Rodenbeke

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Rodenbeke is a deserted, fallen settlement near Scharzfeld in Lower Saxony , which presumably existed between the 12th and 15th centuries. The deserted site is about 1.5 km south of Scharzfeld on a field on the eastern slope of the Kühle mountain .

history

In a property listing of the Quedlinburg Abbey from 1425, a place "Rodenbeke" is mentioned. After that he owned 9 hooves or farm yards. From the name it was a beke place, which indicates a location on a stream. The place name means something like red brook . From a document from 1541 it is known that the village near Scharzfeld with the name “Rodenbeck” or “Rombeck” was already desolate at that time. The approximate location of the settlement resulted from the field designation "Romeker Church" on a map of the office of Scharzfeld from 1713.

The exact location of the desert could be localized in 1993 with the help of aerial archeology . During a flight, a striking building contour with a surrounding circular moat emerged in a field . On inspections, blue-gray shards of ceramic vessels that could be dated to the 12th to 15th centuries, as well as remains of roof tiles and pieces of mortar, were found on the field. Extensive black discolouration in the ground and finds of red-burnt clay and charcoal lead to the conclusion that the village was at least partially burned down.

excavation

After plans by the Rheinkalk Group to expand its Scharzfeld operating area to include the desert area, a rescue excavation took place in 2012, which lasted several months . It took place after a previous geomagnetic survey on an area of ​​four hectares and was carried out by an excavation company. During the excavation of the building structure recognized in the aerial photo, the foundations of a church building were exposed. They were around one meter thick and consisted of large, almost square blocks of dolomite with an edge length of up to 50 cm. The church had an inner surface of about 80 m² with a length of 20 meters and a width of 8 meters. It consisted of three building parts from three different construction phases. The almost square west building could have been the church tower . This was followed by a rectangular hall building to which a semicircular apse was attached. This represents the design of a Romanesque village church in the manner of an apse hall church . The church, situated on a steep slope, was surrounded by a paving made of dolomite and river pebbles, which was apparently intended to protect the foundations from sloping water. The church building stood in a marked church district about 50 meters in diameter, which was surrounded by a circular moat. After the settlement was abandoned, the stone material of the church was removed and probably used for building purposes in other places.

Outside the church district, the remains of five buildings were discovered in the ground, including two residential buildings. They were half-timbered buildings in post construction made of wood, wickerwork and clay. They were apparently grouped around a larger apartment building that was under a layer of fire. It had a cellar. A ball pot and a pilgrim's bottle were found in it. In the earlier settlement area, the remains of an oven were found , which, due to its size, was probably used jointly.

Between the church and the settlement area there is a depression in the ground in which there was a stone-paved area with ceramic shards and horseshoes. When the soil was exposed by the archaeologists, water kept leaking here, so that it could have been a source, which would explain the place name as a red stream.

The archaeologists assume that Rodenbeke and its church were built in the 11th century. They see the period of abandonment of the settlement between 1425 and 1541.

literature

  • Eberhardt Kettlitz: A tour through the rediscovered Rodenbeke desert near Scharzfeld in the Osterode district in: Harz-Zeitschrift No. 65, 2013, pp. 27–31 ( online )

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 36 ′ 58 ″  N , 10 ° 23 ′ 1 ″  E