Burgus Oberranna

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Burgus Oberranna
Alternative name Stanacum  ?
limes Limes Noricus
section Route 1
Dating (occupancy) late 3rd century AD
to 5th century AD?
Type Quadriburgium
unit Unknown
size 12.5 × 17 m
Construction Stone construction
State of preservation Core work with four round towers,
visible above ground, basement of the north-west
tower and other foundations and some layers of the rising masonry almost completely preserved, the south-east tower not excavated, the
ruins were built over with a protective structure
place Engelhartszell -Oberranna
Geographical location 48 ° 28 '17.4 "  N , 13 ° 46' 25.2"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 28 '17.4 "  N , 13 ° 46' 25.2"  E
height 302  m above sea level A.
Previous Burgus Passau-Haibach (northwest)
Subsequently Small fort Schlögen (southeast)
map
Excavation sketch, status 2017
Employees of the Archeonova excavation company uncovering the north-west tower
The almost completely uncovered and preserved ruins
Reconstruction model
Findings sketch of the bathing facility in the northwest tower
Northwest tower with bathing facility
Plaster residue from the bathing facility
Basement of the northeast tower
Foundations of the southwest tower
Position of the southeast tower marked with gravel
Foundation protrusion on the western wall
One of the four pillar foundations in the courtyard
South facade of the protective structure completed in 2018

The Burgus Oberranna , probably identical to the ancient Stanacum , is located in the area of ​​the market town of Engelhartszell , Oberranna district, in the Schärding district , Innviertel , Upper Austria .

The small fortress, which dates back to late antiquity, is mostly viewed in research as a Roman auxiliary troop base and part of the fortress chain of the Danube Limes in the province of Noricum . It was located directly on Limesstrasse and was built over by an inn until 2007. The interpretation as a defense structure was controversial until 2017, as some well-known researchers thought it was a thermal bath . Nothing is known about the historical development and the occupation units of this base. Today it is considered to be the best preserved Roman building in Upper Austria.

Location and function

The site is about eleven kilometers upstream from Schlögen , where the Danube valley widens again. The location of the Burgus on the via iuxta Danuvium , which today follows the federal road 130 , on the right bank of the Danube, made it possible to control the opposite mouth of the Ranna and the river plains formed by low terraces ( Hans Jüngling ). About 100 meters upstream, a side arm offered a protected mooring for ships. Richard Trampler thought it was the western flank protection of the small fort Schlögen (Iovacum) . The Limes section to be secured by the guards belonged to the province of Noricum ripense .

Surname

The identification with Stanacum , which is only recorded in the Itinerarium Antonini (249, 4), a travel guide from the 3rd century, is not entirely certain, but it is very likely. According to this directory, this road station was 20 miles (29.6 km) from Boiodurum ( Passau ) and 18 miles (26.7 km) from Iovacum ( Schlögen ). These distances apply exactly to Oberranna. In the other two main sources for the late antique Danube Limes, Notitia Dignitatum and Tabula Peutingeriana , the location is not mentioned.

Research history

In 1840 the Roman walls were discovered by the Schlögener Excavation Association and exposed between 1840 and 1842 under the direction of Josef Gaisberger (1792–1871). At that time it was recognized as the south-east wall (with two round corner towers) of a small fort. The process and the findings of the excavation, however, remained undocumented, there are only two contemporary pen drawings of the southern front with the two circular buildings at the corners. Additional small finds such as “ceramic vessels, varia metal, fragments of iron spurs, red-hulled crockery and wall cladding” were recovered during subsequent excavations in 1842 . In 1953, Hans Jüngling reported on the discovery of a cellar, bricks and ceramics (communication from Rudolf Fattinger ). The find material was cataloged by Rudolf Noll in 1958 .

In a hastily carried out emergency excavation on the occasion of the extension of the federal road, the south-western outer wall between Haus Oberranna No. 5 and the 13 m south of federal road 130 (Nibelungenstrasse) was exposed again, which corresponded to the course of the ancient Limes road. The east tower could not be examined. During excavation work on a step in the terrain, a massive wall construction was again encountered, which was partially destroyed or torn out. The remaining remnants of the 1.6 m high masonry were examined and preserved by Lothar Eckhart ( Upper Austrian State Museums ), and in some places follow-up examinations were also carried out. Ceramic vessels and bricks were seized from small finds. However, some of the finds were much older than the Burgus. For the archaeologist Thomas Fischer there was no fortress construction at these wall remains, but the thermal baths of a nearby fort.

The heavily dilapidated inn was demolished between 2006 and 2007. Another excavation took place in the same year on the initiative of the Federal Monuments Office (headed by Andrzej Karbinski). The reason was the construction of a new building on the neighboring property. The parcel surrounds the listed parcel 135/1, the location of the Burgus. A total of four search cuts were created; In the western part of the property a stone layer came to light at a depth of 0.6 m, which was dated to the Middle Imperial period; Furthermore, leveling layers were found at a depth of 0.4 m to 0.5 m, which contained fragments of Roman roof tiles (tegulae) and ceramics. After years of negotiations, the municipality, with the support of the State of Upper Austria, was able to buy the property from the owner in 2017. Since March 2017, a team of four archaeologists from the Archeonova excavation company has been working on behalf of Upper Austria. State Museum (directed by Stefan Traxler and Wolfgang Klimesch) free the remains of the Burgus. For this purpose, the route of the federal road leading directly past the excavation site was moved a little to the west.

development

Extensive renovations and new constructions have taken place on the Limes since Constantine I and for the last time under Valentinian I , which, due to the lack of soldiers, mainly modernized and strengthened the fortifications. Small forts ( quadriburgi or centenaria ) were added between the established forts . These defensive structures, which were built mainly at the time of Valentinian, often with great effort, only had a short lifespan and were largely abandoned in the early 5th century. The Burgus of Oberranna was also destroyed by fire in late Roman times. So far it has not been possible to determine what caused the fire. Around 1500 the exposed and flood-proof area was repopulated, which was raised even more by the debris cone of the Burgus. The still completely preserved basement of the north tower was included in the foundation of the new building. In retrospect, this fact turned out to be a particular stroke of luck and saved the Roman building fabric from complete destruction. However, three of the towers were badly damaged in 1960 by dredging for the construction of a gas station. Approx. 1 meter was removed from the wall substance of the south tower and parts of the west tower. Until the 20th century the building was run as an inn and the basement of the north tower was used as a wine cellar. In 2007 the ruinous building was completely demolished, but its base plate initially remained untouched to protect the archaeological substance. By 2016 the area was completely covered with bushes and a. used as a junkyard. However, the roots of the vegetation increasingly endangered the remains of the Roman wall. In 2017, the vegetation was therefore also removed. The subsequent geophysical investigations revealed the remarkably good state of preservation of the Roman fortress. After the excavations were completed, a wood and steel protective structure (area approx. 1000 m²) was erected over the excavation site in 2018 in order to be able to guarantee long-term protection from the weather.

Burgus

According to the most recent findings - as had long been suspected - it is the remains of a late antique quadriburgus , probably from the 4th century. The small fortress (central area approx. 15 × 17 meters, external dimensions approx. 28 × 29 meters) was oriented with its narrow side from NE to SW. It could be entered through a gate between the north and east towers, one of the door cheeks was exposed in 2018. Its crew probably numbered around 30 men. The almost completely exposed masonry reached a height of more than two meters in sections, the foundations were up to 1.5 meters deep. The core work was additionally reinforced at the corners with round towers (diameter about 8-10 meters). These probably had three floors and could have been up to 10 meters high. The 9.75 m long SW wall that was exposed in the 1960s was still around 1.60 m high and measured 1.50 m in the middle. It consisted of hot-mortar rubble stones. The weir system can best be compared with the - albeit considerably larger - Pannonian small fort of Visegrád – Gizellamajor . A hot bath was also built into its NW tower.

Northeast tower

Its walls are upright up to a height of 2.5 meters (foundation depth 1.5 meters). This part of the Burgus was overlaid by the Wagner inn, in whose cellar the basement of the tower has been preserved and was used as a wine store. In the 4th century it was still at ground level. Over the centuries it continued to decline. In the late Middle Ages, a second wreath was added directly to the Roman walls, which bears the current vault of the cellar. The fabric of the Roman wall was partially destroyed in the 20th century when a second cellar entrance was built.

Southeast tower

The tower had a diameter of 4.80 m, the wall was 1.60 m wide, the SE wall attached here was as thick as its south-western counterpart. It was partially exposed in 1840. It was decided to leave it underground for the time being as an archaeological reserve for future investigations. Its position / dimensions are marked by gray gravel.

Northwest Tower

Due to its additional function as a bathhouse, it was dimensioned somewhat larger and separated into two rooms by a 7.80 m long and 0.75 m wide wall. There was the heatable room ( caldarium ) with hypocaust and hollow brick walls. Two wall tongues of the praefurnium (boiler room) on the outside of the south side are still partially preserved, the rest was destroyed in 1960. The water basin ( piscina ) in the neighboring cold room ( frigidarium ) was also completely present. Remnants of the ancient, very hard and waterproof wall plaster were still found in situ here. Fingerprints can still be seen in it. To ensure that it is preserved, it is covered in winter and, if necessary, heated. The room also had three stone benches. The tub is set directly in the wall ring, which means that the bathroom was a fixed part of the defense structure from the start. The bath water was probably heated in a kettle outside the tower. The process water could be drained through a lead pipe that is still preserved today. The floor of the bathroom consisted of bricks of different sizes, which probably came from a demolished building. The praefurnium was fed via a canal that was partially laid out with bricks. Both bathrooms were connected by a 1.5 m wide door. A small, 1.5 m wide niche is cut out in the SW wall, which originally either held a statue of an emperor or a god or was used as a recess for laying hollow bricks (tubuli) . The hot air was passed through a heating channel into the hypocaust of the bath room and the tub and also warmed its walls through the tubules . It was then passed on to the rooms above and probably flowed out into the open via chimney-like roof openings.

Southwest tower

This tower was almost completely destroyed when a gas station was built in 1960 and was exposed in 2018. In the earlier excavation plans, it was only added graphically on the basis of assumptions. It had a 1.50 m wide passage in the north that led to its basement. Based on the evidence of water-resistant mortar residues, a sweat bath ( laconicum or sudatorium ) could have been there.

Barracks

The crew quarters ( contubernia ) were, typical for late antique fortifications, built on the back directly to the defensive walls, in the middle of the core work a small courtyard was left out for better lighting and ventilation. The front of the construction rested on four pillars, the square foundations of which could be proven during the excavations (cf. also Burgus Zeiselmauer ). Whether the accommodations tw. made of stone or entirely of wood is unclear.

Previous building

With today's findings, the remains of a somewhat older, multi-phase building could still be detected, the dimensions and function of which, however, have not yet been clarified. The sparse find material does not allow an unequivocal dating, but a use in the time before 300 AD can be assumed. Nothing can be said about the time of its origin either, due to the poor location. Most of it was probably built or modernized in late antiquity.

milestone

Of the numerous Roman milestones that are assumed for Upper Austria, only six known examples ( Wels , Mösendorf near Vöcklamarkt , Vöcklabruck , Weiterschwang near Gampern , Timelkam ) have survived the centuries ( Gerhard Winkler ). One of them was found near the small fort, at Jochenstein . It could be dated to the reign of Emperor Caracalla . The milestone, which has disappeared since the flood of 1845, stood northwest of Engelhartszell. The stone played an important role in border disputes between the Passau bishopric and the Engelszell monastery in 1590 and 1591. One of its fragments is said to have been walled in in the Edt farmer's oven, whose yard was flooded by the backwater from the Jochenstein power plant in the 1950s. A replica is now on the Danube cycle path at "Isaplatz" near the power station. On his inscription, Boiodurum ( Passau ) was indicated as caput viae ( Latin "head" = starting point) . The name of the place closest to Boiodorum was no longer identifiable ( Saloato ?). It was 15 milia passum (approx. 22.5 km) away. There the Jochenstein, a granite rock, divides the river. It was no longer possible to determine where the route of the Limesstrasse ran. The phrase "... viam iuxta amnem Danuvium fieri iussit ..." means that the road was not completely rebuilt at the beginning of the 3rd century, but that this section was rehabilitated in preparation for a campaign against the Alemanni (213 AD). From its starting point Boiodurum , this section of the Limes Road ran via Stanacum to Ioviacum , Ad Mauros and Ovilavis (Wels).

According to Gerhard Winkler, the inscription reads as follows:

Imp (erator) Caesar
M (arcus) Aureliu / s Antoni-
nus Pius Fe-
lix Aug (ustus) Par-
t (hicus) maximus
Brit (annicus) maxim-
us tr (ibunicia) p (otestate) X [V imp (erator) III co (n) s (ul) design (atus) IIII]
viam iuxta
amnem da-
nuvium fi
eri iussit a
Boiioduru (!) In
SALOATO m (ilia) p (assuum)
XV

Translation: “Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the pious and happy Augustus, greatest victor over the Parthians, greatest victor over the Britons, holder of tribunician power for the 15th time, proclaimed emperor three times, appointed consul fourth time, left a street Moor along the Danube, from Boiodurum to […] 15 Roman miles. "

Note

The arrival takes place via the federal highway 130 (Nibelungenstrasse), the site is at the eastern end of the village between the Danube bank and the federal highway. The preserved masonry still protrudes about 1.6 m from the ground. The small fort was preserved for the Upper Austrian State Exhibition 2018 and also covered with a steel / wood construction for protection. Today the ground monument is a branch of the Upper Austrian State Museum. In the Upper Danube Valley, Oberranna and Schlögen are planned as exhibition locations with special thematic focuses in the course of the state exhibition. Inside the protective structure, a partly floating steel walkway leads visitors over the Roman ruins. From there there is also a good view of the Danube valley and makes the strategic location and function of the Roman Burgus easier to understand.

Monument protection

The complex has been a ground monument within the meaning of the Austrian Monument Protection Act since 1985 . Investigations and targeted collection of finds without the approval of the Federal Monuments Office are a criminal offense. Accidental finds of archaeological objects as well as all measures affecting the soil must be reported to the Federal Monuments Office (Department for Archaeological Monuments).

See also

literature

  • Thomas Fischer : Noricum . Zabern, Mainz 2002, ISBN 3-8053-2829-X (Orbis Provinciarum, Zabern's illustrated books of archeology).
  • Christine Schwanzar: The Roman border section between Passau and Linz, Upper Austria - border region of the Roman Empire . Special exhibition of the Upper Austria. State Museum in Linz Castle, 1986.
  • Christine Schwanzar: Oberranna - Stanacum ?, small fort. In: Herwig Friesinger, Fritz Krinzinger: The Roman Limes in Austria. Guide to the archaeological monuments. Vienna 1997.
  • Kurt Genser : The Austrian Danube Limes in Roman times. A research report. Vienna 1986 (The Roman Limes in Austria, No. 33).
  • Manfred Kandler , Hermann Vetters (ed.): The Roman Limes in Austria. A guide. Vienna 1989.
  • Rene Ployer: Oberanna - Stanacum (?). Small fort . In: Verena Gassner / Andreas Pülz (ed.): The Roman Limes in Austria. Guide to the archaeological monuments , publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-7001-7787-6 , pp. 138-139.
  • René Ployer: The Norwegian Limes in Austria . Find reports from Austria, Materialhefte series B 3, Österr. Federal Monuments Office, Vienna 2013.
  • The return of the Legion - Roman heritage in Upper Austria - Catalog to Upper Austria. State exhibition 2018. Office of the Upper Austrian State Government, Directorate for Culture, Trauner Verlag + Buchservice GmbH, Linz 2018. In it: Stefan Traxler / Wolfgang Klimesch: From the small Roman fort to the wine cellar. The Quadriburgus of Oberranna.

Web links

Commons : Kleinkastell Oberranna  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Christine Schwanzar : 1997, p. 158.
  2. ↑ a b Thomas Fischer: 2002, p. 27.
  3. ↑ Rudolf Noll, Franz Pfeffer and Richard Trampler reject this view, because in this case it is a deeply wooded gorge deeply indented by the Ranna River, which was difficult to use as a collecting space or access route to the river mouth for Germanic attackers.
  4. ↑ Kurt Genser: 1986, p. 39.
  5. ↑ Christine Schwanzar: 1997, p. 157.
  6. ↑ Online information on the press conference in Oberranna on August 1, 2017: Upper Austria. State Exhibition 2018: The Roman Burgus of Oberranna Archeology - Monument Preservation - Cultural Tourism.
  7. ↑ Kurt Genser: 1986, p. 41, Christine Schwanzar: 1997, p. 158–159.
  8. ↑ Christine Schwanzar: 1997, p. 159.
  9. ↑ milia passus - 1000 double steps = 1.48176 km.
  10. ↑ CIL 3, 5755
  11. ↑ Christine Schwanzar: 1997, pp. 159-160.