Torsburg
| Torsburg | ||
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 Wall of the Torsburg |
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| Creation time : | Iron age | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Wall remains | |
| Place: | Kraklingbo | |
| Geographical location | 57 ° 24 '45 " N , 18 ° 43' 15" E | |
| Height: | 71 m ö.h. | |
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The Torsburg ( Swedish Torsburgen ) near Kräklingbo on the Swedish island of Gotland is one of the largest prehistoric ramparts ( Swedish fornborg ) in Scandinavia with an area of approx. 1.2 km² . Its circumference, largely formed by natural steep slopes, is almost five kilometers. The additional wall sections are almost two kilometers long.
The castle complex
The castle is named after the Germanic god Thor , to whom it is supposed to belong according to popular accounts.
The natural limestone plateau that forms the castle hill was formed around 12,000 years ago when the ice sheet over Scandinavia began to melt and the Baltic Sea was formed. Due to its different water levels, a beach wall was created that still exists in the southern part of the Torsburg. The wall was built on this. In the north-western part of the city there are several caves (Linnés grotta, Stuxbergs grotta) of which the approximately 12.0 m wide and 16.0 m long "Burglädu" is the largest. There are several passages in the wall, called luke in Gutnisch ( Swedish lucka ), each with its own name:
- Tjängvide hatch
- Hajdeby hatch
- Glose hatch
- Ardre luke
- Halsgårde hatch
- Ala Luke
Archaeologists had initially assumed that the wall was built during the Iron Age (around 500 AD). In 1977 an excavation was carried out under the direction of Johan Engström. A profile cut was made through the wall in order to study its construction and to determine its age using charcoal finds. Initially, it was assumed that a dry stone wall lay directly on the former beach wall. It turned out, however, that considerable amounts of gravel had been placed on the wall and only then was bricked up. Inside, a core of burnt limestone was found . This could be part of the construction technique or the result of a fire. Parts of the wall could be dated using the C14 method . The lower areas were built in the 1st century AD and renewed around 300 AD. The upper areas date from the 9th century. On the top of the wall there was probably a wooden palisade .
The wall was thus built in the 1st to 4th centuries, when the Roman Empire still extended to Britain . This was a quiet time in parts of Europe, as can also be seen in the Danish Gudme . In some areas of the continent, however, the first unrest of the great migration began. Since there is no evidence of any development inside, it appears to be a refuge. It was large enough to hold the entire Iron Age population of Gotland if necessary.
The Torsburg in the Gotensaga
The castle is mentioned in the so-called emigration story of the Gothic saga or Getica, which the late antique historian Jordanes († probably 552) wrote based on an older report by Cassiodorus . According to this, every third Gotlander should be forced to leave the island in an emergency. However, those affected refused and entrenched themselves under the direction of Thor from nearby Hajdby on the Torsburg. But they were defeated and had to leave the castle. They were first expelled to Östergarnsholm and then to the Estonian island of Dagö , and their descendants are said to have moved further south in the migration.
Archaeological context
In Sweden there are over 1000 similar iron (200–550 AD) and Venetian (550–800 AD) or Viking Age installations, which are mainly located in southern and central Sweden. Some of them may have been made in the Bronze Age . The Torsburg is the third largest facility of its kind in Scandinavia. The largest is Hallebergs fornborg with about 20 km² in Västergötland , the second largest with about 4.0 square kilometers is Lollands Østerborg on Lolland in Denmark . The fourth largest in Scandinavia and second largest on Gotland is Grogarnsberget .
82 such systems are known on Gotland. A distinction is made between:
- 44 lowland castles
- 31 hilltop castles (one of them the Torsburg)
- 7 moor or water systems
Most have less than 800 m² of indoor space. What is remarkable for Ostgotland is that ancient finds of all kinds in the immediate vicinity of the castles are extremely rare. Among the flat land systems there are round and semicircular systems on steep slopes or on the coast (comparable to Promontory forts ).
Wall of the Torsburg
Wall of the Torsburg
Wall of the Irish Castle
nature
The castle area has a special flora . Carl von Linné was thrilled when he visited her in 1741 and found plants that are not found anywhere else in Sweden, which is why a nature reserve and Natura 2000 area was established here.
See also
literature
- Johan Engström: Torsburgen. Tolkning av en gotländsk fornborg , Uppsala 1984, ISBN 91-506-0571-2
- Marita Jonsson, Sven-Olof Lindquist: Gotland cultural guide . Almqvist and Wiksell, Uppsala 1993, ISBN 91-88036-09-X .
Web links
- Torsburg - entry in the database "Fornsök" des Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish)
- Torsburgs. In: guteinfo.com. Retrieved January 31, 2012 (Swedish).
- Information board. (PDF; 1.6 MB) In: Länsstyrelsen Gotland. Retrieved January 31, 2012 (Swedish).
credentials
- ↑ Torsburgs. In: European Enverionment Agency. Retrieved January 15, 2012 .
- ↑ Torsburgs. (PDF; 279 kB) In: Länsstyrelsen Gotland. Retrieved January 17, 2012 (Swedish).
- ↑ Torsburgen nature reserve. (No longer available online.) In: Länsstyrelsen Gotland. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012 ; Retrieved January 31, 2012 (Swedish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
