Viereckschanze

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Viereckschanze of Terlach in Wernberg (Carinthia) , Austria
Viereckschanze of Sankt Peter am Bichl in Klagenfurt , Austria
Viereckschanze near Buchendorf in Bavaria

As a quadrangle or Keltenschanze is known mainly in southern Germany encountered remains of a rectangular , usually square area with a surrounding wall and a moat . Their interpretation has not yet been conclusively clarified. However, recent studies have confirmed that some of the Viereckschanzen were permanently inhabited Celtic manors or the center of a rural settlement . On the other hand, it cannot be ruled out that the Celts also surrounded their places of worship with square enclosures. For most of the Viereckschanzen no or only sparse studies are available, so that general statements about their purpose are not yet possible.

Dissemination and dating

The main distribution area of ​​the Viereckschanzen is in southern Germany. There are also Viereckschanzen in Switzerland , Austria , Bohemia and Northern France between the Seine and the Dordogne and in Portugal . To date, more than 300 systems are known in southern Germany and the neighboring areas. The finds are dated to the late La Tène period, to the 2nd and 1st centuries BC . Dendrochronological examinations point to the same time.

Location and appearance

Viereckschanzen are almost never located in exposed locations, but often on easy slopes and in flat areas, especially on soils suitable for agriculture. Some are integrated into Celtic settlements (such as near Bopfingen ), and sometimes you can find grave mounds from the Lateness period in their vicinity . Almost half of all systems in southern Germany are located near a river or stream. In the neighborhood there is sometimes a second ski jump a short distance away, and double hills are very rare (like the Viereckschanzen at Nordheim ).

Viereckschanzen are ditch facilities with a rectangular, mostly square floor plan, which is sometimes rhombic or trapezoidal , and with sides between 80 and 140 meters. On the inside of the trench is the wall built with the excavation . Typical is a former height of the ramparts of three to four meters, whereby the wall foot was about six to eight meters wide. The upstream trench was probably two to three meters deep and five to six meters wide.

The jumps only have one entrance, which apparently never was in the north. Usually it is in the middle of one of the other three sides. Sometimes there was also a gate with a wooden bridge over the moat that ran through the gate area. More recent excavations show that a recurring construction pattern often occurs in the interior of the complex : the largest building is on the side opposite the entrance, while the smaller buildings are in the corners; This leaves an undeveloped free area in the center. Wells and pit houses sunk into the ground , which probably served as workshops, are not always present.

Research history

Section through the wall and ditch of the Viereckschanze at Hohmichele (2014)

In the 19th century the entrenchments were interpreted as Roman military installations . The excavations in the Viereckschanze of Richtstetten in the Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis by Wilhelm Conrady and Karl Schumacher brought for the first time numerous finds from the late Latène period , the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. The name "Viereckschanze" goes back to Paul Reinecke , who considered the moat systems for Celtic fortifications in 1910 ; around 1920 he interpreted them as fortified Celtic manors.

Friedrich Drexel published an article in 1931 in which he interprets the Viereckschanzen as late Celtic sanctuaries by comparing them with archaeological findings from the Mediterranean area . This interpretation prevailed as a doctrine, because the results of the first major excavation of a Viereckschanze - around 1950 near Holzhausen in the district of Munich by Klaus Schwarz - seemed to support this interpretation: The floor plan of a wooden building was reminiscent of a Roman temple ; three shafts up to 35 meters deep were interpreted as sacrificial shafts of a sanctuary ( fanum ), and the secluded location of the hill also served as an argument.

Only since the 1980s have excavations been undertaken again in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, now with an effort to completely examine the entire complex. Under the direction of Dieter Planck , it was proven in Fellbach-Schmiden that the suspected sacrificial shafts are wells. In 1980 a sensational find was made in one of these fountains: three animal figures about 90 cm high, carved from oak. These figures, hidden under a two-meter-thick layer of manure in the well shaft, have so far remained the only finds that can be seen in a religious context.

Siegwalt Schiek examined the entire interior of a plant for the first time in 1984 in Ehningen . He discovered the floor plans of seven wooden buildings from two successive construction phases and the amount of late Latène ceramics found was considerable. The ramparts did not have a sparsely built-up interior.

The Viereckschanze near Bopfingen in Nördlinger Ries , which was extensively examined between 1989 and 1992, confirmed the Ehningen findings. Rüdiger Krause and Günther Wieland found the floor plans of three wooden buildings arranged in the shape of a triangle, two on either side of the gate entrance and the third opposite the entrance. The ground plans of more than 120 houses from Celtic times, some of which were older than the Schanze, were found around the facility. The Viereckschanze was not isolated, but was part of a rural settlement.

In the vicinity of the Viereckschanze which he excavated between 1991 and 1997 near Riedlingen on the upper Danube, Frieder Klein found extensive remains of a Latène period settlement and traces of a fenced-in predecessor facility. Longer settlement activity can be seen here. In addition to the remains of larger buildings in a symmetrical arrangement, Frieder Klein was able to identify several smaller granaries and two pit houses sunk into the ground . Forge slag, an iron spout chisel and a bone device for decorating ceramics are evidence of the craftsmanship inside a square hill.

The interpretation of the Celtic Viereckschanzen as places of worship is also called into question by the extensive excavation of the two Viereckschanzen near Nordheim. The unusually large finds, typical of settlements, suggest an interpretation of the Viereckschanze as a Celtic manor, on which there was possibly also a place for ritual acts.

Most archaeologists today regard the Viereckschanzen as “fenced-in rural farmsteads” that were inhabited by “quite well-off farmers”, but Martin Kuckenburg adds: “It is by no means excluded that the late Latène period Celts, for reasons of tradition and belief, both their rural Farmsteads as well as their cult complexes surrounded with square enclosures in order to clearly distinguish them from the surroundings ... "

Examples

See also

literature

in alphabetical order

  • Richard Ambs: The Celtic Viereckschanze near Beuren, Marktgem. Pfaffenhofen ad Roth, Lkrs. Neu-Ulm, Bavaria. Reports on archeology in the Neu-Ulm district, Vol. 4, Neu-Ulm 2011, ISBN 978-3-9812654-2-2 .
  • Kurt Bittel, Siegwalt Schiek, Dieter Müller: The Celtic Viereckschanzen . Atlas of archaeological site monuments in Baden-Württemberg. 2 vols. Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-8062-0851-4 .
  • Gernot L. Geise: Keltenschanzen and their hidden functions , Hohenpeißenberg 1998, 2nd edition 2000
  • Alfred Haffner (Ed.): Sanctuaries and sacrificial cults of the Celts. Special issue archeology in Germany. Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2001.
  • L. Hansen, D. Krausse, R. Tarpini: New research on the Viereckschanze at the Hohmichele . In: Martin Kemkes / Patrick Rau / Ralph Röbe / Patricia Schlempe / Barbara Theune-Großkopf (eds.), Ob res prospere gestas. Because of successfully executed deeds. Festschrift for Jörg Heiligmann. Friedberg 2018, pp. 104–113.
  • Martin Kuckenburg: The Celts in Central Europe . Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart 2004 pp. 132-138, ISBN 978-3806215939 .
  • Manfred Nawroth and others: People - Times - Spaces . Archeology in Germany. Exhibition guide, Theiss, Stuttgart 2002.
  • Andrea Neth: Discovery of archaeological sites then and now . In: Christina Jacob / Helmut Spatz: Schliz - a Schliemann in the Unterland? 100 years of archeology in the Heilbronn area, Städtische Museen Heilbronn 1999.
  • Andrea Neth: Viereckschanzen - manors of the Celtic nobles . Heimat- und Altertumsverein Heidenheim an der Brenz e. V., special print from the 2001/2002 yearbook.
  • Klaus Schwarz: Atlas of the late Celtic square hills in Bavaria.
  • Günther Wieland :  Viereckschanzen. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 32, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018387-0 , pp. 357-362.
  • Günther Wieland (Ed.): Celtic Viereckschanzen. On the trail of a riddle . Theiss, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3806213879 .
  • Günther Wieland / Klaus Schwarz: The excavation in Viereckschanze 2 von Holzhausen . Excavation reports by Klaus Schwarz. Compiled and commented by Günther Wieland, Leidorf 2005, ISBN 3896465368 .
  • Viereckschanzen - enigmatic structures of the Celts . (Status of the Viereckschanzen research in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, Colloquium Kelheim, in cooperation with the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation). Kelheim 2005, ISBN 3-00-017987-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ upload.wikimedia.org: Explanation board near the Viereckschanze Buchendorf
  2. ↑ https://www.academia.edu/310734/La_contribution_de_la_prospection_g%C3%A9omagn%C3%A9tique_pour_la_compr%C3%A9hension_de_la_pal%C3%A9oforme_de_Matabodes_Beja_Portugal
  3. ↑ Karin Berghausen: Magnetometric investigations on Celtic square entrenchments in Bavaria . Volk Verlag Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-86222-144-8 , p. 15
  4. ↑ Kuckenburg, pp. 137f.