Ringwall Possenberg

Ringwall Possenberg
Alternative name (s):	Ringwall Posserberg
Creation time :	Section fortification presumably prehistoric, ramparts early medieval
Castle type :	Ring wall system within a section fortification
Conservation status:	Disappeared, ramparts and trenches preserved
Place:	Ebensfeld - Oberküps - "Possenberg"
Geographical location	50 ° 2 '49 "  N , 11 ° 2' 0.7"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 2 '49 "  N , 11 ° 2' 0.7"  E
Height:	490  m above sea level NN

The ring wall Possenberg , also called ring wall Posserberg , is a defunct early medieval fortification within a prehistoric section fortification on the elongated crest of the eponymous Possenberg. It is located about 800 meters north-northwest of the Catholic branch church St. Katharina von Oberküps and about six kilometers southeast of the center of Ebensfeld in the Upper Franconian district of Lichtenfels in Bavaria , Germany . No historical or archaeological information is known about this circular rampart , which was only discovered in 1954 ; the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments roughly describes it as a medieval fortification and, due to the structural features such as the surrounding moat, was probably built and used during the early Middle Ages in the Carolingian - Ottonian period be. The section fortification in front of the saddle of the Possenberg to the plateau of the Dornig and rolled much more strongly than the ring wall probably belonged to an older fortification of the mountain and possibly arose during prehistory , but could also have been created at the same time and served as an additional safeguard for the ring wall system. In the area of attachment were than read finds five arrowheads and two folding knife blade of iron discovered. Only a double section wall and edge walls, ditches and section walls have survived from the complex, the site is protected as a ground monument number D-4-5932-0106: ring wall system and section fortification of the Middle Ages .

description

The ring wall system is located at around 490  m above sea level. NN and thus around 180  meters above the valley floor of the Kellbach on an 800 to 1000 meter long and only 60 to 80 meter wide mountain spur, the Possenberg. Its elongated hilltop, facing west-southwest, is around 20 to 30 meters lower than the Jura plateau of the Dornig in the east . To the south and west, the Possenberg drops steeply to the valley of the Kellbach, on the north side to the likewise deeply cut valley of the Kümmelbach .

At the root of the ridge, immediately after a slightly constricted saddle , lies an outermost section wall on a natural edge of the terrain sloping 1.5 meters to the northeast and sloping over the ridge. This heavily flattened rampart is only half a meter high and up to 3.5 meters wide. After about 40 meters it is followed by a second section wall that crosses the ridge; this too only reaches a height of half a meter, its width is 5.5 meters. There are no trenches there. Due to the stronger weathering at the spur tip of this outer section fortification compared to the ring wall , it is assumed that it belonged to an older system that once cordoned off the entire ridge. On the other hand, the assumption that it served as an upstream protection of the ring wall is less likely.

Around 400 meters west-southwest of this outer section fortification lies a trapezoidal ring wall 35 meters in front of the top of the Possenberg. Its inner surface is 95 meters long, its greatest width is 60 meters, on the side towards the spur tip it is only 20 meters wide. The system encloses a limestone wall, on average six meters wide and 0.4 to 0.7 meters high, on all sides. In front of this ring wall there was also a trench, the parts of which are heavily flooded on both long sides on the steep slope in the northwest and south-southeast of the facility and are hardly recognizable. The two trenches on the narrow sides, on the other hand, are better preserved and still half a meter deep with a width of three meters at the spur tip and 5.5 meters on the eastern trench. The earlier access to the facility was possibly due to an interruption in the wall on the south-southeast side on the steep slope; it was not a pincer gate , but a simple gate system.

literature

• Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archaeological Forays in Meranierland am Obermain - A guide to archaeological and monuments of the early and high Middle Ages . 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. District of Upper Franconia, Bayreuth 2006, ISBN 3-9804971-7-8 , pp. 83-85.
• Björn-Uwe Abels : Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria, Franconia Volume 2: Archaeological Guide Upper Franconia . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-8062-0373-3 , p. 149.
• Klaus Schwarz: The prehistoric and early historical monuments in Upper Franconia . (Material booklets on Bavarian prehistory, series B, volume 5). Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 1955, p. 157.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archaeological Forays in Meranierland am Obermain - A Guide to Archaeological and Monuments of the Early and High Middle Ages , p. 84
2. ↑ Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archaeological Wanderings in Meranierland am Obermain - A Guide to Archaeological and Monuments of the Early and High Middle Ages , p. 84 and Björn-Uwe Abels: Guide to Archaeological Monuments in Bavaria, Franconia Volume 2: Archäologischer Führer Oberfranken , p 149
3. ↑ Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archaeological Wanderings in Meranierland am Obermain - A Guide to Archaeological and Monuments of the Early and High Middle Ages , p. 84 and Klaus Schwarz: The prehistoric and early historical terrain monuments of Upper Franconia , p. 157
4. ↑ Björn-Uwe Abels: Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria, Franconia Volume 2: Archaeological Guide Upper Franconia , p. 149 and Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation
5. ↑ List of monuments for Ebensfeld (PDF) at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (PDF; 169 kB)
6. ↑ Location of the ring wall in the Bavaria Atlas
7. ↑ Source description: Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archäologische Streifzüge im Meranierland am Obermain - A guide to archaeological and monuments of the early and high Middle Ages , p. 84