Schwedenschanze (Stade)

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Wall of Schwedenschanze, from the north over the waters rocker seen

The remnant of an early medieval hill fort in today's Groß Thun district in the south of the Hanseatic city of Stade is known as the Schwedenschanze .

Surname

The naming as Schwedenschanze is based on an error. It has long been assumed that the walls still visible today were built during the presence of Swedish troops in the Thirty Years' War during the 17th century. In fact, the complex is around 1,000 years older, as dated from a bar taken from a tree felled in 673. This makes the complex one of the few castles from the 7th century that are occupied in the area between the Elbe and the Rhine .

Building description

The castle, located inside the 110 × 60 m facility, was strategically located directly on the Schwinge and only 6 kilometers from the Elbe . It was probably inhabited by around 150 people. Next to the castle, a wooden quay wall was found on the Schwinge in the direction of the Elbe. This small port facility suggests that the Schwedenschanze was not only a defense system for the Old Saxons , but also served trade. The tidal influence on the Schwinge may have ended in the area of ​​the Schwedenschanze.

Excavations

Excavations in 2007 showed that the facility was inhabited from around 670 to 900 years. After that, the castle on the Stader Spiegelberg probably took over the tasks of the facility.

The finds at the Schwedenschanze have sparked international interest among archaeologists, as this period is considered to be empty in this area. For example, oars from the early Middle Ages were found here in Germany for the first time in 2008 .

In spring 2009 geophysical investigations were carried out in the area around the Schwedenschanze. Investigations of the magnetic field showed that there are still rectangular wooden structures 20 meters long and 2.5 meters wide in the ground.

During subsequent excavations by the University of Hamburg, the remains of another rampart were discovered 450 meters south of the Schwedenschanze in the Ohle Dbod parcel .

In 2016, during the construction of two houses in Groß Thun, shards of pottery and traces of two pile dwellings were discovered about 80 cm below the surface of the earth. The archaeologists dated the finds to around 600 AD and consider them to be the remains of the settlement belonging to the Schwedenschanze.

literature

  • T. Michel, A. Schäfer: The early medieval castle of Groß Thun (City of Stade) in: Archeology in Lower Saxony, Vol. 10. Oldenburg 2007, 94-97.
  • T. Michel, A. Schäfer: The castle wall of the Old Saxons in Groß Thun . Archeology in Germany. Issue 1/2007, 47f.
  • J. Kleemann: Saxony and Frisians in the 8th and 9th centuries . Publications of the prehistoric collections of the Landesmuseum zu Hannover Volume 50. Oldenburg 2002.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Excavation: Stade in the time of the Old Saxons at ndr.de from August 3, 2016

Coordinates: 53 ° 34 ′ 41.1 ″  N , 9 ° 26 ′ 38.5 ″  E