Serm (Duisburg)

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Rural view of Serm from the south (2008)
Sacred Heart Church (2012)

Serm is located in the Mündelheim district of the Duisburg-Süd district and is one of the southernmost locations in the city of Duisburg. The place has about 3,500 inhabitants.

history

Duisburg-Serm is one of the most important archaeological sites within the city of Duisburg. Starting in 2004, a volunteer employee of the Office for Land Monument Preservation at the Rhineland Regional Council recorded and mapped 15 areas of discovery from various times with tens of thousands of finds on an area of ​​around 70 hectares. From 2015 onwards, the long-term work formed the basis for a far-reaching research project by the LVR Office for Land Monument Preservation in the Rhineland in cooperation with the German Research Foundation (DFG / project ports) with the participation of the research areas geology , archaeobotany and archeology of the University of Cologne , University of Bonn and the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn .

The geological investigations were carried out by Renate Gerlach . The curve of the Rhine at Uerdingen could surprisingly be described as an original geological soil formation that has existed since the beginning of the Holocene, with only very little loss and small amounts of soil up to the present day. As a result, the section of the river has survived all straightening measures for the course of the river since Roman times largely unchanged. According to the research, the section of the Rhine Valley between Krefeld-Gellep and Duisburg-Serm offered ideal conditions for a crossing in prehistoric times. Under these special natural conditions, the site on the right bank of the Rhine was able to deliver a range of archaeological legacies from a settlement history that was thousands of years old, which is unique in the Rhineland.

From the late Mesolithic , at least onwards, hunter-gatherer communities visited and walked the area more frequently. The people of this time hunted game and birds in the riverside meadow landscape, caught fish, and picked berries, nuts and fruits. They preferred to stay on the hills in the area near the river. The people of this time processed natural products for the manufacture of all equipment required in everyday life and for their clothing. In particular, ephemeral products such as hides, leather, sight, bark, raffia, grasses and fibers twisted into sturgeon played an outstanding role in everyday culture. The characteristic small-format stone tools found represent only a very small proportion of the original material equipment of the people of this time.

In the Middle Neolithic between Serm and Mündelheim a first long-term settlement was established by representatives of the Rössen culture (approx. 4750–4600 BC). This culture was followed by the Bischheim culture (approx. 4600-4300 BC), which has so far seldom been documented in the Rhineland and which is also assigned to the time horizon of the Middle Neolithic. With the beginning of the younger Neolithic the Michelsberg culture followed (approx. 4300-3500 BC). The basic forms, tool inserts and tools made of flint, which are present in very extensive quantities (several tens of thousands of flint artifacts), come predominantly from flint deposits in France (including St. Mihiel), Belgium (including "Ostbelgischer" and "Hellgrau-Belgischer" flint), the Netherlands ( including Rijckholt , Simpelveld, Valkenburg) and vom Lousberg near Aachen. In addition, so-called "Schotterfeuerstein" and "Maaseifeuerstein" from river debris deposits from the Meuse and the Rhine and "Baltic flint" from glacier deposits near Ratingen-Breitscheid and probably also from the left bank of the Rhine around Krefeld were used. Even in the course of the late Neolithic (approx. 3500–2800 BC), the settlement on the right bank of the river played a central role in the procurement of flint from the Meuse region. Starting from the central town on the right bank of the Rhine, the widely sought-after flint was possibly also exchanged further in the direction of the Hellweg zone .

Cleaver blades were made from rock on a centrally located workshop in the area. For this, river pebbles made of gray-greenish siltstone were used in particular . The pieces of rock were brought into the desired shape with the help of hammer stones and then ground on quartzite blocks, so-called "grinding troughs". There were very numerous hammer stones and debris from the grinding tanks. Cleaver blades from this production may have been exchanged at Neolithic settlement sites in the surrounding area. Evidence of by-pieces from Siltstein were found u. a. in Neolithic find contexts near Düsseldorf-Angermund and Düsseldorf-Kalkum.

Over more than 90 kilometers of real distance to be mastered, millstones from Eschweiler were brought into the Neolithic settlements near Serm from the region on the left bank of the Rhine around Stolberg and Eschweiler . The heavyweight hand slide mills were used in particular to process grain into flour. The manual sliding mills are important evidence of the permanent and long-term Neolithic settlement of the landscape.

Over 600 arrow reinforcements, i. H. Arrowheads and arrow cutters, from all periods of the cultures represented and from different flint varieties, demonstrate the importance of the use of bows and arrows for hunting, possibly also for self-defense and as a potential weapon of attack. The extremely numerous remains of flint ax blades document primarily an intensive processing of wood on site. The cutting tools were used to cut trees, to prepare wood for the construction of buildings and consumer goods, and possibly also to build dugouts or smaller boats to navigate the course of the Rhine. In addition to parallel ax blades typical of the time, specimens of asymmetrically trimmed flint interchangeable blades have also been found very rarely in the Rhineland. In an emergency, hatchet blades could also be used as threatening weapons in close combat.

Exotic Neolithic finds from the place of discovery come from a distance of many hundreds of kilometers from Monte Beigua near Genoa in Italy (evidence of a Nordic type of splendid ax blade made of jade), from Scandinavia (evidence of a smooth retouched, tongue-shaped tip made of bryozoan flint from a Scandinavian / Danish workshop) and from Poland ( Evidence of some amphibolite cutting tools from Mount Zobten in Silesia).

In the subsequent Bronze and Iron Ages, the settlements on the vast area of ​​discovery seem to have had no particular long-distance relationships. It remains to be considered, however, that z. B. Metal objects in comparison to flint artifacts, over the long period up to today, hardly have a transmission probability. After all, very abundant ceramic specimens from this period are represented in the total finds. In the two centuries before the turn of the times, glass arm rings of Celtic design were valued components of jewelry and costume in the Iron Age settlements on the right bank of the Rhine, and prove that supra-regional relationships and goods were exchanged across the river.

In the older imperial era , a highly concentrated one thousand year settlement phase with an intensive exchange of goods across the river began directly in the western location of today's village of Serm, opposite the Roman fort village GLEDVBA near Krefeld-Gellep. The objects exchanged included ceramics from potteries in the Roman provinces. Particularly noteworthy is the evidence of amphorae of the "Dressel 20" type, which were used to transport and store olive oil from the Spanish province of BAETICA . Large amounts of late Roman imports from the 4th century AD document the development of the location into an important late antique bridgehead settlement of the Romans. This was within sight of the Roman fort town Gelduba in the Krefeld district of Gellep-Stratum , located on the left bank of the Rhine . At the square, the Rhine trade met the exchange of goods along a long-distance connection overland at the river crossing that has been traditionally established since the Neolithic Age. In the main publication of the new archaeological studies on Serm, the place was described as the "head station of the Hellweg at the interface of two economic and distribution systems".

In the 6th and 7th and most recently in the 9th century AD, the emergence of imported ceramics increased significantly. Finds of very numerous and in some cases high quality ceramics with stamped decorations as well as stone and glass beads document the presence of Franconian groups of people from the Merovingian and Carolingian times, some of whom lived in a significantly higher material prosperity for the place and the find area. For the period from 6th to 7th In the 19th century, the procurement and processing of non-ferrous metal scrap of Roman origin is also documented. Among the metal objects is u. a. a completely preserved small-format Roman oil lamp with two wick holders, several Roman ornamental pendants and other items of equipment for riding harness, several bells, a key and various crockery and vessel fragments.

Outstanding among the metal objects are the evidence of the fragments of three large-format statues, including one with gold leaf, for which extensive scientific analyzes and evaluations have been carried out. In addition to Dorsten-Holsterhausen (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Waldgirmes (Hesse), Serm is only the third place on the right bank of the Rhine along the course of the Limes in Germany, where fragments of large Roman bronzes have been found absolutely secured by archaeometric investigations. The lead used in the settlement could be assigned to Germanic deposits. In addition to metal processing within the village, there were finds and findings that indicate the processing and manufacture of glass within the settlement.

In a flood-protected location, the location on the right bank of the Rhine existed as a supraregional trading post for over 1000 years. With the invasion of the Rhineland by the Vikings, the progressive expansion of the Palatinate town of Duisburg and the progressive development of feudal rulership structures in the region, the town finally lost its independent significance for the exchange of goods. The course of the trade route shifted a few kilometers further north into what is now the old town area of ​​the city of Duisburg. The populated area near Serm was increasingly reduced. The settlement was abandoned in the 10th century. Apparently only a single farm was then managed. The remaining area was used as arable land.

Today's Serm was founded at a slightly higher location. The clarification of the question of whether there was still a direct connection to the late antique settlement site has so far remained unanswered. Serm is first mentioned in a document in 1072 as Sermede or Sermethe , which translates as "Long Village" and refers to the elongated shape of a typical street village . Since the Middle Ages, the Honschaft Serm, like the surrounding Honschaft, belonged to the Bergisches Amt Angermund in the district of Düsseldorf . On August 1, 1929 part Serm was assigned together with the surrounding villages to the city ​​of Duisburg (initially until 1935 Duisburg-Hamborn ). Since the reorganization of the Duisburg districts in 1975, Serm has been a district of Mündelheim.

  • Fragment of a pierced club of rubble from the Middle Neolithic (location: between Duisburg-Serm and Duisburg-Mündelheim)

  • Selection of Neolithic arrowheads (top row) and arrow blades (bottom row) made of flint (location: Duisburg-Serm)

  • Basic blade shape (fragment) on the left (length: still 14.5 cm) and blade implements made from Rijckholtfeuerstein (location: Duisburg-Serm)

  • Findings from the special excavation in 2016 (Duisburg-Serm)

  • Recording of a finding in the course of the special excavation in 2016 (Duisburg-Serm)

  • Fragment of a ax blade made of jadeite (location: between Duisburg-Serm and Duisburg-Mündelheim)

Serm today

Carnival parade in Serm
Ferdinand Heseding's war memorial

Today's village, east of Mündelheim, is known in the region for its carnival and still has a rural and village character. Since the development in the east, on the former site of the brickworks, around 3,500 people have lived in the village. There are several craft and service businesses, e.g. B. a bakery, the glass trade and a law firm. In Serm there is also a war memorial for the dead of the First World War and the Second World War by the sculptor Ferdinand Heseding from 1934, which is a listed building and is registered in the monuments list of the city of Duisburg under the number 579 .

Web links

Commons : Duisburg-Serm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Kala Drewniak, Klaus Frank, Renate Gerlach, Tanja Zerl: Duisburg-Serm in the Roman Empire , in: Jan Bemmann, Michael Schmauder (eds.): The Rhine as a European Transport Axis II , Bonn Contributions 19, 2016, pp. 285–335 .
  • Klaus Frank: Central location at the Rhine crossing , in: Archeology in Germany, 01.2017; February – March, p. 46.
  • Volker Herrmann : Duisburg in the high Middle Ages - finds and structures from the heyday of the Palatinate and Hanseatic city , in: AufRuhr 1225! Knights, castles and intrigues. The Middle Ages on the Rhine and Ruhr , Mainz 2010, pp. 159–172.
  • Frank Willer, Roland Schwab, Manuela Mirschen: Roman bronze statues on the Limes - Archaeometric investigations into manufacturing technology , in: Bonner Jahrbücher Volume 216, 2016, Verlag P. v. Zabern, Darmstadt 2017, p. 57–207, directly on Serm: p. 11 (concordance table), p. 112–113 (map), p. 132–133 (catalog).
  • Christoph Reichmann: Romans and Franks in Serm - an important prehistoric settlement in the south of Duisburg , in: Duisburger Monument Themes , No. 2, Duisburg 2008. ( PDF ; 0.6 MB)
  • Günter von Roden : History of the City of Duisburg , Volume 2 (The districts from the beginning, the entire city since 1905), Duisburg 1974, pp. 309-315.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kala Drewniak, Klaus Frank, Renate Gerlach, Tanja Zerl: Duisburg-Serm in the Roman Empire , in: Jan Bemmann, Michael Schmauder (eds.): The Rhine as European Transport Axis II , Bonn contributions 19, 2016, p. 285– 335.
  2. ↑ Kala Drewniak, Klaus Frank, Renate Gerlach, Tanja Zerl: Duisburg-Serm in the Roman Empire , in: Jan Bemmann, Michael Schmauder (eds.): The Rhine as European Transport Axis II , Bonn Contributions 19, 2016, p. 289– 293.
  3. ↑ Kala Drewniak, Klaus Frank, Renate Gerlach, Tanja Zerl: Duisburg-Serm in the Roman Empire , in: Jan Bemmann, Michael Schmauder (eds.): The Rhine as European Transport Axis II , Bonn contributions 19, 2016, p. 285– 335.
  4. ↑ Kala Drewniak, Klaus Frank, Renate Gerlach, Tanja Zerl: Duisburg-Serm in the Roman Empire , in: Jan Bemmann, Michael Schmauder (eds.): The Rhine as European Transport Axis II , Bonn contributions 19, 2016, p. 303– 304 (text) and pp. 331-334 (illustrations).
  5. ↑ Frank Willer, Roland Schwab, Manuela Mirschen: Roman bronze statues on the Limes - Archaeometric investigations on manufacturing technology , in: Bonner Jahrbücher Volume 216, 2016, Verlag P. v. Zabern, Darmstadt 2017, p. 57–207, directly on Serm: p. 11 (concordance table), p. 112–113 (map), p. 132–133 (catalog).
  6. ^ Kala Drewniak, Klaus Frank, Renate Gerlach, Tanja Zerl: Duisburg-Serm in the Roman Empire . in: Jan Bemmann, Michael Schmauder (Eds.): The Rhine as European Transport Axis II , Bonner Contributions 19, 2016, p. 334 (images).
  7. ^ Hermann 2010, Reichmann 2008.
  8. ^ Heinrich Kelleter (edit.): Document book of the Kaiserswerth monastery , in: Document books of the spiritual foundations of the Lower Rhine, Volume 1, Bonn 1904, No. 9, p. 13.

Coordinates: 51 ° 21 '  N , 6 ° 43'  E