Roman pottery and brick factory Prittriching

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georeferencing Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The Roman pottery and brick factory Prittriching was a small antique production facility in the south of the Raetian provincial capital Augusta Vindelicorum ( Augsburg ). It was about 20 kilometers as the crow flies from the center of the Roman capital on the eastern edge of the former Lechauen landscape and about 320 meters east of the Catholic branch church of Our Lady, which forms the historical center of the Upper Bavarian community of Prittriching .

location

The imperial production facility was located around 540 meters above sea ​​level on a narrow terrace sloping slightly to the west at the foot of a slope. Immediately to the east rises a roughly ten-meter steep edge of the terrain, which ends on a plateau that is highly sensitive in terms of settlement history. There are legacies of the Bronze Age and a row of burial grounds from the early Middle Ages. Only a few meters north of the site, the Leitenbergstraße, coming from the west, runs through an old ravine to the plateau. Just under four kilometers to the east, two important Roman roads leading to Augsburg cross. The first opened up the places east of the Lech, continued via Partanum ( Partenkirchen ) to Brenner and to Italy. The second connected Augsburg with Iuvavum ( Salzburg ). The Lech, tamed today by hydraulic engineering, passes the site about 2.50 kilometers to the west. Its bed, which runs from south to north, is located in the rift-era moraine deposits of the Landsberger plates , which are bounded by the edge of the terrain on Leitenbergstrasse. Immediately to the west of the small terrace with the antique workshops, the area fell by around 20 to 30 degrees in Roman times, which became clear after the widely scattered remains of brick were exposed. Following this area, geoarchaeologist Britta Kopecky-Hermanns was able to concretise a very humid environment for antiquity, which can be assigned to the extreme fluviatil eroding foothills of the former floodplain landscape of the Lech. Loamy and gravel areas alternated with small gutters . Kopecky-Hermanns could not undertake a relative chronological sequence of the sediments due to a lack of clues, but it became clear that no findings were to be expected in the large area west of the site. Broad search cuts confirmed this assumption.

Research history

The area in front of the foot of the slope, which originally belonged to the Bronze Age settlement context, was to be subjected to an archaeological survey after a precautionary decision by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation after the development measures planned there became known. Eventually appropriate findings, as mapped above the edge of the terrain, were expected. In this context, Peter Priadka, assisted by the Augsburg archaeologist Lutz Kunstmann as scientific and technical assistant and deputy excavation manager, was able to examine the site discovered on Leitenbergstrasse from August 16 to December 21, 2016. In addition to the direct support from the State Monuments Office, the municipality of Prittriching was also closely involved in the research. Only through their financial commitment can finds from the excavation, including one of the tongue walls of the brick kiln once set between the drafts, can be viewed in the local history museum. A complete preservation of this furnace, which is justifiable in terms of monument preservation, would have exceeded all feasible costs for the community.

At the opening of the special exhibition for this excavation in Prittriching in 2018, Jochen Haberstroh , chief conservator and Upper Bavarian Head of Section for Practical Ground Monument Care at the State Monuments Office, emphasized that this project was one of the most important archaeological events in Bavaria in 2016.

Building history

The completely excavated ensemble consisted of two adjacent areas. Closer to Leitenbergstrasse, these were two small, free-standing, round ceramic kilns with only one common working pit, followed a few meters further south by a powerful, also rounded ceramic kiln, the eastern outer wall of which had been dug directly into the steep edge of the terrain. In a later phase, this large ceramic furnace was abandoned in favor of a brick kiln attached to the west and its western area was partly demolished, partly except for the bricked clay tub of the substructure. According to the findings, the three ceramic kilns were initially operated together before the brick kiln was built. It was not possible to determine whether the two smaller ovens were still intact. However, its excellent state of preservation seems to suggest it. The small amounts of ceramic material that came to light during this excavation did not allow a closer chronological classification than in the Roman Empire. All the ovens documented in Prittriching are typical representatives of their kind and were widespread in the Roman world. In 1998 in Germering in Upper Bavaria, for example, a much smaller, but conceptually very similar brick kiln was found, which the community was able to maintain in situ under a protective structure. Examples of the two ceramic kilns that were used from a work pit, also known from Hungary, for example.

The ceramic distillery

The two ceramic kilns with their well-preserved, circular perforated antennas, the part of the kilns on which the kiln was once stacked, were located near Leitenbergstrasse and were heated from a joint, east-west oriented working pit. The elongated pit was almost rectangular and had rounded corners. Furnace 3 with its upstream poking channel was directly connected to the east side of the working pit, while the poking channel of kiln 2 located across the corner was oriented to the northeast. The two ovens belonged to the type of “standing ovens” and had a dome made of clay during the fire, which was later smashed in order to be able to remove the finished fired vessels. The Provincial Roman archaeologist and ceramic specialist Katalin Ottományi saw the use of a common pit for two ceramic kilns as one of the best methods for the effective use of the kilns alternately.

Furnace 3

The perforated antenna of furnace 3, which was around 1.50 meters in diameter in planum 2 without the thermally stressed standing people surrounding it, consisted of tangentially arranged, more or less fragmented tile bricks ( tegulae ) and thick brick slabs, such as those used to cover a suspensory . Two extensively preserved panels each had a small through-hole intentionally made before the fire. The draw holes made between the plates were well preserved. The perforated tennis was carried by a tongue wall inserted underneath, which was oriented to the west-east. In the east this wall was connected to the round soffit of the furnace, while in the west it was suspended in front of the Schürkanal so that the hot air could be evenly distributed in both chambers. Both this wall and the inner wall of the furnace had been hand-smeared with a thick layer of clay, as indicated by many closely packed fingerprints and wipers. The reddish surface of the perforated antenna itself suggested that an oxidizing firing atmosphere had been used here.

Furnace 2

Furnace 2 was in planum 2 with a maximum diameter of 1.10 meters, the smallest at this location. Here, too, the dimensions are given without the floor, which is also bricked in differently colored stages. With the exception of the basic concept of a perforated tennis, it had a completely different structure and consisted of much smaller, fragmented panels that were arranged radially to one another. The builders had partly smeared their surfaces with clay. Oven 2 also had a different construction in the substructure, as only a single, massive tile plate was installed in the middle to support the perforated tennis. Their narrow side pointed to the Schürkanal. The black discolored surface of the threshing floor makes a reducing firing atmosphere in furnace 2 likely.

Working pit of furnace 2 and 3

The working pit was dug in several planes. In its upper area there was a massive layer of rubble on broken roof tiles, which is reminiscent of a collapsed roof. Lateral post settlements, which must have been part of such a construction, could not be proven. In the plana below, a strong concentration of ash increased, which came from the firing processes and only showed the smallest broken bricks and burned clay stains. This ash layer thinned out in the lower plana and left discolorations, charcoal and burnt clay stains in the loamy soil.

Ceramic finds from the work pit

A few fragments of vessels came out of the ground in various planes, some of which fitted together. Most of the shards came from light-colored, reduced-fired utility ceramics that were turned disc, contained mica and heavily skimmed with sand. Their rough surfaces did not have any coatings or engobes . Parts from this find were identified as false fires. Most prominent were four gray fragments of a shoulder wrap that belonged together, two of which ended in edge pieces. Under a circumferential decorative line, the wall pieces had a stamp ornament, which was set in rows close together and consisted of a lying oval shape. The short lines in the rounded segment of the oval are reminiscent of the eyelashes of an eye. These “eyes” were bounded by a standing U-shaped frame, which when viewed over the vessel left a honeycomb-shaped impression. Overall, these and some of the light-colored shards of vessels gave the impression that there might be similarities to Pannonian pieces. But the stamp motif in particular shows certain intentions for stamps on Roman Pannonian glossy crockery. Here, broken-down Mediterranean ornamental motifs such as egg bars could have served as a model. A more detailed assignment has not yet been possible due to a lack of comparative findings.

Furnace 1

The complete brick kiln with its excavation zones encompassing several planes

Only a few meters further south of the ceramic kiln, there was initially a massive, round, perforated pit for the ceramic firing, with the bricked stand in Planum 1, almost 2.60 meters in diameter from north to south. Its easternmost flank was already dug deep into the steep slope edge. This finding, known as furnace 1, must have had both its working pit and the Schürkanal on the west side and, with this situation, corresponded to the northern ceramic production site. The material used for the construction of the perforated tennis consisted of knocked out Tegulae and some intentionally broken tubules , hollow bricks, which were actually used for the warm air outflow and the simultaneous heating of Roman house walls. For better adhesion of the wall plaster, these bricks had diamond-shaped incisions. The building material also included massive brick slabs, which were grooved in the mortar and had deep, checkerboard-like incisions. There were also square slabs, which were used in Suspensurae as square pillar bricks and a few broken imbrices . A heavily bricked layer of clay connected the individual components. The perforated tennis courts were supported by wall sections running north-south, which mostly consisted of oblong, rectangular bricks. If necessary, these stones were smashed during installation. This enabled them to adapt to the trough of the furnace wall, which tapers sharply at the bottom. In order to direct the hot air under the threshing floor, the trains each had a small cantilever arch in the middle , the capstones of which reached just below the perforated stall. The furnace base was very badly bricked up during the firing process.

Brick kiln

At an unknown point in time during the Roman Empire, the large oven 1 was abandoned, with the perforated tennis in the west being broken up to just over halfway. The western furnace wall also fell victim to the demolition. A continuous wall made of elongated bricks was then erected on the west side in front of the remaining remains of furnace 1. It was therefore no longer possible to use the furnace, especially since the demolition rubble was thrown behind this wall into the destroyed part of the threshing floor and filled up to the edge with it.

Then, attached to the newly erected wall, a large, approximately 5.80 meters long and 3.30 meters wide brick kiln with a total of ten opposing, approximately 0.90 meters high preserved tongue walls - five each in the north and south - the consisted of large burned clay brick panels. Slightly shifted to the axis of the actual furnace stood the wide western crossbar made of roof tiles as the end of the system, which also contained the mouth hole for the Schürkanal. In front of this mouth hole, in turn, the stove fitters had built the actual, almost 1.40-meter-long Schürkanal from large mud bricks, whereby on the south side of this extension a separated area was created with smaller mud bricks in the square, which had a clay floor. The purpose of this facility is unknown. It is also remarkable that the outer clay wall of the brick kiln was seamlessly connected to that of the old, abandoned ceramic kiln. It remains speculative what was the purpose of this connection and what use was made of the area of ​​the filled-in ceramic furnace. In the area at the exit of the Schürkanal there was a strong package of roof tiles that must have belonged to the collapsed roofing of the working pit. The approximately 2.90 meter long pit itself had the shape of a bucket tapering towards the Schürkanal. In the section and in the subgrade, a heavily bricked, rounded find was observed on the northern wall of the excavation, as well as two pits at equal intervals that extended from the working pit to behind the perforated tennis court. These could have belonged to post positions that were part of a roofing of the furnace as a stand. A concrete documentation of these findings was not made.

No stamped bricks were found . However, the rectangular tegulae often had smudge marks in the middle of the narrow-sided head ends, which the brickworkers had pressed into the as yet unfired clay with their fingers. Simple, semicircular marks appeared most frequently, more rarely these marks consisted of double semicircles and only a few had a loop-shaped design. As at many other sites in Prittriching, paw prints of cats and dogs on the groin tiles can be detected. The dimensions of some of the tegulae from the working pits, and in particular the porch of the brick kiln, were 0.51 × 0.41 meters. The number of Imbrices recovered was very limited. Not a single copy of these could be completed.

Horse skeleton

As the media reported very quickly, a small, headless horse skeleton was documented east of the slope terrace, below the brick kiln in the sloping terrain, the bones of which did not follow the anatomical order, but were still very compact. Since fragments of bricks from the production facility were lying around the animal, it is assumed that the horse must be in a temporal relationship with the kilns up the slope.

Lost property

Important finds from the excavation are kept in the local history museum, which is housed in the Prittriching schoolhouse.

Monument protection

The area at the Roman brickworks and all other prehistoric and early historical sites mentioned are protected as registered ground monuments within the meaning of the Bavarian Monument Protection Act (BayDSchG) . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to authorization, accidental finds must be reported to the monument authorities.

literature

  • Peter Priadka: A Roman pottery and brick factory in Prittriching, Landsberg am Lech district, Upper Bavaria . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria , 2016, (2017), pp. 75–77.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c d e Peter Priadka: A Roman pottery and brick factory in Prittriching, Landsberg am Lech district, Upper Bavaria . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2016, (2017), pp. 75–77; here: p. 75.
  2. ↑ a b Walter Herzog: The finds go back to late antiquity . In: Augsburger Allgemeine from November 4, 2016.
  3. ↑ http://archbau.com/aktuelle-projekte/
  4. ↑ a b View into Roman times. An exhibition in the local history museum. In: Landsberger Tagblatt , April 26, 2018, p. 27.
  5. ↑ ceramic furnace 2 ; Ceramic furnace 3
  6. ↑ Working pit furnace 2 and 3
  7. ↑ Ceramic furnace 1
  8. ↑ Brick kiln
  9. ↑ Peter Priadka: A Roman pottery and brickworks operating in Prittriching, district of Landsberg am Lech, Upper Bavaria . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria , 2016, (2017), pp. 75–77; here: pp. 76–77.
  10. ↑ Birgit Anzenberger, Jakob Leicht, Franz Srownal: A Roman brick kiln in Germering . In: The Archaeological Year in Bavaria , 1998 (1998), pp. 88–89.
  11. ^ City history , City of Germering
  12. ↑ a b Katalin Ottományi: The late Latène-Roman settlement of Budaörs. In: Acta archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. Vol. 55, No. 1-3, 2005, pp. 67-132; here: p. 96.
  13. ↑ a b c d e Peter Priadka: A Roman pottery and brick factory in Prittriching, Landsberg am Lech district, Upper Bavaria . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria , 2016, (2017), pp. 75–77; here: p. 76.
  14. ↑ a b Peter Priadka: A Roman pottery and brickworks operating in Prittriching, district of Landsberg am Lech, Upper Bavaria . In: The archaeological year in Bavaria , 2016, (2017), pp. 75–77; here: p. 77.
  15. ^ Horse skeleton