Viereckschanze of Richtstetten
The Viereckschanze of Richtstetten is a rampart from the late Latène period (1st and 2nd centuries BC). It is located 1.2 km south of Hardheim - Richtstetten in the north of Baden-Württemberg . The Viereckschanze is located in the forest ( Zimmerwald district ) and is therefore very well preserved to this day.
Research history
The Viereckschanze has been known to science since 1885 and was initially viewed as a Roman facility. Therefore it moved into the focus of research in the course of the systematic exploration of the Roman Limes . The first excavation was carried out in 1896 by the Reichs-Limeskommission , and it was recognized that it was a prehistoric rampart. In the subsequent archaeological investigation by the Baden heritage preservation authorities and their publication in 1899, Karl Schumacher was able to correctly assign the construction type of the Viereckschanze to the late Celtic period of the 1st and 2nd centuries. In the 1970s, two more individual finds were picked up in the Viereckschanze. The finds were published again in 1981 by Rolf-Heiner Behrends and classified scientifically.
description
The rampart is trapezoidal with sides between 110 and 131 meters. The surrounding wall still reaches a height of two meters in places. The upstream pointed ditch, six to seven meters wide, was formerly over two meters deep and is now filled to a maximum depth of 90 cm. The original entrance was most likely on the south side, where post marks of a gatehouse were found during the excavations . Inside the Viereckschanze, the excavation revealed the post plan of a building measuring seven by four meters, as well as a stone building about eight meters on a side. Traces of fire on the post building and in front of the gate, as well as in other places, indicate a fire in the system.
Dating
A pit overlaid by the wall is likely to have originated from a settlement phase that was probably still in the Middle Latène period before the wall-ditch system was built. The Viereckschanze has mainly been found in the Middle and Late Latène Period. An iron pickaxe has since been identified as Roman. It probably comes from a later re-use in Roman times , either by Romans from the Roman province only 7.5 km away or by Teutons from the area outside the Limes. The stone building could also come from this time, since such a structure does not appear in any other Viereckschanze at the same time. A reading of a belt tongue made of bronze indicates an even later re-use in the Merovingian period .
Replica of the plant
A part of the ramparts with the entrance gate was reconstructed in the center of the village for the 800th anniversary of Richtstetten in 2015, but permanent preservation of the reconstruction is not planned.
literature
- Günther Wieland: The Celtic Viereckschanze of Hardheim -gerichtstetten, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis. A milestone in the research of a group of archaeological monuments . In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg . No. 4 , 2009, p. 222–226 ( PDF of the article ).
- Günther Wieland: Celtic Viereckschanzen - On the trail of a riddle . Theiss, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8062-1387-9 , pp. 137-139 .
- Rolf-Heiner Behrends: The finds from the Viereckschanze of Richtstetten, Gem. Hardheim, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis . In: Find reports from Baden-Württemberg . tape 6 , 1981, pp. 311 ff ., doi : 10.11588 / fbbw.1981.0.26363 .
- Karl Schumacher: Gallic Schanze near Richtstetten (Buchen office) . In: Publications of the Grand Ducal Baden Collections for Antiquity and Ethnology in Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Antiquities Association . tape 2 , 1899, pp. 75 ff .
- Dr. Günther Wieland ,: The Celtic Viereckschanze of Hardheim -gerichtstetten . 2014 ( information flyer from the State Office for Monument Preservation [PDF]).
Coordinates: 49 ° 31 '24.2 " N , 9 ° 30' 16.6" E