It was secured with a kind of wooden box construction built on the north, east and south sides, approx. 1300 m long and up to 12 m wide. The north-eastern sections of the wall were largely destroyed during the construction of the Rhön Railway in the years 1886–1889 because they served as a quarry. The west side remained partially unpaved, as the steep walls that slope down to the Biebertal represent a natural fortification here. There are also two annex walls of approx. 65 and 85 m in length, which protect a spring.

The oppidum was accessible through three gates, only one of which was also suitable for wagons, as the others represent an entrance that is too steep.

The Milseburg lies on the edge of the Celtic world.

Remnants and excavation history of the oppidum

At the end of the 19th century, the first remains of the Iron Age oppidum were discovered. The local researcher Joseph Vonderau (1863–1951), the Kassel museum director Johannes Boehlau and his assistant, the librarian W. Lange excavated numerous traces of settlement between 1899 and 1906. In addition to tools and (a few) weapons made of iron, they discovered large quantities of ceramics . The finds from his excavations are now in the Vonderau Museum in Fulda and above all in the Hessian State Museum in Kassel .

Today, apart from the ruined Celtic ring wall on the east and south-east side of the foot of the Milseburg mountain and numerous terraces (former residential podiums), little is noticeable to the layman of the once important settlement. In 2003 and 2004, after almost 100 years, excavations took place on the Milseburg. The head of the archaeological working group was the Fulda district and city archaeologist Matthias Müller until his death at the beginning of 2004. Recent excavations under Fulda's city and district archaeologist Frank Verse and excavation manager Ulrike Söder from the prehistoric seminar at the Philipps University of Marburg unearthed jewelry and a granite-coated pottery shard. Comparable ceramics are known from southern Germany and Bohemia. The finds are to be seen as imported goods as a result of extensive exchange relationships.

literature

  • Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann , Matthias Müller: The Milseburg in the Rhön. Leaflet for the Celtic oppidum near Hofbieber-Danzwiesen, Fulda district. (= Archaeological monuments in Hessen. Issue 50). State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen, Wiesbaden 1985, reprint 1994, ISBN 3-89822-050-8 .
  • Ulrike Söder, Manuel Zeiler: Oppida Celtica I - The Milseburg. Prehistory seminar of the Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8185-0503-5 .
  • A. Thiedmann, U. Söder: The Milseburg near Hofbieber-Danzwiesen. New research on the prehistoric hillside settlement in the Rhön, Fulda district , Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-89822-168-9 . 20 pages

Web links

Commons : Oppidum Milseburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norman Zellmer: New puzzle pieces of history: Day of the open excavation at the Milseburg. In: Fuldaer Zeitung, August 16, 2014, accessed on February 9, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Excavations on the Milseburg bring relics from the time of the Celts to light. In: FuldaerZeitung.de. August 5, 2015, accessed September 6, 2019 .
  3. ^ Norman Zellmer: Milseburg settlement is older than previously assumed. In: Fulda newspaper. August 29, 2014, accessed February 9, 2017 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 32 '48.1 "  N , 9 ° 53' 46.7"  E