Beckinghausen Roman Camp

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The discovery of the Roman camp near Beckinghausen (now a district of Luen ), which became known as the Uferkastell , goes back to the presumption of Pastor Otto Prein . As he found out, in the area of ​​the Beckinghauser cemetery allegedly Roman finds were made in the river Lippe (Lupia) in the 19th century . There is also said to have been a ford through the lip at that point. Prein therefore suspected that the Romans could have built a fortified lip crossing in this area.

In 1906 ceramic shards were actually found there, which Constantin Koenen from Neuss dated to the first half of the 1st century AD. In 1911, the excavators of the nearby Roman camp in Oberaden , Albert Baum and Gerhard Kropatschek, were able to confirm Prein's assumption during a search excavation. Further excavations took place in the years 1912 to 1914. By means of individual search cuts, the size and shape of the attachment could be determined; larger areas were not explored. There were also excavations in 1937 and 1938. The last excavation so far took place in 1995–1998. A comprehensive finding was not made because the area is considerably disturbed. The only safe building inside the warehouse is a 12.30 m wide and 13.20 m long storage building (horreum) .

The military camp lies on a high bank that slopes steeply towards the Lippe; it is oval in shape. With a maximum length of 185 m and a width of 88 m, its area measures around 1.6 hectares. Three parallel pointed trenches surrounded the complex in the west, south and east, the inner one up to 3.7 m wide and more than 2 m deep. To the north, the 11 m steep bank of the Lippe protected the camp. Behind the trenches was a 3 m wide wood-earth wall, possibly reinforced by towers every 30 m. A gate system was only found in the west of the system. The two inner pointed trenches were interrupted here by an earth bridge.

Four road trenches were found inside the camp. The Wallstrasse ditch runs parallel to the wood-earth wall at a distance of 7 m, two more run at a distance of up to 25 m almost parallel along the longitudinal axis of the camp. In addition to two unclear building floor plans, a few pits were discovered at the gate to the west. Two of them were pottery kilns used to make pottery; Several brick-like stones were found in one of the ovens.

The dating of the bank fort is from 11 to 8/7 BC. BC, i.e. at the same time as the Roman camp in Oberaden . Both camps are related to the Drusus campaigns (12–8 BC). Few coins and pottery finds are also classified as being at the same time as the finds from Oberaden.

s. also: Germania magna

literature

  • Christoph Albrecht: The Roman camp in Oberaden and the bank fort in Beckinghausen an der Lippe. Publication from the Municipal Museum for Pre- and Early History. Dortmund II, 1st 1938, pp. 21-24.
  • Stephan Berke : Beckinghausen . In: Bendix Trier (Ed.): 2000 years of Romans in Westphalia. 1989, ISBN 3-8053-1100-1 or ISBN 3-8053-1115-X (museum edition), pp. 52–54.
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn : The bank fort in Beckinghausen . In: Johann Sebastian Kühlborn (Ed.): Germaniam pacavi - I pacified Germania. Münster 1995, pp. 125-129.
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: The Roman bank fort Beckinghausen (Museum of the City of Lünen. Information from the Museum of the City of Lünen, 4). Lünen 1996, pp. 1-4.
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: Beckinghausen, City of Lünen, District of Unna. In: Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: Oberaden, city of Bergkamen, district of Unna and Beckinghausen, city of Lünen, district of Unna (Roman camp in Westphalia 3). Münster: Antiquities Commission for Westphalia 2008, pp. 28–32.

Coordinates: 51 ° 36 ′ 55.6 ″  N , 7 ° 33 ′ 59.4 ″  E