Tebaga-Clausura

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Tebaga-Clausura
limes Limes Tripolitanus
(back line)
Dating (occupancy) a) End of the 2nd century?
b) 3rd century?
c) 4th century?
Type Barrage
size Length: a) Main dam: over 17 km;
b) rear section: almost 3 km
Construction Stone, pending sand and rubble
State of preservation partly in very good condition; the Clausura consists of ramparts and ditches at the bottom of the valley and pulls up the adjoining steep slopes as a stone wall
place Tebaga-Clausura
Geographical location 33 ° 40 ′ 11 "  N , 9 ° 37 ′ 7.6"  E
height 150  m
Previous Small fort Benia Guedah Ceder
(rear Limes line) (west)
Subsequently Small fort Henchir Temassine
(rear Limes line) (north)
Backwards Small fort Henchir el-Hadjar (east)
Upstream Small fort Henchir Krannfir
(rear Limes line) (south)
The Tebaga-Clausura is in the upper left corner of the map

Tebaga-Clausura is the modern name of a Roman barricade of the principate , which was responsible for security and surveillance tasks at the rear Limes Tripolitanus , a deeply tiered system of forts and military posts in the Roman province of Africa proconsularis , later Tripolitania . The fortification line, which is very well preserved in many sections, was built in the Tebaga Strait between the mountain range of the Djebel Tebaga and the Djebel Melab , a foothill of the Matma Mountains , in southern Tunisia , Gabès Governorate .

location

The more than 17 kilometers long Clausura, built in the stony semi-desert, was intended to secure a wide valley depression and its surrounding area. The sink is located between the crescent-shaped, northeast-southwest straight anticline of Gebel Tebaga and the zoom abutting from southeast Gebel MELAB, a spur of of layer comb-like embossed heights Matmatagebirges , in turn, to the mountain scenery of Djebel Dahar belongs. For the Roman military planners, the valley basin was of the utmost importance, since it was on this corridor that enemy forces charging from the Eastern Sand Sea could be intercepted in a controlled manner for the last time before they reached the fertile Arad plain and the coastal towns. In its overall extent, the barrage was oriented from the southeast to the northwest. It only shielded the lowest point of the valley depression in a wadi flowing to the southwest at around 150 meters above sea level, as well as the complete Djebel Tebaga down to around 395 meters above sea level. From this height, the remaining structural remains of the barrier descend in a north-westerly direction to around 315 meters in altitude, and then end directly in front of the vertical western edge of the Djebel. At this point it is possible to take a look into the sedimentary basin of Schott Fedjedj, which was also secured by the Romans . A terrain situation that already existed in ancient times. Further south-east, already in the rising catchment area of ​​the Djebel Melab, the Clausura stretches to around 230 meters in altitude and then falls steeply into a small wadi, where it flows suddenly at the foot of the slope at around 195 meters above sea level. No continuation of the facility can be observed at this point and it is not understandable how the subsequent terrain, which is initially easier to cross, was secured. This was probably one of the tasks of the upstream, 0.24 hectare small fort Benia Guedah Ceder . This small fort was built on the edge of a small fertile plain that was temporarily fed with water from the wadi, which flows through the Tebaga-Clausura at its lowest point.

The Clausura apparently has a continuation to the northeast a little further north of the last-mentioned end point. Between the two ends lies the broad main arm of the branched wadi, which after a bend of almost ninety degrees then flows through the Clausura into the small plain at the small fort Benia Guedah Ceder. The north-eastern extension of the Clausura, whose shape is based on the terrain, forces the direct access to the only gate together with the natural obstacle of the Djebel Tebaga in the north like a pincer. The preserved part begins on the northern edge of the wadi. After around 40 meters, it makes a large swivel of ninety degrees around the foot of an adjacent hill and then continues straight on for around 1.30 kilometers to finally end on the western edge of a small dry valley. The entire section can be followed for almost 2.40 kilometers in the field.

Research history

Since the late nineteenth century, the Tebaga-Clausura was recognized as a linear Roman border fortification. In the early reports there was still some confusion about the structural design of the obstacle. So it was once described as a low dry stone wall four meters wide, another time as an earth wall. In fact, both statements are correct, as the structure was built as a rampart and ditch over the alluvial soil of the valley and as a wall on the Djebel steep slopes. The French explorer Paul Blanchet (1870–1900) submitted the first short report of the facility before the first excavation began. The only through gate was excavated a little later, in 1904, by the French officer and amateur archaeologist Raymond Donau (1862–1930). Subsequently, many generations of researchers have investigated the barrage to this day, but no further excavations have been made.

Both the British archaeologist David Mattingly and his French colleague Roger Guéry (1926–1997) examined the remains of Roman country houses ( Villae rusticae ) in the area of ​​the Djebel Tebaga. Independently of each other, both determined a rural settlement beginning as early as the 1st century AD, which extends into the time of the Eastern Roman administration of North Africa. It was only the violent Islamic expansion that led to the rapid and final fall of African antiquity during the first half of the 7th century. The radical cultural rupture not only led to the abandonment of many cities, but also to deserted rural regions.

Building history

Location of the Clausura in the Narrows of Tebaga

The ostraca from the Gholaia / Bu Njem border fort in Libya , dating back to the third century AD, confirm the involvement of a regular garrison in routine police duties and the surveillance of civilians.

The construction section of the wall and ditch fortification line in the valley resulted in an obstacle around 15 meters wide. This technology was made possible by the local conditions, as the terrain there is characterized by a large number of alluvial layers. With the changed construction technology on the mountain slopes, the Roman builders adapted to the conditions given by nature there. On to scree sedimented soft ground of the interrupted by transverse sweeping gutters Tebaga- layer ridge and to its dominated by solid rock ridges , was just a construction of a wall in the form possible. The complex in the narrows of Tebaga has parallels with the Tripolitan Limes, including the Hadd-Hajar-Clausura . In the past it was discussed whether different construction phases could be recognized in the changes in the construction, but this has not yet been clearly clarified.

Tower I.

To date, only three tower foundations are known at the main Clausura plant. All three are on the Djebel Tebaga. One of these towers was recorded by the French archaeologist Pol Trousset in 1974 at height 425. It is located on the inside of the wall running over a mountain ridge of the Tebaga at around 383 meters above sea level. Material from this tower was reused in the construction of a surveying pier at the site. The wall itself is well preserved here. From the tower point, the subsequent route to the north-western end of the Clausura can be seen. There is also a broad view of the Schott Fedjedj. The Tebaga Narrows are no longer visible from here. After the wall had descended from the ridge, the last 800 meters were again carried out as trenches due to the circumstances.

Tower II

Another tower, which is already on the lower slope, was built to the southeast at an altitude of 240 meters. The site was first mentioned in 1906 in a report written for the military by the French historian Jules Toutain (1865–1961). Decades later, the French aerial archaeologist Jean Baradez (1895–1969) documented the tower site and reported on his observations in 1949. The tower foundation is also on the inside of the Clausura, which is still listed here as a wall. The structure has a round floor plan with a diameter of eight meters. and is surrounded by a rounded wall and moat, which was measured with a diameter of 25 meters. The system connects directly to the wall. The Wadi Batoum, a side valley of the Guedah el Baguel wadi, located in front of the barrage, could be viewed from the tower.

Tower III

The next tower point on the lower slope was built not far from the seam between the wall and the trench. Unusually, the location is on the outside of ramparts and moats. Older maps also show the site as an Arab tomb. The tower, located at around 195 meters above sea level, is circular in shape. Its diameter along its fall is around eight meters in diameter. It is surrounded by its own wall and moat, which has a diameter of around 25 meters and is connected to the actual Clausura. The wall of the Clausura is interrupted at the tower point to allow access from the inside of the barrage. From the tower, among other things, the Wadi Guedah el Baguel could be seen.

Clausura Gate (Henchir Benia)

The only gate of the barrage, which is now known as Henchir Benia , was located on a small, narrow hill between the short branches of various dry streams, safe from flooding. The small fort Benia Guedah Ceder to the south was in sight, around 1.10 kilometers away. Despite the excavation carried out in 1904 at this approximately 168 meters high gate, many questions remained unanswered, especially since the excavation report was never published in full. The only plan available so far from 1974 is from Trousset. The archaeologist created it using the remains of the wall visible at the time and the descriptions of the Danube. Danube documented a single-lane passage that was flanked by two towers. These towers apparently had an oblong, rectangular floor plan, with their narrow sides facing the enemy or the hinterland. Thus a long corridor was formed in the passage. The building was built with the help of spolia . In the carefully placed walls of neatly cut rectangular blocks of up to 0.50 meters in length, in addition to other reused components observed by the Danube, the remains of a destroyed tomb were found. A damaged civil epitaph could also be recovered from the corridor wall. After the excavation, Danube measured the entire building, which he regarded as a Byzantine work, with 11 × 5.25 meters, which had a wide corridor of 3.25 meters in the middle and, in his opinion, “á l'aspect d'un guichet de péage “- in the appearance of a toll station - was designed.

Mattingly, who has also dealt intensively with the Tripolitan Limes, speculated that, according to the current state of knowledge, some concerns about the excavation of the Danube would be appropriate. For him, the accessible statements of Donau were just as difficult to judge as the derivation of Trousset's plan. Mattingly wondered whether the spoilage had already been installed during the construction of the original gate system. The Danube found that the door of the northern tower was walled up at a later date. This reference and the unusually elongated floor plan of the towers for Mattingly made the archaeologist think of a later reconstruction of the gate system. A brief description that Blanchet published a few years before the excavation of the gate seems to make it clear that the ramparts and trenches had no direct connection to the gate system and that it thus apparently stood free in a kind of inner space between the parts of the trench. Blanchet, who saw a watchtower in the gate, wrote in 1899 after measuring the unexcavated remains:

"Le poste d'observation se compose d'une enceinte rectangulaire de 15m × 24 mètres, à peu près au center de laquelle se dressaint une tour de 6m × 10 mètres."

Translation: "The observation post consists of a rectangular inner space of 15 × 24 meters, almost in the middle of which there is a tower of 6 × 10 meters."

This comment by the explorer encouraged Mattingly again to speak of more than one construction and use phase. He also emphasized not wanting to read too much out of the meager dating material. Particularly noteworthy is the discovery of a lamp from the late second to early third centuries, which Danube found under the foundations and which could therefore be regarded as the terminus post quem . Trousset, who did not carry out his own excavations at the gate, assigned the Clausura as a building to the middle of the fourth century. At this date, Mattingly mentioned a small pottery that was discovered in the vicinity of the barrage in 1982 and opened in the third century.

Finds

Epitaph

Danube presented the following solution to the text of the damaged grave inscription from the gate building, which was composed of neatly carved letters:

[D (is)] M (anibus) s (acrum)
... iastdi ..
... uxorem
[su] am piiss [i] -
[ma] m. Hoc m [o] -
[nu] ment [u] -
[m] fecit si-
[bi] et mar-
[i] to. Fecit
Assioda
afis (?) Bixit
[annis] XCV m (ensibus) X.
Felicite [r].

Trousset wrote in 1974 that the upper part of the inscription would be missing. He noted the lines visible to him as follows:

- - - - -
- M - - -
- IME. .
FECIS
ETMAR.
TOFECIT
ASSIODA
AFISBIXIT
- XCVMX - -
FELICITE

In addition, he provided - with the addition of Donaus text - a further resolution of the lines:

[D (is)] M (anibus) s (acrum)
… iastid…
uxorem
[su] am pi (i) ss [i-
m] am. Hoc m [o-
nu] ment [u-
m] fecit si-
[bi] et mar-
[i] to. Fecit
Assioda
afis vixit [a-
n (nis)] XCV m (ensibus) X…
Felicite [r].

The buried person named, a certain Assioda, is, given her name, one of the local rural upper class of the region.

lamp

The Danube also discovered at the gate lamp was on the back of the stamp of the North African lamp manufacturer Augendi , who is also from other sites, such as today in Libya nearby border fort Gholaia is known. The list entry for the lamp can be found in the Alaoui museum catalog published in 1907, now the Bardo National Museum . "Ksar Benia Ceder" is given as the place of discovery. Trousset believed that the lamp came from the same time as the grave monument that was built into the gate.

Post-Roman times

It was not until the Second World War that the narrowness of Tebaga was used again as a natural barrier and became a decisive theater of war. The positions of the German Africa Corps , which are still visible today and which had been expanded by the 21st Panzer Division and the 164th Light Africa Division , were almost exactly in the area of ​​the ancient buildings. From March 22nd to 27th, 1943, the Allies broke through this line called “Point 201” at the “Tebaga Gap”. During the defensive battles, the walls and ditches of the Tebaga-Clausura were in places reoccupied and defended by the Axis powers .

literature

  • Paul Blanchet: Sur quelques points fortifies de la frontière saharienne de l'empire romain . In: Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société Archéologique du Département de Constantine 32, 1898 (1899), pp. 71-96; here: p. 74.
  • Raymond Donau : Recherches archéologiques effectuées par MM. Les officiers des territoires du Sud Tunisien en 1907 et pendant le 1st Semestre de 1908. In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques 1909, pp. 30–50; here: pp. 32–33 ( digitized version ).
  • Maurice Euzennat: Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale . In: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Comptes rendus des séances de l'année 1 (1972), pp. 7-27; here: pp. 10-11 (Figs. 2, 3, 4).
  • David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 109.
  • Pol Trousset : Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , pp. 62–67.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Michael Mackensen : forts and military posts of the late 2nd and 3rd centuries on the "Limes Tripolitanus" . In: Der Limes 2 (2010), pp. 20–24; here: p. 22.
  2. ↑ Horst Mensching: The southern Tunisian layered landscape as a living space . In: Mitteilungen der Fränkische Geographische Gesellschaft 10, 1963, pp. 82–93; here: p. 86.
  3. ↑ a b c d e David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 109.
  4. ↑ Tebaga-Clausura, lowest point at 33 ° 40 ′ 10.99 ″  N , 9 ° 37 ′ 7.58 ″  E
  5. ^ Tebaga-Clausura, north-western end point at 33 ° 45 '10.7 "  N , 9 ° 32' 11.01"  E
  6. ↑ Tebaga-Clausura, Southeast end point at 33 ° 39 '23.59 "  N , 9 ° 38' 46.12"  O
  7. ↑ Small fort Benia Guedah Ceder at 33 ° 39 ′ 18.81 ″  N , 9 ° 36 ′ 57.61 ″  E
  8. ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 . P. 68.
  9. ↑ Tebaga-Clausura, gate at 33 ° 39 ′ 51.59 ″  N , 9 ° 37 ′ 19.56 ″  E
  10. ↑ Tebaga-Clausura, extension, south end at 33 ° 40 ′ 18.24 ″  N , 9 ° 38 ′ 21.79 ″  E
  11. ↑ Tebaga-Clausura, extension, north end at 33 ° 41 ′ 3.08 ″  N , 9 ° 39 ′ 6.52 ″  E
  12. ↑ Hédi Ben Ouezdou, Pol Trousset: Aménagements hydrauliques dans le Sud-Est tunisien . In: Contrôle et distribution de l'eau dans le Maghreb antique et médiéval . (= Collection de l'École française de Rome 426) École française de Rome, Rome 2009, ISBN 978-2-7283-0797-5 , pp. 1-18; here: p. 10.
  13. ^ Cf. Claude Lepelley: La cité africaine tardive . In: Jens-Uwe Krause, Christian Witschel (Ed.): The city in late antiquity. Decline or change? (= Historia individual writings 190), Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08810-5 , pp. 13–31.
  14. ↑ Robert Marichal: Les ostraka de Bu Njem . In: Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1979), pp. 436-437.
  15. ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , p. 63; Fig. 8.
  16. ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , p. 64; Tebaga-Clausura, Tower I at 33 ° 44 ′ 37.72 "  N , 9 ° 32 ′ 13.35"  E
  17. ↑ Jules Toutain: Notes et documents sur les voies stratégiques et sur l'occupation militaire du Sud tunisien à l'époque romaine, by MM. Les capitaines Donau et Le Boeuf, les lieutenants de Pontbriand, Goulon et Tardy , Imprimerie nationale, Paris 1906 , P. 333.
  18. ↑ Jean Baradez: Fossatum Africae. Recherches Aériennes sur l'organization des confins Sahariens a l'Epoque Romaine . Arts et Métiers Graphiques, Paris 1949, p. 146.
  19. ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , p. 64; Tebaga-Clausura, Tower II at 33 ° 43 ′ 10.88 ″  N , 9 ° 33 ′ 50.22 ″  E
  20. ↑ Tebaga-Clausura, Tower III at 33 ° 41 ′ 45.78 ″  N , 9 ° 35 ′ 9.1 ″  E
  21. ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , p. 64.
  22. ↑ a b c Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , pp. 62-67; here: p. 66.
  23. ↑ a b Paul Blanchet: Sur quelques points fortifies de la frontière saharienne de l'empire romain . In: Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société Archéologique du Département de Constantine 32, 1898 (1899), pp. 71-96; here: p. 74.
  24. ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 , pp. 62-67; here: pp. 65–66.
  25. ^ Raymond Donau: Recherches archéologiques effectuées par MM. Les officiers des territoires du Sud Tunisien en 1907 et pendant le 1st Semestre de 1908. In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques 1909, pp. 30–50; here: pp. 32–33.
  26. ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 . P. 67.
  27. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 259.
  28. ^ Paul Gauckler , Louis Poinssot : Catalog des Musée et Collections Archéologiques de L'Algérie et de la Tunisie - Musée Alaoui (Supplement) , Leroux, Paris 1907 p. 204, no. 979.
  29. ↑ Ken Ford: The Mareth Line 1943. The end in Africa. Osprey Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78096-093-7 .