Roman Open Air Museum Hechingen-Stein
The Roman Open-Air Museum Hechingen-Stein houses one of the most important sites from Roman times in southern Germany. It is located on a forest property near the small village of Stein , a district of Hechingen in the Zollernalb district in Baden-Württemberg .
History and importance of the site
The site was discovered in 1972 by the then mayor of Stein, Gerd Schollian, and excavated between 1978 and 1981. It turned out that it is the remains of a particularly splendidly developed Roman villa rustica , with around five hectares of very generous dimensions , with residential and farm buildings and a completely closed wall. Excavations have been carried out continuously since 1992. So far, a holy district, a mill building, a storage building, the entrance gate to the complex as well as a forge, another residential building and a corner tower have been excavated. In 2009, further buildings were found outside the villa, which upgraded the excavation site, which was initially thought to be an estate, to a complete Roman settlement.
The property was probably built at the time of Emperor Domitian at the end of the 1st century, when the Romans extended their sphere of influence from the Danube to the northeast into the Neckarland. It was greatly expanded in the 2nd century. The end came in the middle of the 3rd century when the Alamanni conquered the Upper Germanic Limes , the Roman border fortifications, and occupied the area ( Limesfall ).
Numerous household, craft and agricultural tools, furnishings, cult objects and jewelry were found on the site.
At the beginning of the 2000s, a new, large find was made above the excavation and museum area that had already been developed: an exceptionally large forge house with two meals .
A large building complex has been excavated further above since 2001, the original purpose of which is not yet known.
Exploratory excavations , which are currently carried out exclusively by voluntary helpers, show that a number of other buildings, including a second bathing complex, lie underground within the walls of Villa rustica, so the greater part of the complex has not yet been excavated. There are also other buildings in the vicinity of the facility. This diversity of finds leads to the question of what function this extensive settlement had in its final development.
Since the settlement was abandoned in the Middle Ages and a forest grew over it, it offers a very good quality of the finds, which was neither damaged by secondary settlement nor by agricultural activities, especially deep plowing.
Gerd Schollian also dug a small wall in the forest in winter 2010/2011 and came across remnants of the wall. When these were examined by archaeologists and monument conservationists, a formerly 16 meter high, completely overturned building wall from Roman times was revealed. It proves that outside the cities, Roman architecture was much larger than previously thought. Obviously, even remote country estates should above all be representative. The wall probably belonged to a 35 meter long, 20 meter wide and at least 16 meter high warehouse.
investment
main building
At the end of the 1st century a wooden building was probably built. At the beginning of the 2nd century, the wooden building was replaced by a stone portico villa. The building was open with his front porch ( portico ) and his two corner projections around 32 meters long and 23 meters wide. The 3.2 meter wide entrance area to the west of the building consisted of a two-winged gate. Towards the end of the 2nd century, the two corner projections were demolished in order to be able to extend the open colonnade to a length of 32 meters. With two new and larger corner projections, the length of the building grew to 48 meters. Six new rooms were added to the northern wall. This increased the living space to over 500 m².
Enclosing wall
A plastered wall around 2 meters high and 0.6 meters wide protected the approximately five hectare site. The entrance gate was discovered on the west side in 1999 and is now completely reconstructed.
Temple precinct
Between 1992 and 1995, a 34 meter long and 34 meter wide temple area was excavated. The extraordinarily high number of ten small chapels was found in this sacred area outside the surrounding wall.
Mill and store
A mill building 25 meters long and 18 meters wide was excavated from 1995 to 1999. A kiln was also found in this building . Traces of fire indicate that this building burned down and was then rebuilt somewhat larger. Another building 20 meters long and 14 meters wide was also found near the mill. Since no special fixtures or finds could be excavated, it is assumed that this is a storage facility for the mill.
Wrought
A forge was excavated north of the entrance gate in 2000. The open smithy had two forge furnaces, which were separated by a wall.
House and north-west tower
In the period from 2002 to 2004, a further 16.4 meter long and 15.6 meter wide house was excavated just a few meters from the forge. The interior did not have a stone extension, but was probably divided by a wooden structure. It is noticeable that there was no evidence of a fireplace. Presumably the fireplace in the north-west tower, which is located a little to the north and excavated in 2006, was used as a kitchen. The objects found, the remains of painted wall plaster and the window glass found suggest that it was used as a residential building. The house had a tiled gable roof. Due to the strong pressure on the slope, part of the walls was shifted by around 40 cm. The north-west tower was laid out in a square and was around 5 meters in size. Due to the massive foundation and the massive fall layer, the building must have been several stories high. The tower had a floor made of mortar and was covered with roof tiles.
museum
Of the Roman buildings, only the foundations and wall fragments have been preserved. On the one hand, the museum shows these excavations, including the original Roman underfloor heating , some of the basic structures of which have been preserved.
On the other hand, attempts are being made to bring Roman times to life through reconstructions : in the reconstructed main house, original finds from the excavation site are on display. On the upper floor you can visit a triclinium , the master's dining room, in which meals were taken lying down, and the sleeping place of a child. The main house was expanded from 2005 to summer 2006 in order to display other rooms as completely as possible. During this work, the inner courtyard was covered in order to implement the latest archaeological findings.
The grinding and bakery were also reconstructed on the site. Visitors can, by appointment, grind barley into flour and bake flatbread , just like the Romans did. Reconstructed carts, wagons and agricultural implements of the Romans can be viewed in a reconstructed tool shed. Another hut shows games that the Roman children enjoyed outside of school.
Even the latrine was restored. The Romans used to do their "business" in community, sitting on a row toilet. The custom of decorating the latrine walls with sayings and slogans was also common in Roman times. Some of the then common wall slogans were attached as a reconstruction.
Finally, the lower part of the site gives an insight into the rich world of gods and myths of the Romans, again based on finds from the site. In addition to the well-known great deities Jupiter , Minerva and Mercurius , the inhabitants also paid homage to the imported deities of subject peoples, for example the Persian god of light Mithras and the Celtic horse goddess Epona . In addition, minor deities such as the goddess of luck Fortuna and the goddess of fruit Herecura as well as the nameless genius of the landlord and the matrons of the field played an important role in their religious cosmos.
Approach of the open air museum
The open-air museum is based on excavation finds such as the remains of walls, the Hypocaust heating system and a variety of individual finds such as broken glass, plaster remains, everyday objects and hewn stones. In contrast to many other places where only the walls were fixed in the excavation state and the found objects were grouped together in a museum, the Roman Open-Air Museum is attempting a reconstruction of buildings on the original foundations based on scientific findings and templates, for example from Pompeii, according to the state of archeology rebuild. This reconstruction also includes copies of finds from other places. For example, the remains of a giant column of Jupiter were found in stone , but they were not sufficient for a reconstruction. A copy of the giant Jupiter column from Walheim was erected as a souvenir. The aim of this form of presentation is to present the visitor with as concrete a picture as possible of life at that time.
Roman festival
Every other year (even numbered) a large Roman festival takes place in August on the site. According to the organizers, this is "the largest Roman festival north of the Alps".
literature
- Hartmann Reim: Excavation in a Roman estate near Stein, municipality of Hechingen, Zollernalbkreis . In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , 8th year 1979, issue 4, pp. 149–154. ( PDF )
- Stefan Schmidt-Lawrenz: The Roman estate of Hechingen-Stein . Theiss, Stuttgart 1999 (Guide to Archaeological Monuments in Baden-Württemberg, 21), ISBN 3-8062-1484-0
- Stefan Schmidt-Lawrenz: The Roman open-air museum of Hechingen-Stein Glückler, Hechingen 2008. ISBN 3-925012-50-8
- Stefan Schmidt-Lawrenz: Hechingen-Stein: proud large company with all the trimmings. In: Vera Rupp , Heide Birley (Hrsg.): Country life in Roman Germany. Theiss, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8062-2573-0 , pp. 169-172.
- Hartmann Reim: The Roman estate near Hechingen-Stein, Zollernalbkreis . In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , 11th year 1982, issue 4, p. 171ff. ( PDF )
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archaeologists find a huge wall from Roman times . dpa message in: Hannoversche Allgemeine from August 17, 2011
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 22 ′ 33.7 ″ N , 8 ° 56 ′ 6.2 ″ E