Roman grave in Efferen
The Roman grave in Efferen is a Roman burial chamber in Hürth from the 3rd to 4th century AD.
Find history and preservation
The burial chamber was discovered by chance in 1899 during the construction of a station building for the foothill railway. The site is only a few meters away from Luxemburger Strasse , the ancient Roman road Cologne-Trier - now called Agrippa-Strasse Cologne-Trier after its builder . The lower part of the chamber with two sarcophagi was still preserved. A vault is attached to the wall at a height of 1.47 m, and the apex height of about 3.25 m can be calculated for the upper part.
After the excavation, the upper area of the burial chamber was rebuilt. It has been preserved under the former station building and can be visited.
Archaeological evidence
The chamber consists of an almost square interior with a side length of approximately 3.70 m. The floor, like the barrel vault, is made of tuff blocks, the walls of sandstone blocks. The stone material is partly spoilage that comes from older buildings. The two sarcophagi are made of white sandstone. The lids were probably destroyed by grave robbers before the excavation. Apart from a skull and a few bones, there was no content; possible grave goods were no longer found. Both stone coffins stand on low plinths.
A 3.70 m long section of the former access has been preserved. A door with a width of 90 cm made it possible to lock the chamber. The fastening holes for the door hinges and a latch can still be found on the door cheeks. The stone coffins are wider than the door. They must therefore have been pushed into the unfinished chamber via a ramp in the area of the door that was built later during the construction period.
For further Roman finds see Römer in Hürth .
Comparisons
Several Roman burial chambers are known from Cologne and the surrounding area of the CCAA . The best known is probably the Roman grave in Cologne-Weiden .
literature
- Hans Lehner : Efferen near Cologne (Roman burial chamber). In: Bonner Jahrbücher . 104, 1899, pp. 168-173 ( digitized version ).
- Günter Frenzel: The burial chamber in Efferen . In: Hürther Heimat 14/15 (1967), pp. 40–44.