Roman camp Oberaden

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Markings on the excavation site

The Oberaden Roman camp is an approx. 56 hectare Roman military camp near Oberaden , a district of Bergkamen in the Unna district in North Rhine-Westphalia ( Germany ). The camp from around 11 BC BC belongs to the context of the Drusus campaigns (12 to 8 BC) in Germania .

discovery

This multi-legion camp was discovered in 1905 by Pastor Otto Prein , who had already led the archaeologists on the trail of the much smaller Roman camp in Lünen - Beckinghausen , just 2.5 kilometers to the west . The first excavations began in 1906. Under the direction of Gerhard Kropatschek, they continued until 1914. Further excavations were carried out in 1937 and 1938 under the direction of Christoph Albrecht, in 1962/1963 and since 1976 in continuous succession under the direction of the Münster archaeologist Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn .

The findings

Location, size, attachment

The camp is located on a hill south of the Lippe (Lippia) . It is heptagonal in shape and with its sides of around 840 × 680 meters an area of ​​around 56 hectares. The camp was surrounded by a 2.7 kilometer long fence, consisting of a four to five meter wide pointed ditch that was two to three meters deep. Towards the inside of the camp there was a three-meter-wide wood-earth wall, which was secured with towers every 25 meters. Gate systems were found in the north, east, south and west of the fence.

Interior development

The inner surface of the camp was built on according to a rectangular scheme. The buildings consisted of a half-timbered construction with clay plastering. The houses of the centurions and the team barracks were located near the wood-earth wall . A complex building structure was discovered in the area between the praetorium (commanders' house) north of the camp center and the south gate. The praetorium had a size of about 41 × 59 meters. To the south, separated by the 42-meter-wide via principalis (main street of the camp), followed the staff building, the approximately 94 × 103-meter-large Principia . Five villa-like houses with attached peristyle courtyards stood between the staff building and the south gate . The largest of these houses covered an area of ​​39 × 29 meters and also had a 36 × 17.5 meter peristyle garden. These houses were reserved for the military ruling class ( military tribunes , legates ).

Found objects

Due to the special nature of the soil in the vicinity of the camp (clay), wooden objects could also be found again and again. The rainwater in the larger streets of the camp was collected and drained off in canals lined with wood. Over 40 wells with wooden casing were also found. For the latter - an early form of recyclable materials - wooden transport barrels were used. The wooden finds also include several pila muralia , i.e. bulwarks, some of which are inscribed with centurions. The excavators also found a wooden practice sword.

In comparison with the Roman camp in Haltern , the rather sparse finds also included tent pegs , pila , dagger blades, sling balls , arrowheads, several phalerae and coins.

Conclusions

Contingent of troops

The size of the troop contingent stationed in Oberaden is unclear. Due to the enormous storage area, an occupancy of two to three legions cannot be ruled out. The discovery of slingshot indicates the presence of auxiliary troops , the discovery of the wooden sword indicates the presence of Thracian and / or Asian Minor soldiers.

Dating

As dendrochronological examinations of the oak trunks built into the wood-earth wall showed, these were felled "in a fresh state" ( Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn , see below), namely in the late summer of 11 BC. This dating fits the description of the Roman historian Cassius Dio . The latter reports that Drusus had in 11 BC BC, set up two camps on the march back to winter quarters, one on the Rhine and one at the "confluence of the Lippe and Elison" (Elison = Seseke ?).

The coin finds and references in ancient sources (cessation of the campaigns in the area on the right bank of the Rhine) suggest that the camp in Oberaden did not exist beyond the year 8 BC. Has existed beyond. It was abandoned by the Roman troops themselves, which is not only indicated by the buildings set on fire and the general lack of foundations (regular clearing). The excavations also revealed that several storage wells were poisoned with feces, animal carcasses and rubbish, by the Romans themselves, as evidenced by the remains of Mediterranean plants found in the feces.

literature

  • Christoph Albrecht: The Roman camp in Oberaden . Publication of the Municipal Museum for Pre- and Early History Dortmund II, l (1938), p. 21ff.
  • Ralf G. Jahn : The Roman-Germanic War (9–16 AD) . Dissertation, Bonn 2001.
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn : Oberaden . In: Bendix Trier (Ed.): 2000 years of Romans in Westphalia . Exhibition catalog. Zabern, Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-8053-1100-1 .
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: The Augustan military camp on the Lippe . In: Heinz Günter Horn (Ed.): Archeology in North Rhine-Westphalia. History in the heart of Europe . Zabern, Mainz 1990, 169-186, ISBN 3-8053-1138-9 .
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: The Roman camp in Oberaden III . Aschendorff, Münster 1992, ISBN 3-402-05140-0 (Soil antiquities of Westphalia 27).
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: Germaniam pacavi - I pacified Germania. Archaeological sites of the Augustan occupation . Munster 1995.
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: The excavations in the Westphalian Roman camps Oberaden and Anreppen . In: Heinz Günter Horn (Ed.): A country makes history. Archeology in North Rhine-Westphalia . Zabern, Mainz 1995, pp. 203-209, ISBN 3-8053-1793-X .
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: Ancient reports confirmed by excavations . In: Archeology in Germany 3/1999, pp. 6–12.
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: The excavations in the Westphalian Roman camps . In: Heinz Günter Horn u. a. (Ed.): From the beginning. Archeology in North Rhine-Westphalia (writings on the preservation of ground monuments in North Rhine-Westphalia, 8). Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3467-2 , pp. 119–127.
  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: Oberaden, town of Bergkamen, district of Unna, and Beckinghausen, town of Lünen, district of Unna. Roman camp in Westphalia 3 (Münster 2008)
  • Friedhelm Schwemin: The Romans in Oberaden: History, structure and archeology of the Roman legion camp in Bergkamen-Oberaden an der Lippe . 1st edition. Regio-Verlag, Werne 1998, ISBN 3-929158-09-4 .
  • Bendix Trier (ed.): The Roman occupation north of the Alps at the time of Augustus. Colloquium Bergkamen 1989. Lectures . Aschendorff, Münster 1991, ISBN 3-402-05139-7 (Soil antiquities of Westphalia 26).

Web links

Commons : Römerlager Oberaden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Sources used

  • Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn: Oberaden . In: Bendix Trier (Ed.): 2000 years of Romans in Westphalia . Exhibition catalog. Zabern, Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-8053-1100-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cassius Dio, Historia Romana 54, 33, 4.

Coordinates: 51 ° 37 '  N , 7 ° 35'  E