Schnippenburg
| Schnippenburg | |
|---|---|
 View of the Geländesporn with the remains of the Schnippenburg from the south (2009) |
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| Alternative name (s): | Schnippenburg ground monument |
| Creation time : | around 268 BC Chr. |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle |
| Conservation status: | Wall preserved up to 1 m high, some remains of the dry stone wall in situ |
| Standing position : | no assignment |
| Construction: | Post slot wall with post pile wall |
| Place: | Krebsburger Wald / Venner Egge Wiehengebirge |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 21 ′ 7 ″ N , 8 ° 11 ′ 0 ″ E |
| Height: | 125 m above sea level NHN |
The Schnippenburg is 1.4 hectares area a smaller ring wall , which in the pre-Roman Iron Age emerged. Their remains are under the forest west of the Krebsburg in the Schwagstorf district of Ostercappeln in the Osnabrück district of Lower Saxony .
location
The Schnippenburg is located in the northwestern part of the Wiehengebirge within the Northern Teutoburg Forest Nature Park . It lies at a height of 115 to 125 meters above sea level on a spur of the 160 meter high Venner Egge elevation. This point does not allow a large-scale overview, as it is dominated by mountain ridges of the Wiehengebirge that run north and south by 30 meters. An important factor in assessing the Schnippenburg is its geographical location close to a point where two supra-regional traffic routes intersect. About 500 meters away there is an old route of the Bremer Heerstraße starting from Osnabrück , which crosses about one kilometer from the Schnippenburg with the Hellweg in front of the Santforde .
First sketch of the location by local researcher Hermann Hartmann from 1889
Sketch of the location by Carl Schuchhardt at the end of the 19th century
description
The inner area of the Schnippenburg has an area of 170 × 110 meters, which results in an area of around 1.46 hectares. The walls of the complex, which are heavily eroded in places, are still around one meter high and 6 to 8 meters wide. The only access was on the east side. In connection with the routing to the entrance, there are presumably artificial terraces on the northern slope of the spur. The outer wall of Schnippenburg was an almost 3-meter pfostenschlitzmauer whose front as dry masonry of two rows stacked reading stones existed. The masonry was around 1.5 meters high and was supported by split planks made of oak, which towered over the masonry. Facing with split planks resulted in a battlement on the wall. Inside, the wall was supported by wooden packages. In places, remains of the front wall made of dry masonry have been preserved in situ . 1.5 meter wide ravines lead through the facility, which originate from the Iron Age use of the area. The ramparts experienced disruptions in the last few centuries due to the construction of roads for forestry.
Research history
The first evidence of the existence of the ramparts can be found on a map by Johann Wilhelm du Plat in 1786, where the terrain spur is referred to as Auf der Schnippen-Burg . It was mentioned as a parcel of Schnippenburg on a map drawn up in 1805 by Karl Ludwig von Le Coq . In 1889 the local researcher Hermann Hartmann created and published the first map of the Schnippenburg, which he had created with the help of a surveyor. His plan was included in the 1890 atlas of prehistoric fortifications in Lower Saxony by the prehistorians Carl Schuchhardt and August von Oppermann.
Excavations
The first archaeological measures at the Schnippenburg were carried out in 1983 with security measures on the wall. The first prospecting with a metal detector was carried out in 1989, and more followed in 1999. This uncovered a number of metal objects, including iron implements and weapons as well as bronze jewelry from the Latène period .
From 2000 to 2005 the complex was extensively researched archaeologically. In 2001 there was a six-month prospecting and, from 2002, extensive excavations , during which 1,500 finds were recovered from the interior. The iron objects found include arrowheads, scythes, knives, sickles, hatchets, lance tips, chain fragments and fittings. Numerous items of jewelry made of bronze were found, which are to be assessed as a depot . These include arm rings, a hollow bead ring, brooches, earrings, pearls and rings.
Current condition
The Schnippenburg is neither signposted nor are there any information boards at its location. Their remains can hardly be seen in the area. The two section walls can be perceived by means of slight elevations in the ground and the lateral areas are recognizable as a sharp edge of the terrain on the steep slope. In the interior of the facility and in the area of the ramparts, there are large depressions in the floor that originate from earlier excavations.
Interpretation and dating
The Schnippenburg was built in the pre-Roman Iron Age. Its construction can be dendrochronologically based on charred oak wood from the front fortifications of the complex to the time 268 ± 10 BC. To date. During the excavations carried out on the wall in 1983, charcoal material was taken for a C14 dating . As a result, the system burned down after only 30–50 years of use. It is not known whether the fire was based on a military event or whether it was infected by its users.
The Schnippenburg was a multifunctional central location within a larger settlement area. In addition to its use as a settlement, there is evidence of long-distance trade with the Celtic region and neighboring Northeast Westphalia. The system is single-phase. In contrast to other prehistoric fortifications that were used again in later times, the Schnippenburg was not rebuilt after it was destroyed.
Sacrificial pits in the inner area of the ramparts indicate a place of ritual acts. Finds of slag and a large number of iron finds also suggest local iron smelting in the immediate vicinity of the plant. This settlement probably did not serve as a fortification , especially since it - although standing on the spur of a hill - was built between two ridges. The Schnippenburg can be assigned to a group of small, lightly fortified Westphalian ring walls that were built during the 3rd / 2nd centuries. century BC. Corresponding systems can be found in the entire low mountain range from Silesia via central Germany , southern Lower Saxony , Hesse and Westphalia to the Dutch province of Drenthe , with Schnippenburg being the most northwestern representative.
presentation
In the Schwagsdorf district of Ostercappeln, a museum was set up and opened in 2010 with funds from the economic stimulus package II , in which the history of the Schnippenburg including the finds is presented.
Information boards about the Schnippenburg can be found a few kilometers away in Darpvenne in the Ostercappeln district of Venne . There, in 2008, the Iron Age House Darpvenne, a residential stable from the pre-Roman Iron Age , was reconstructed on a correspondingly designed site, which chronologically refers to the Schnippenburg.
literature
- Wolfgang Schlüter : Burgen In: Archaeological Monuments between Weser and Ems , Isensee 2000, ISBN 3-89598-752-2 , pp. 138-139.
- Sebastian Möllers: The Schnippenburg near Ostercappeln , p. 15, in: Archeology in Lower Saxony , 2002
- Sebastian Möllers: The Schnippenburg near Ostercappeln, Ldkr. Osnabrück In: Mamoun Fansa , Frank Both, Henning Haßmann (editor): Archeology | Land | Lower Saxony. 400,000 years of history. Landesmuseum für Natur und Mensch, Oldenburg 2004. Pages 254–257.
- Sebastian Möllers, Bodo Zehm (editor): Rätsel Schnippenburg , series of publications on the archeology of the Osnabrück region, Volume V, Bonn, 2009
- Friedrich-Wilhelm Wulf : Archaeological monuments and sites in the district of Osnabrück, Part 2 in the series of material booklets on the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony , Volume 43, Rahden / Westphalia, 2011
- Sebastian Möllers: In the shadow of the big neighbor in: Archeology in Lower Saxony , pp. 70–73, 2012
Web links
- Website about the Schnippenburg
- Brief description of a museum exhibition on Schnippenburg, 2007
- Comprehensive presentation of the location, research history, excavations, résumé
- Short report at archaeologie-online.de
- Schnippenburg on Celtic worlds
- Kora Blanken: The Secret of the Schnippenburg ( Memento from August 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at ndr.de from August 18, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ see literature: Sebastian Möllers: Rätsel Schnippenburg , p. 155.
