Ring wall of the Marienburg near Nordstemmen

Wall crown of the ring wall of the Marienburg

The ring wall of the Marienburg near Nordstemmen is a ring wall system on the Marienberg near Nordstemmen in the area of the Pattens district of Schulenburg in Lower Saxony , which is also called Sachsenwall . A targeted archaeological investigation of the wall has not yet taken place, so that no reliable information can be given about its structure and its time of origin. The ring wall is protected as an archaeological monument (ID 28969449).

Location and description

Map of Marienberg from 1895 with sections of the ring wall

Map section with the course of the ring wall marked in brown

Penetration of the wall as access to Marienburg Castle , subsequently fortified with stones

The rampart consists of a 700 meter long earth embankment, which encloses almost the entire summit of the Marienberg on an area of 6.22 hectares. Taking into account the hillside location, the wall still reaches a height of 6 meters and a width of 10 to 15 meters in places. A ditch was built in front of the wall in particularly endangered places. The starting point for the construction of the Wallburg was favorable on the hilltop, as the south-west side was secured by the Saxon gorge and the south side by a natural steep slope, which only had to be reworked slightly. The Marienburg Castle , built between 1857 and 1867, was built into the ring wall system.

Found objects

According to the publication by JH Müller from 1893, Bronze Age finds were made when the wall for the northern entrance to Marienburg Castle was pierced : urn fragments, charcoal, a large bronze spiral, stone tools and many vessel fragments. These finds came from the embankment and do not give any indication of the time the wall was built. A stone wedge, a flint dagger and many shards of vessels were found within the ring wall, and urns filled with coal were found at the foot of the mountain .

The official publication by Andrea Moser from 1998 names the following finds:

Oval rock ax from the Middle Neolithic
Flint tip from the late Neolithic / Bronze Age :
3 bronze edge ridge axes and 6 bronze arm spirals from the Early Bronze Age to the Older Bronze Age
Fragment of a button sickle, 1 rag ax, 1 fragment of a rag ax and 2 lance tips from the Middle to Late Bronze Age
1 bronze bracelet, fragment of a sword blade from the Bronze Age
Ceramic (approx. 15 pieces), 1 loom weight (?), 2 spindle whorls from the migration period

In a publication on archaeological sites and finds in the Hanover district from 1998 it says:

"Whether it is a hoard or items from burial mounds that were destroyed during the construction of the wall can no longer be clarified."

The local history researcher Heinrich Bartels from Nordstemmer reported in 1983 about the storage of the finds in the Marienburg:

"They are still available to visitors to the Marienburg in a showcase."

rating

The site, which has not yet been archaeologically researched, is often dated to the Iron Age (around 750 BC to the birth of Christ). But it belongs more to the early Middle Ages . The assessment is based on similar fortifications in the area around Marienberg: In the plain the Isenburg near Barsinghausen- Landringhausen, the Düsselburg near Rehburg and the Lüningsburg near Neustadt am Rübenberge , the Heisterburg near Lauenau - Feggendorf , the Wirkesburg near Lauenau-Feggendorf, Heisterschlösschen near Beckedorf and Bennigser Castle near Bredenbeck- Steinkrug. Fortifications of this kind were originally regarded as Saxon or Heinrichsburgen by archaeological research . The more recent research assigns the structures in the area of the Central Weser and the Leine to a period from 8th to 12th centuries. Century too. Due to the lack of settlement, the facilities are likely to have been used only sporadically and have served as refuges , which could offer refuge with their belongings, including cattle, if the population was in danger. Similar to these systems, the wall on the Marienberg is likely to have been built in a wood-earth construction, whereby the wooden fixtures made should give the earth the necessary stability. The water supply could be secured by a spring which is located on the eastern wall section and there flows through a gap to the outside into the Sachsenhain .

literature

Hans-Wilhelm Heine : The prehistoric and early historical castle walls in the administrative district of Hanover. Hannover 2000, ISBN 3-7752-5645-8 , s. 107-109
Margret Zimmermann, Hans Kensche: Castles and palaces in Hildesheimer Land . Hildesheim, 2001, pp. 118-119
Erhard Cosack : The "Marienburg" near Schulenburg, Pattensen, Region Hannover in: New research on the Latène period fortifications in the former administrative district of Hanover , Neumünster, 2008, pp. 33–36

Web links

Commons : Marienburg ring wall - collection of images, videos and audio files

Entry by Hans-Wilhelm Heine and Stefan Eismann about Wallburg on the Marienberg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
Reconstruction drawing of the ramparts by Wolfgang Braun

Individual evidence

^ JH Müller: Prehistoric Antiquities of the Province of Hanover 1893, pages 42 and 323 ( PDF; 25.0 MB ).
↑ Source: Andrea Moser: The archaeological sites and finds in the district of Hanover. Catalog. ", Hanover 1998, page 334, no. 2745.
^ Heinrich Bartels: Nordstemmen from prehistoric times to the present. A local chronicle by Heinrich Bartels. Nordstemmen o. J. (1983), page 12.

52.172777777778 9.7661111111111Coordinates: 52 ° 10 ′ 22 " N , 9 ° 45 ′ 58" E

[1] JH Müller: Prehistoric Antiquities of the Province of Hanover 1893, pages 42 and 323 ( PDF; 25.0 MB ).

[2] Source: Andrea Moser: The archaeological sites and finds in the district of Hanover. Catalog. ", Hanover 1998, page 334, no. 2745.

[3] Heinrich Bartels: Nordstemmen from prehistoric times to the present. A local chronicle by Heinrich Bartels. Nordstemmen o. J. (1983), page 12.