Nickenich tumulus

Reconstruction of the tumulus in Nickenich

The Nickenich tumulus is a Gallo-Roman cenotaph that probably belonged to a villa rustica in Nickenich in Rhineland-Palatinate .

Building

During the excavations of the tumulus discovered in 1931, ashlar stones made of tuff were found, the lower layers of which were still resting on the foundation, while the stones from the higher layers were e.g. T. were no longer in place. The building material came from the nearby Meurin Roman mine . Originally, the stones were probably connected to one another with wooden or metal clips. This can be concluded from dovetail-shaped depressions in the upper sides of the cuboids. The inside of the rotunda was filled with lava rock; there was no burial chamber. In addition to the foundation, which has a diameter of about seven meters, other cuboids, an inscription stone, a cuboid with inscriptions for the inscription and parts of the cornice were found. In total, around 70% of the original structure was still there. The tumulus was reconstructed with a height of around 2.5 meters.

inscription

The inscription stone bears the text:

CONTVINDA ESSVCONIS F [iliae]
SILVANO ATEGNISSA F [ilio]
H [eredes] EX TES [tamento] F [ecerunt]

Translated: The Cotuinda, daughter of Esucco [and] Silvanus Ategnisa, their son, [have] built [this tomb] by the heirs on the basis of a testamentary provision.

The stone can be dated to the middle of the first century AD, but the Pellenz probably belonged to the Roman Empire for some time when the rotunda was erected. The inscription shows on the one hand the common Latin formulas, on the other hand - apart from "Silvanus" - Celtic names, thus testifying to the mixing of the two cultures.

Niche tomb with reliefs

A tomb was found about four meters from the tumulus removed, the three crowned lions niches stele made of limestone on a Tuffsockel there. In the niches there are a total of four reliefs of people: In the two outer niches there are male figures, each holding a scroll. They wear Roman clothes. In the middle niche a woman and a child are depicted. The woman wears Celtic jewelry, a Celtic hairstyle and the Celtic costume, but over it a Roman cloak. The child is dressed in a tunic and a pallium . The constellation of people - mother and son -, the spatial proximity to the tumulus in which the stones were found, the mixture of Celtic and Roman elements and the lack of a separate inscription suggest that the two people on the central stele are the on the inscription stone mentioned Contuinda and her son Silvanus Ategnissa and that thus relief steles and tumulus belong together.

Dating

The style of the niche tomb indicates its origin in the 1st century AD. The font and wording of the text on the inscription stone suggest that it was created around 50 AD. Round masonry structures of the Nickenich tumulus type were common from the late 1st century AD to the 3rd century AD, although the Celtic impacts of the Nickenich cenotaph point to the beginning of this period. All in all, an origin between 50 and 100 AD can be assumed.

Similar burial sites

Tomb of Plancus

Roman burial mounds, e.g. Some with brick plinths as in Nickenich, are on the Rhine - z. Some of them can also be found on the right bank of the Rhine and the Moselle as well as in present-day Belgium . They were built between the late 1st century and the 3rd century AD. The marking of graves by mounds can either be traced back to pre-Christian Celtic traditions or to Roman influence. From around 50 AD it was also customary in Italy to decorate the graves of important or wealthy personalities with tumuli. Comparable with the Gallo-Roman tumuli in Nickenich, Ochtendung etc. is, for example, the grave construction of Senator Lucius Munatius Plancus in Gaeta , which was built around the turn of the ages.

Find and whereabouts

The tumulus was excavated in Nickenich in 1931/32. The original is now in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn ; a true-to-scale reconstruction, but without the reliefs, is a few meters northwest of the site, as the original site has meanwhile been built over with a residential building and garages.

literature

• Hans-Helmut Wegner : Nickenich. Family grave. In: Heinz Cüppers : The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. Licensed edition of the 1990 edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-60-0 , p. 507f.

Web links

Commons : Tumulus von Nickenich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Nickenich tumulus in the volcano park

Coordinates: 50 ° 24 ′ 49 ″  N , 7 ° 18 ′ 53 ″  E