Roman villa in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler

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View of the completely excavated main house, covered by the museum building. On the left is the portico facing the Ahr valley
Exterior view of the museum building above the site of the find with the federal highway 267 passing by

The Roman villa in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler am Silberberg is an archaeological site that documents centuries of changing use from the middle of the first century AD to the early Middle Ages . The excavated area is on the edge of the Rhineland-Palatinate city ​​of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in the Ahrweiler district .

Initially laid out as a Roman manor ( villa rustica ) , enlarged and rebuilt several times, the complex was cleared as planned around 259/60 AD. In late antiquity , the main building was converted into a hostel ( mansio ) , which was then moved into an iron smelter. After the total decline and the covering of the area with rubble and rubble by the Silberberg directly behind it, an early medieval Christian cemetery was built on this site . The particular importance of the excavated main building, which has been preserved for the public, lies in the excellent state of preservation of many rare building details and wall paintings .

location

The villa rustica was built on the northern slope of the climatically favorable Ahr valley . About 15 kilometers to the east is the mouth of the Ahr into the Rhine . Even today, the northern steep slopes of the middle and lower valley are dominated by vineyard terraces. The once extensive estate on the Silberberg belonged to a wealthy family, as shown by the high-quality wall paintings on the ground and first floors. In the valley, a connecting road from west to east led to the Rhine and connected there with the road system to the large Roman settlement points Andernach ( Antunnacum ) , Koblenz ( Confluentes ) , Bonn ( Bonnensia ) and Cologne ( Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ) . The property was built according to Vitruvius's instructions in his De architectura libri decem (Ten Books on Architecture). The main house with its long wall is close to the foot of the steep slope and is thus completely protected from the northern and northwestern weather. The front and front side with the portico faced south and remained exposed to the sun all day. From the column arcade one had an unobstructed view over the lower valley of the Ahr to the opposite southern slope of the valley. The fresh water supply was secured by the Giesemer Bach coming down the slope to the northwest.

Research history

During the expansion of the federal highway 267 on the northern slope of the Ahr valley, the construction of an entrance and exit pipe on the north-western outskirts of Ahrweiler began in March 1980. It was planned to dig the carriageway deep into the debris of the slope. At that time there were no records that could have identified an archaeological site. On March 23, 1980, the excavators reached into Roman masonry and removed this along with larger pieces of colored paint. Lorries brought this material to the dump. Only the intervention of a voluntary employee of the Koblenz Monument Office, Carl-Heinz Albrecht, who happened to be present, prevented anything worse. The next day the construction work was stopped and the site secured. In 1983 Albrecht was awarded the coat of arms plate of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate for his services .

The masonry, some of which still towers up to a height of 1.50 meters, in which the window openings could be proven in many cases, as well as the exceptionally well-preserved painted plaster justified the re-routing of the planned roadway and the construction of an expensive protective structure by the end of 1980. The main house of the Villa rustica was excavated in eleven excavation campaigns between March 1980 and autumn 1990 under the direction of the conservator Horst Fehr . The excavation results have been on view since the spring of 1993. In the exhibition “Roman Wall Painting in Ahrweiler”, which took place from February 14th to April 8th, 1996, the results of the frescoes known up to that point were presented to the public.

The museum concept of the Roman villa of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler also includes changing special exhibitions on other Roman topics that are related to the Ahrweiler excavations.

description

House I.

Around the middle of the 1st century. AD n. Was the oldest Roman settlement at this place, house I called. The appearance of this building can only be roughly determined by making a few excavation cuts, if the building remains that were later built above are not to be destroyed. The remains of the solitary bath in the west can be seen most clearly. While the alignment of this structural unit is exactly the same as that of House II , which was built later, House I is slightly off-axis to the northwest.

basement, cellar

The cellar of House I with a sloping window sill uncovered during the excavation . Above this lies the hypocaust from the Mansio period

The associated rectangular cellar room with the stone cellar staircase descending in the southwest has been researched best. Since House I was laid down on schedule before House II was built and the remains that were still visible were covered with a leveling layer, the basement, which was filled in at the time, has preserved a piece of the early settlement architecture. The masonry, made of layered hand blocks with clearly visible grout lines, was carefully executed and was not plastered. In the southeast, the inclined approach of a basement window has been preserved. This finding makes it clear that the early Villa rustica could not have had a portico, at least in this area. An important construction detail had been preserved with the cooling system discovered in this cellar. Along the northern wall, a one-meter-wide pit was sunk into the clay floor of the cellar and five to ten centimeters thick round timber was placed in it. The pit was then backfilled. After the ground had been consolidated, the pieces of wood were pulled out so that open tubes were created in which groundwater could collect. Flat stones covered the entire complex. The evaporating water should create a cool room climate. Another detail was a shelf lined with wooden planks, which may have belonged to a shelf. The foundations of House I consist of irregularly laid greywacke , which were connected with lime mortar . Due to the careful demolition of the building, no conclusion can be made about the rising masonry. Brick panels were used for the hypocaust heating , and architectural parts were made from easy-to-work tuff . After the basement was abandoned, its entrance was carefully and solidly walled up. The client apparently wanted to avoid static difficulties for the new building above.

Boiler room

Technically and typologically interesting for the archaeologists was the discovery of a boiler room ( praefurnium ) , which heated a room in House I from the north . The control room was below the walking level and could be reached via stone stairs. From here leads a long, narrow corridor facing south, which has a false barrel vault . After two meters, this corridor is walled up to around half its height. Behind it is a brick pedestal with a clay-clad plate. The heating fire was burning here. The corridor itself tapers after another meter and ends in a once hypocausted room. After House I was cleared, the service room was used as a cellar.

Bad I.

In particular, the eastern half of the almost 200 square meter bathing building could be examined more closely, as this remained accessible under the largely unobstructed courtyard on the western front of House II . The private spa was apparently structurally separated at a distance of about twelve meters to the west gable front of house I built. Although this section with the main house was also laid down, the excavators were able to pinpoint many areas of the complex. The eastern three definable rooms contain a heated changing area ( apodyterium ), a warm bath ( caldarium ) accessible from there with a semicircular apse in which a bathtub was located, and a sweat bath ( laconicum ) as the northernmost room . These sweat baths had a similar function to today's sauna , but there were no infusions. The scientific proof of a laconicum is only rarely successful and in this case testifies to the prosperity that the residents of House I must have already had . The circular floor plan of the sweat bath has been preserved in perfect condition. There are semicircular cones in its four corners . The running level of the room was verified 0.60 meters above the sub-floor. In between was the proven hypocaust.

House II

After the demolition of House I in the second half of the 1st century, the surface was leveled on a uniform level and a very weak liming was placed over it as a blinding layer. The planned new building of the portico villa type had a long, narrow floor plan 72 meters long and 18 to 20 meters deep, around 1,000 square meters of floor space. In contrast to the usual floor plan of this villa type, the Roman villa in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler did not have any architecturally emphasized corner projections . As partially completely fallen walls attest, the building had a brick base on which a half-timbered construction (Opus Craticium) rested, the partitioning of which was sometimes quite different. Clay was used on the ceilings , on the inside of which the imprints of the carrier elements have been preserved, so that important information on the construction can be drawn from them. All walls of the house were covered with two to three layers of coarse plaster inside and outside. A fine layer of plaster with whitewash was applied to this substrate as a paint layer. The fallen layers of plaster from the ceilings reveal that many of the rooms in the villa were equipped with flat or semicircular barrel vaults. It is possible that this finding can also be transferred to other more sophisticated manor houses.

Portico

The subsequently added outside staircase at the portico in its 2nd stage of construction. When it was converted into a mansio , the stairs were partly demolished and their material was reused elsewhere.

The 3.20 meter wide, columned portico extends over the entire southern building front. Since the portico plinth was more than a meter above the ancient outside level, it had to be entered via a staircase. This was built on the eastern narrow side of the portico. The arcade walkway could be entered from a lower courtyard via five neatly worked tuff steps, which leaned against the gable wall and led to a stair landing at the top. Possibly a short time later, the residents built a more representative staircase in the middle of the south side of the portico. The existing painted plaster was not removed from this extension. Later, this was outside staircase widened slightly and the previous steeper Tuffstufen by significantly more convenient basalt steps replaced. The carefully crafted stair stringers were also made of basalt. This central staircase was abandoned at the end of the 3rd century or during its use in the 4th century. The archaeologists found steps of this staircase at the entrance to the bath and on the eastern portico base. A poorly executed staircase had been erected there at that time, leading straight to the portico. As the excavations showed, the portico base was completely plastered and painted brick red. In contrast to this was the painting of the house, which was plastered in yellow and white. A reddish-brown decorative stripe that was preserved over large parts of the long rear side of the house at a height of around one meter could also have continued on the front sides. During the period in which it was used as a villa rustica , the portico was lengthened to the west by 13 meters at an unknown point in time, in order to connect the thermal baths there to the manor house and to ensure dry-foot access in bad weather. The portico floor, which was originally covered with a fine gray-white lime mortar screed, was equipped with a roughly 15 centimeter higher, coarse brick gravel screed during the conversion to a mansio . The inner wall of the portico was painted figuratively. A motif has been preserved in the immediate vicinity of the outside staircase that shows a kneeling man with a rope or lasso, in front of whom there is an animal with an upright mane. A hunting motif may be seen in this representation.

inside rooms

Elaborately painted room in the northeast corner of the property with marble paneling
Remnants of the elaborate wall painting with umbrella candelabra on the south wall of the corridor
The later annex to the west (21) was initially heated via the adjoining room. Apparently, at some point this was no longer enough for the landowners, so that a separate heating duct was driven into the room. The room with the paintings next to it had a very large window on the portico
Due to clear original findings, a small distribution room at the east end of the corridor with ceiling painting, partially reconstructed

Opposite the outside staircase at the portico is the wide entrance to the central room of the house, which was used as a villa rustica for representation. Although the homeowners could certainly have afforded it, not a single piece of the mosaic was discovered in the entire complex during the excavations. Instead, different floor coverings made of different stone materials were used. In addition to polished limestone slabs , there were coverings made of dark slate , local marble from the Lahn and laconic marble from Greece . Stones laid to form ornaments were often found. The room in the thermal bath referred to as the warm bath had a light marble floor with inlaid black slate strips. Mainly in the bathroom, finer floor patterns with round and rhombic shapes as well as narrow straps were found. In addition, decorative marble slabs and stucco work on the walls were also given their place, especially in the bathroom. In the mansion itself, colorfully painted walls dominated, which either show a pure geometric pattern, as can be seen in a piece of plaster from the upper floor, or play with ornaments, floral and figurative motifs based on a basic geometric scheme. In this context, a partially reconstructed wall from the upper floor shows a small victim scene. Some rooms have a more or less high injection plinth. With this design element, the painters brought strong splashes of paint to the base area of ​​the walls. On the ground floor there are picture elements with candelabra from which flowers once grew, others show marble imitations. The exquisite life-size figurative representations include a piece of plaster with a woman's head, which belonged to the flat ceiling of the northernmost room, which was adorned by a season cycle. The adjoining room to the south was decorated with circus motifs , for example racing drivers.

The evidence of unusually low-lying window sills was remarkable. One of the rooms in the west half of the main house had a 2.70 meter wide window facing the portico. A wide wooden window frame was fitted inside the room, which was cut out in the plaster. The windowsill could have been covered with tiles. As most likely most of the windows in Villa rustica , this window also had greenish, non-discolored glazing. Another structural detail on the large portico window is also important. It was possible to identify shops there for which slots had been left free between the brickwork and thick plaster to the left and right of the window. The shop wings were pushed into these slots and were no longer visible. This construction was unknown to research until it was discovered in Ahrweiler north of the Alps.

Numerous rooms were furnished with hypocausts, some of which have been preserved in excellent condition. Two different techniques were used to heat the walls with the rising warm air from the underfloor heating. On the one hand, the rectangular hollow bricks (tubules) often found at Roman sites were installed under the plaster , and on the other, spindle-like clay pipes were discovered that were attached to the wall as spacers with a metal pin. In this way, the warm air could escape upwards between the house wall and the wall covering.

The rooms of the main house were accessed not only through the portico, but also through a corridor that ran along the long side of the slope. It was illuminated through three windows and was vaulted with a barrel vault. The approximately 15 to 20 centimeter thick layer of clay in this vault was supported by the entire barrel construction from the roof structure of an outward sloping monopitch roof. A large part of these structural details have been preserved as lintels on the floor of the corridor. This makes it clear that the clay package was packed on a network of longitudinal split timber. The uniform rounding of the barrel vault was secured by stabilizing wide planks to which the wooden mesh was attached. From this construction not only negative impressions have been preserved in the solidified clay, but also burned wood. Since the corridor did not receive much daylight, especially due to the hillside location and the few windows, its north wall was only whitewashed. The opposite wall, on which the light fell from the windows, was lavishly painted with ocher-yellow rectangular fields and pilaster strips painted in Pompeian red , which were adorned with candelabras and floral ornaments.

As an example of the existing possibilities of reconstruction based on the partly unambiguous original findings, a small, square, barrel vaulted distribution room at the eastern end of the corridor with its decoration system from the time of House II was reconstructed in full. The fact that walls sometimes fell over to their full height helped the archaeologists several times with the exact calculation of the room heights.

The room originally located in the northwest corner of House II with an elaborate decoration system and stove (No. 15)

The main house was once widened to the west with a room suite consisting of three rooms, whereby the courtyard between the villa rustica and the bathroom became smaller. This may have happened at the same time as the portico was extended to the bathing facilities. Two of the newly created rooms received underfloor heating. At the same time, the corridor was extended to the west, which opened up the house from its north side. The space originally bounding the rear corner of the house to the west and north had to be rebuilt in the course of this work. So one walled up its large northern window, which after the front construction of the windowless corridor in this area no longer served any purpose. Even the only window facing west will probably have been closed. Since there was now a further line of rooms and the area between the former western outer wall and these new rooms below the window has been taken up by a praefurnium , it is difficult to imagine that this window would be preserved. Below the large walled-up north window was a kind of tiled stove in the exquisitely painted corner room. Its walls were made of bricks, which surrounded a cylindrical space that was open at the top. After no fire hole or ash was found in the furnace, the archaeologists suspected that the heating was carried out by means of a fire basket that could be let into the cylinder from above. The quality and decoration system of the painting suggests that this room must have had a special place in the manor house.

Bad II

In bathroom II : View from the apodyterium (changing room) into another heatable room (No. 24), which was probably a tepidarium (warm bath)

The basic orientation of the bathroom in House II is based exactly on the previous building that was abandoned. The southern outer facade even stands directly on the foundation walls of this first system. It belonged to the well-known type of row baths. Overall, however, the building is shifting a few meters to the west. A 13-meter-wide courtyard was created between the new main building and the 180-square-meter thermal bath. All rooms in the bathroom have been completely redone. While it was being used as the bathroom of Villa rustica , a proven renovation took place during which a heatable bathtub in a semicircular apse was moved into the adjoining room.

channels

The canal in the courtyard between the bathroom and the main building is made of waterproof mortar and exposed below the ancient level.

During the construction of House II , two mighty masonry canals were built. The western canal has been very well explored over a length of 38 meters. It led through the middle of the courtyard between the bathroom and the manor house, had a clear height of 45 centimeters and a clear width of 45 centimeters. The system channels the water coming down from the northern slope of today's Giesemer Bach to a larger extent and discharged it into the lowlands of the Ahr. The excellently preserved canal area within the excavation zone had an inlet funnel made of bricks and Rhenish trass mortar at its starting point in the north, directly on the west side of the rear courtyard gate there. In order to guarantee the cleanliness of the water obtained, the sewer system , which was made with waterproof mortar ( Opus caementitium ) , was carefully covered with slate and made accessible within the courtyard area. The hydraulic structure not only secured the property against dangerous slope water, but was also ideally suited for a constant supply of fresh water for Baths II and House II . A very narrow, elongated watertight basin was built on the inner, southern end wall of the courtyard between the bathroom and the residential building, from which additional water could be drawn. A gate valve made it possible to back up the water in this basin. To the east of Villa rustica , too , a canal, coming from the east, bent to the south. The canal, which was not covered with stones, was 1.25 meters deep and 0.60 meters wide at its bottom, ran parallel to the slope and was also intended to take in slope water, which was particularly large after storms. The excavators could not find any further drainage behind the entire slope of the house and the bathroom. Not even eaves gutters to absorb the rainwater flowing from the roof are known from there. Therefore, it remains unclear whether the two channels were sufficient for water regulation and how this problem behind the house and bathroom was solved.

The End

As the only sparse movable remains from the excavation show, the villa rustica was cleared by its owners as planned around 259/60. The archaeologists suspect that the people left the place due to the increasing number of warlike attacks that threatened the Germans from the Barbaricum during this time . They apparently have not returned. The now vacant villa slowly began to decline in the following decades. The heyday of this place was over.

hospice

Profile block left standing in the central room of House II to show the sequence of layers

Conversions

The rest house, called the hospice by the excavators , was built towards the end of the 3rd century and was in use until around 350. Apparently the damage to the building could be repaired by the new users without any problems. In addition, some negligent or less expensive renovations took place in House II . An essential part of the renovation consisted of the downsizing and restructuring of some rooms. The large central representation room, which could be entered through the main entrance via the portico, has now been divided into four rooms. In addition to the original main entrance, a new, much narrower entrance was broken into the wall of the house on the right, in order to access three of the newly created rooms, including a kitchen that was excellently preserved when it was found. The rectangular room directly behind the former broad main entrance had no connection to the surrounding rooms inside the house. The archaeologists interpreted this separate room as a sales area for travelers. The wide, inviting entrance could be closed after the shop closed. A large kitchen for the guests of the Mansio was built on the north wall of the former representative room . The food cooked there could be kept warm on a stove that stood directly at the new, smaller entrance and given to hostel visitors who were on the portico. The new room behind the entrance with its low hearth and the footprints of amphorae could have belonged to a caupona (cookshop). Another oven built during the Mansio era was located at the original west end of the corridor. The stove is very clumsy in the middle of this suite of rooms. The archaeologists assume that the corridor was already in a ruinous state at the time of the rest house and was no longer in use. The smoke from the stove was able to escape unhindered since there was apparently no roof at this point.

Stairwell

The stairwell of the mansio . The charred remains of the stairs are just as visible as their prints in the floor. Parts of the overturned half-timbered wall were left in their original place after the excavation. The remains of the painting trace the incline of the stairs.

In the large room to the left of the former representative room, new underfloor heating was installed, while a rectangular staircase was installed in the rooms on the right , the state of which, with the partly charred wooden remains of the staircase, revealed important structural details. With the abandonment of the settlement towards the end of the 4th century, natural decline quickly set in. After a 0.70 meter thick area of ​​rubble had formed in the rooms around the staircase, its southern half-timbered wall, which had been built with the staircase, overturned in full to the south. However, it did not break apart, but remained completely intact in its structure. The wall that was subsequently drawn in had a sill beam that was still in a burnt condition and had wooden stands set in at short intervals. The compartments between these uprights were filled with clay-bound, smashed roof tiles, whereby the previous uprights were left behind as a negative in this composite. The upper end of this construction was terminated by a collar beam. The half-timbered wall had no cross bars or struts and reminded the excavators of the Norman construction technology. Both sides of the wall were plastered and painted. Due to the excellent state of preservation, a guaranteed room height of 3.50 meters could be specified. The stairs themselves first climbed the southern half-timbered wall, led to an intermediate landing that took up the full width of the west wall and then climbed straight ahead on the north wall to the upper floor. The incline of these stairs could be determined on the basis of the traces left in the plaster.

kitchen

Kitchen with stove and oven (left). The firing of this oven came from an even at the time of House II built Praefurnium .

The kitchen stove top was made of roof tiles. The fire burned there, over which an iron grate was possibly installed. The firewood was deposited in the two brick-walled false vaults under the fireplace on the left, while the archaeologists uncovered cooking pots with lids on the right. On the right of this hearth there was a small cubic chamber, which was possibly used for smoking . In the left corner of the room there was a small pear-shaped oven from which the baking oven remained. Another architectural detail can be seen on a well-preserved wall in the kitchen. It was found that this room built for the mansio was equipped with a barrel vault covering the oven. The oven was built into the lower-lying praefurnium of a hypocaust system built for House II . This boiler room was used again in a slightly different way for the rest house. The clever integration of the oven made it possible to use the ash that was created there to stir up the underfloor heating.

Toilet

The large bathroom in Villa rustica has been completely put back into operation. The new owners only add a narrow corridor to the east facade that borders the courtyard. This suite of rooms, which can be entered from the portico, did not have access to the bathroom, but led to an almost square toilet built with the mansio at the northern end of the thermal baths , whose carefully executed faecal channel was found in excellent condition during the excavations. This channel, made of bricks, was located on the west and north walls of the latrine, and a canal running west along the north wall of the bath was used for sewage disposal.

According to Fehr, the superficiality of the conversion to a mansio is evident in the eastern room, which was once decorated by circus paintings. Instead of picking up the older surface as usual for better adhesion of the new plaster, this was applied to the older paintings without further preparation and then also painted. The archaeological state of discovery attests to the fact that this work is less durable. Some of the new plaster had already fallen off.

Molten metal

When a metal smelter was installed on the grounds of the Mansio during the second half of the 4th century , the decline of the property was already well advanced. In places it had burned and debris had slipped over the surface. The craftsmen distributed their smelting furnaces over the entire site of the ruins at the higher walking level, but obviously did not live here. Your accommodation must be looked for in a previously unknown location. Archaeologists almost always found lead slag near the furnaces . A freshly cast lead ingot and a large, thick lead plate are also recorded in the finds. The results of the investigation suggest that a melt for silver ores that were quarried from the slopes of the silver mountain rising in the north of the facility can be assumed. Stone stand bases made from the spoil material of the northern courtyard wall prove that the workers covered the courtyard between the bath and the former mansio with a three-aisled hall structure. This phase also ended around AD 400. Research suspects that the increasingly uncertain conditions and the now completely collapsed infrastructure no longer allowed regular sales. In the following centuries, the sliding debris of the Silberberg deposited itself with increasing height above the ruins and thus preserved the later findings.

Burial ground

Above the rubble of the bath and south beyond, a cemetery with 32 Christian burials was uncovered, which belong to the period between the 7th and 8th centuries. At that time, at least large parts of the Villa rustica could no longer be seen above ground. The grave pits, most of which were lined with slate, have been sunk into the debris. After the burial, the pits were closed and filled with massive slate monolites. The dead who were not buried in stone boxes were buried either in tree coffins or in a simple earth pit. All burials faced east and were free of gifts.

Important find

Graffito

A 23 × 33 centimeter large three-line teacher-student graffito from the upper floor of the house above the stairwell of the mansio became known nationwide. This belongs to the manor era and was probably scratched around 100 AD in the almost mirror-like red pilaster strip of a wall painting with a pointed stylus. The first line was written with the style of a practiced hand who knew how to independently formulate a pentameter in classical Latin . In research, a teacher ( Magister ) is suspected behind this hand , who apparently wanted to warn a student:

Qui bene non didicit, garrulus esse solet

Translation: Those who have not learned well tend to be a babbler.

The person addressed answered under this line, revealing not only his poor knowledge of Latin and his attempt at meter, but also a bad handwriting.

Scriptum me docuit Grati crudelis habena

Translation: The lash of the cruel Gra (t) ius taught me the scriptures.

The third line below was started by the writer of the first line with only three letters and then breaks off. It is believed that the wall polluters were disturbed in their activities. The teacher-student graffito from Ahrweiler is the only one of its kind known from the Roman world and an important testimony to the education at that time. It sheds light on the advanced degree of Romanization in the Germanic provinces at the turn of the 1st to the 2nd century. In addition, the high educational standards of the upper classes in the country become clear, who apparently hired teachers with classical knowledge of Latin for their offspring.

Terra Sigillata

Compared to the total inventory of ceramic fragments recovered in 1874, the 34 terra sigillata shards stamped by pottery now make up a very small part. While most of these goods come from southern Gaul at the beginning of the House II period, the pieces from nearby Sinzig have only been identified with five representatives. The important Rheinzabern workshop even identified only one copy. From the 2nd century onwards, the reference of the Terra Sigillata was based on the East Gaulish-Germanic production facilities. Around 150 AD, stamping the terra sigillata slowly went out of fashion. Therefore, later pieces cannot be assigned to a specific manufacturer. After this time, the Sinzig workshop is worth mentioning, which preferred smooth-walled products to the Silberberg towards the end of the 2nd century.

Christogram?

Of particular interest to the research was a shard from the corridor that dates back to the time of the Mansio . A P was painted in white in front of the fire and two crossing lines underneath. The sign should represent a Christogram . However, it is questionable whether this find is also associated with the presence of late ancient Christians on the Silberberg, since Christian symbols were also used by non-Christians as blessings in late ancient times.

Jewellery

Since the building was always carefully cleared after its respective period of use, only a few objects that have been lost by their owners have survived. A dark brown armring made of slate charcoal is a rarity . Shale coal comes from lignite deposits and consists of charred wood that is millions of years old. A ribbon-shaped bangle shows high quality craftsmanship. The gods Nike , Castor and Pollux are finely stamped on its front . Other pieces of jewelry, such as a ribbon-shaped decorative plate, may have belonged to a headgear. A bronze breakthrough disk that was found could be considered both as jewelry and as part of a horse's harness. One of the late Roman jewelry finds of the Mansio period is an undecorated arm ring with a hook clasp, which was mainly worn in free Germania.

Fibulae

Only a little more than a dozen fibulae from the period between the second half of the 1st century and the end of the 2nd century were found during the excavations . The mainly Gallic and British influenced objects were almost evenly distributed between House I and House II . Only one single object, an eye fibula, comes from northeastern Europe. Two other fibulae belonged to Roman military cloaks.

Theater masks

During the excavations at House II , the fragments of two theater masks made of fine white clay were recovered. One was directly on the southern outer front east of the outside staircase, the other on the northern rear front, in the courtyard between the mountainside and the villa rustica . The mask of a hetaera could be completely reconstructed. This reconstruction made it clear that the eye relief of the mask was set too narrow. So it could not be used in a play. The archaeologists suspect that the masks contain pieces of jewelry or objects to ward off harm. The clay used proves connections between a Cologne workshop and the manor on the Silberberg.

Brick stamp

From the tons of brick rubble recovered by the excavators, only a single brick stamp of military origin could be recovered. It bears the inscription of the 5th legion of the crested larks ( Legio V Alaudae ) . After the Batavian Uprising (69/70 AD), this legion was briefly located in Sinzig , located to the west , near the mouth of the Ahr and the Rhine, where it produced both bricks and terra sigillata before it was dissolved in Moesien in 83 .

See also

literature

General

  • Axel von Berg: First villa, then mansio: Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. In: Vera Rupp , Heide Birley (Hrsg.): Country life in Roman Germany. Theiss, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8062-2573-0 , pp. 138-140.
  • Horst Fehr: Roman villa. Guide through the excavations on the Silberberg in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. (= Archeology on the Middle Rhine and Moselle , Volume 7). 2nd Edition. Steffgen Druck und Verlag, Koblenz 2003. ISBN 3-929645-01-7
  • Horst Fehr: Museum "Römervilla am Silberberg" In: District administration Ahrweiler (Hrsg.): Heimatjahrbuch für die Kreis Ahrweiler 1983 , p. 69ff.
  • Karin Joachim: Everyday life in the Roman villa on Silberberg in Ahrweiler. In: Kreisverwaltung Ahrweiler (Hrsg.): Heimatjahrbuch für die Kreis Ahrweiler 2002 , p. 76 ff.
  • Karin Joachim: The Roemervilla Museum on the road to success. The number of visitors confirms the museum concept. In: Kreisverwaltung Ahrweiler (Ed.): Heimatjahrbuch für die Kreis Ahrweiler 1998 , p. 39 ff.
  • Matthias Röcke: Unique stroke of luck for science: the Roman villa on the Ahrweiler Silberberg. In: Kreisverwaltung Ahrweiler (Ed.): Heimatjahrbuch für die Kreis Ahrweiler 1981 , p. 54 ff.
  • Landesbildstelle Rhineland-Palatinate (publisher): Roman age villa on Silberberg in Ahrweiler. Supplement to slide series 10, Koblenz 1988.

Individual studies

  • Jürgen Blänsdorf , Horst Fehr: A villa of the 2nd – 4th centuries Century "Am Silberberg" in Ahrweiler and the Ahrweiler student sgraffito. In: Gymnasium 89, 1982, pp. 497-510.
  • Karlheinz Dietz : The Ahrweiler student graffito. In: Gymnasium 92, 1985, p. 536.
  • Rüdiger Gogräfe: Wall and ceiling painting of the villa rustica "Am Silberberg" near Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. In: Kölner Jahrbuch für Vor und Frühgeschichte 24, 1991, pp. 219–225.
  • Hans-Michael Hangleiter: The use of cyclododcan in the preservation of the Roman wall paintings in Ahrweiler. In: Restauro Heft 7, 1998 ( summary ).
  • Patrick Jung: A late antique plate with white painting from the villa “Am Silberberg” in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Part of a toast or Christogram? In: Hans-Helmut Wegner (Ed.): Reports on archeology on the Middle Rhine and Moselle . Volume 10 (= Trier magazine , supplement 29), Trier 2005. ISBN 978-3-923319-63-3 . Pp. 373-382.

Web links

Commons : Roman villa of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Horst Fehr: Roman villa. Guide through the excavations on the Silberberg in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. In: Archeology on the Middle Rhine and Moselle, Volume 7 , (2nd edition) Steffgen, Koblenz 2003, ISBN 3-929645-01-7 , p. 20.
  2. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 86.
  3. ↑ a b Horst Fehr (2003). P. 26.
  4. ↑ a b c Horst Fehr (2003). P. 29.
  5. ↑ a b Horst Fehr (2003). P. 31.
  6. ↑ a b Mainz magazine . Volume 98, Mainzer Altumsverein, 2003, p. 146.
  7. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 16-17.
  8. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 11.
  9. ↑ Honors of deserving citizens . In: Homeland yearbook of the Ahrweiler district , 1984
  10. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 12.
  11. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 13.
  12. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 15.
  13. ↑ For example, from April 9th ​​to June 22nd 1997 there was a traveling exhibition under the title Culinaria Romana. So the Romans ate and drank instead. In addition: Christian Holliger: Culinaria Romana. This is how the Romans ate and drank . Exhibition catalog, Brugg, 1996; Another special exhibition running until July 31, 1999, Masks, Mimes and Tragedies - Theater Play in the Roman Provinces , focused on the theater masks found in Ahrweiler. Source: Ancient World . 1999, p. 196.
  14. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 44-45.
  15. ↑ a b Horst Fehr (2003). P. 60.
  16. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 18-19.
  17. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 77-78.
  18. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 93.
  19. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 94.
  20. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 90.
  21. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 89.
  22. ↑ Rüdiger Gogräfe: The Roman wall and ceiling paintings in northern Upper Germany , Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1999, ISBN 3-9805635-2-9 , pp. 251-258.
  23. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 69.
  24. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 52.
  25. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 48.
  26. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 53.
  27. ↑ a b Horst Fehr (2003). P. 65.
  28. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 24.
  29. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 25-26.
  30. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 54-56.
  31. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 54.
  32. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 40-41.
  33. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 57.
  34. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 41.
  35. ↑ Jürgen Blänsdorf , Horst Fehr: A villa of the 2nd – 4th Century "Am Silberberg" in Ahrweiler and the Ahrweiler student sgraffito . In: Gymnasium 89, 1982, pp. 497-510; Karlheinz Dietz : The Ahrweiler student graffito . In: Gymnasium 92, 1985, p. 536.
  36. ↑ Johannes Christes : Handbook of education and training in antiquity . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-15887-3 , p. 113.
  37. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 111-112.
  38. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 112-113.
  39. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 102.
  40. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 104.
  41. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 109.
  42. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). Pp. 107-108.
  43. ^ Hannelore Rose: The Roman terracotta masks in the north-west provinces. Origin, manufacture, distribution, function . Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006. ISBN 3-89500-504-5 . P. 58.
  44. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 110.
  45. ↑ Horst Fehr (2003). P. 112.

Coordinates: 50 ° 32 ′ 20 ″  N , 7 ° 5 ′ 6 ″  E