Wallburg Hornfels

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Wallburg Hornfels
View into the ditch in front of the main wall (left)

View into the ditch in front of the main wall (left)

Alternative name (s): Hornfels Castle
Creation time : about 900 BC Chr.
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: Wall and moat remains
Construction: Drywall
Place: Grenzach - "Hornfelsen"
Geographical location 47 ° 33 '32.1 "  N , 7 ° 38' 51.8"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '32.1 "  N , 7 ° 38' 51.8"  E
Height: 382.7  m above sea level NN
Wallburg Hornfels (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
Wallburg Hornfels

The Wallburg Hornfels was initially a hillside settlement from the recent Urnfield period . In the early Middle Ages , a hill fort was built on the site . The remains are on the 350  m above sea level. NN high "Hornfelsen" north-west of the Grenzach district of the Grenzach-Wyhlen community in the Lörrach district in Baden-Württemberg .

location

The Hornfelsen in the Grenzach district of the Grenzach-Wyhlen municipality is only about 200 meters from the border between Germany and Switzerland . The municipality of Riehen , which belongs to the canton of Basel-Stadt , is the direct neighbor here. The Hornfelsen is the southwestern foothills of the Dinkelberg and, before it was partially destroyed by quarries, reached up to about 150 meters to the Upper Rhine , which made it possible to control the narrow point of the valley in front of the Basel Rhine knee .

Below today's Hornfelsen - on the area sunk by quarries - is Germany's most south-westerly vineyard . In addition to the Markgräfler Wiiwegli long-distance hiking trail (Markgräfler Weinweg), the thirteenth stage: Degerfelden - Basel of the Black Forest West Trail (variant B - eastern route) leads over the Hornfelsen.

The rampart is located in the Buchswald nature reserve near Grenzach and the Grenzacher Horn nature reserve is about 100 meters southwest of the rampart .

history

As early as 1903/1904 a group of eight burial mounds was found about 2 kilometers east of the Hornfelsen, which, due to the numerous finds, could clearly be from the later Hallstatt period (around 500 BC). In 1937 a prehistoric flat grave was found on the Niederterrasse south of the Hornfelsen, and in 1939 two skeleton graves were found on the western slope that were assigned to the Hallstatt period. A number of shards from the Hallstatt period were found in the area protected by the ramparts.

It was only as a result of these finds that the clearly visible ramparts on the Hornfelsen also attracted attention. The earth wall protected the mountain spur on the Hornfelsen, which according to a topographical survey in 1980 still covers an area of ​​1.1 hectares. Up until then, the area had been estimated to be larger and it was assumed that quarries had lost about a third to half of the usable area originally protected by the wall over the centuries. After the 1980 survey, the original area was only estimated at 1.2 to 1.5 hectares.

Research into early history in the immediate vicinity of Basel was also a concern of the Swiss side. Professors Rudolf Laur-Belart and Gerold Walser were driving forces in efforts to further explore the Hornfelsen. In the post-war years, she and Rudolf Fellmann organized donations of food and clothing as well as Swiss students who participated in the work. On the German side, the excavations were carried out by the Office for Prehistory and Protohistory of the then Federal State of Baden (southern Baden) and the Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory of the University of Freiburg . Wolfgang Kimmig was in charge, with academic support from Wolfgang Dehn and Elisabeth Schmid . He received organizational support from the regional archaeologist August Eckerle and from Friedrich Kuhn, the district administrator for prehistory and early history in the district of Lörrach.

The excavations in 1947 and 1949 led to the result that the remains of the facility come from two construction phases. A first prehistoric complex was built over with a stronger rampart in the early Middle Ages .

First plant around 900 BC Chr.

In the absence of written records, only the sparse finds and a comparison with similar systems can be used to date the complex. First, due to the excavations, the construction of the first system was dated to the Hallstatt period.

Later, the ramparts were also pre-dated to the most recent urn field time. The dating to the Hallstatt period is based on the examination of shards at the foot of the dry stone wall standing in the wall. In 1981 Erhard Richter reported a re-dating to the Urnfield period based on research that had not yet been published. In 1993 the facility on the Hornfelsen was assigned to both the Urnfield Period and the Hallstatt Period, and in 2009 the facility was assigned to the Hallstatt Period without any further specification. Since the most recent Urnfield period overlaps with the Hallstatt period A / B, a confusing picture emerges from the literature. However, based on the more recent literature, it can be assumed that the first fortification on the Hornfelsen was in the late Urnfield period = Hallstatt period A / B around 900 BC. And the interpretation of the Hallstatt period C / D (around 600 BC) is outdated.

The outermost foothills of the mountain spur were cut off from the hinterland in the east by a dry stone wall made of shell limestone and dolomite plates at least 2 meters wide . The wall was built over with an earth wall when the second system was built. During the excavations, the remains about 1 meter high were found, whereby it was found that the upper part of the wall was completely missing. It is believed that the stones were cleared away and used for other purposes. The wall was built on a foundation that was held on both sides by an earth fill (wall shoe). It could not be clarified whether the wall - as with the Heuneburg - also had a wooden framework. Traces of an expected trench in front of the wall could not be found.

At the northern end of the ramparts, the area shows a terrace edge. Rubble stone was found below this, which is why it is assumed that there was also a wall on the edge of the terrace.

Second plant around AD 900

The remains of the younger earthworks extend in a south-north direction and are about 75 meters long and up to 17 meters wide. After 75 meters, the wall merges into an artificially divided terrace edge in the north. The second system was built in great haste after the excavation findings, whereby a four-meter deep trench was first dug 11 meters in front of the old Hallstatt wall . The excavation was heaped up on the west side of the trench and then the space between this embankment and the Hallstatt Wall further to the west was filled with rubble to form a four-meter-high earth wall (from the inside). The wall was supported on both sides by a pile of clay. The height of the transverse wall and the depth of the trench created an obstacle eight meters in total. The wall rises steeply from the ditch at an angle of 40 degrees and falls on the inside (west) flatter at 23 degrees. A gate could not be found and in the north the wall was probably never finished. The access to the protected interior was at the southern end of the wall. No traces of a palisade could be found in front of the wall or on the top of the wall . A (today) shallow pre-moat was found 10 meters east of the wall, which is 20 meters long and about 2 meters wide.

The rough dating of the earth wall was based on structural features and comparisons with other such structures, which led to the assumption that it was built in the 8th to 10th centuries, i.e. H. led in the early Middle Ages. There are no clear statements either for the exact dating or for the reason for the construction. One hypothesis is that the citizens of Basel rushed to erect a Hungarian wall on the Hornfelsen due to the threat posed by the Hungarian invasions (895 to 955 AD) . Another hypothesis assumes that the builders only wanted to control the Hochrheinstrasse.

Later use of the site

The terrain spur protected by the ramparts was severely dismantled from three sides by quarries. Large parts of the building material for Basel and especially for the Hüningen Fortress come from the Hornfelsen . In addition to building blocks, gypsum was also extracted from the limestone . As a result of this dismantling, around a third to half of the usable area originally protected by the wall was lost.

In the Middle Ages, the sovereign territories of the city of Basel, Upper Austria , the Margraviate of Hachberg-Sausenberg and the Principality of Basel (at that time still owned by Riehen) collided near the Hornfelsen . In order not to disturb the balance of forces, the Hornfelsen was closed for castles.

Apparently, the site of the old hill fort later also served as accommodation for the quarry workers. This is indicated by finds of modern bricks and pieces of glazed stove tiles, which are dated to the 18th or 19th century.

literature

  • Boris Bigott: Grenzach (Grenzach-Wyhlen, LÖ). In: Alfons Zettler , Thomas Zotz (eds.): The castles in the medieval Breisgau, II. Southern part: half volume AK . In: archeology and history. Freiburg research on the first millennium in southwest Germany, issue 16 . Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-7366-5 , here pp. 210-211.
  • Sophie Stelzle-Hüglin, Michael Strobel, Andreas Thiel, Inken Vogt (arrangement): Archaeological monuments in Baden-Württemberg . New edition. Published by the Baden-Württemberg State Monuments Office and the Baden-Württemberg State Surveying Office, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-89021-717-6 , p. 124.
  • C. History of the parish. Grenzach. State description department of the State Archives Freiburg im Breisgau (editor): District descriptions of the state of Baden-Württemberg. The district of Loerrach. Volume IA general part. B. Community descriptions Aitern to Inzlingen. C. Sources and literature . Published by the Baden-Württemberg State Archives Directorate in conjunction with the Lörrach district. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1993, ISBN 3-7995-1353-1 . P. 833
  • W (olfgang) Struck: The Hornfelsen near Grenzach. Prehistory and early medieval fortifications. In: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz (editor): Guide to prehistoric and early historical monuments , Volume 47: Lörrach and the foreland on the right bank of the Rhine from Basel. Mainz 1981, ISBN 3-8053-0530-3 , pp. 271-276 (with a plan of the ramparts)
  • Erhard Richter : Archaeological monuments and finds in the Grenzach-Wyhlen district. In: Das Markgräflerland, issue 1/1981, pp. 65–89, here p. 74 digital copy of the Freiburg University Library
  • Werner Meyer : Castles from A to Z - Burgenlexikon der Regio . Published by the Castle Friends of both Basels on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. Klingental printing works, Basel 1981, p. 18.
  • Friedrich Kuhn : Wegenstetten, an abandoned settlement on Grenzacher Horn, refuges on the Hornfelsen. In: Vom Jura zum Schwarzwald: Blätter für Heimatkunde und Heimatschutz, Volume 46–48 (1972–1974), pp. 115–120 digitized
  • Wolfgang Kimmig : The ramparts on the Grenzacher Horn near Basel, Ldkrs. Lörrach. In: Baden find reports. Official yearbook for research on prehistoric and early history in Baden, 20th year 1956, pp. 93-102 Digitized version of Heidelberg University Library and the associated panels 9 and 10 digitized version of Heidelberg University Library
  • Friedrich Kuhn: Finds from 1940–1943. Grenzach (Loerrach). 1. Hornfelsen and 2. Hornfelsen. In: Baden find reports. Official yearbook for research on prehistory and early history in Baden, 17th year 1941–47, p. 300 digital copy from Heidelberg University Library
  • Friedrich Kuhn: Annual report 1939 of the preservationist for prehistory in the district of Lörrach. (Enough). In: Das Markgräflerland, Issue 2/4 1940, pp. 92–95, digitized version of the Freiburg University Library
  • Ernst Wagner : Sites and finds from prehistoric, Roman and Alemannic-Franconian times in the Grand Duchy of Baden. 1st part: The Baden Oberland. Districts of Constance, Villingen, Waldshut, Lörrach, Freiburg, Offenburg. Tübingen 1908, pp. 152-155 in the Internet Archive

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see struck p. 275
  2. ↑ after Kimmig p.93 Carl-Friedrich Berg called
  3. ↑ see Friedrich Kuhn: Wegenstetten, an abandoned settlement on Grenzacher Horn, refuges on the Hornfelsen. In: Vom Jura zum Schwarzwald: Blätter für Heimatkunde und Heimatschutz, Volume 46–48 (1972–1974), pp. 115–120; here p. 117 Digitized and Ernst Wagner : sites and finds from prehistoric, Roman and Alemannic-Franconian times in the Grand Duchy of Baden. 1st part: The Baden Oberland. Districts of Constance, Villingen, Waldshut, Lörrach, Freiburg, Offenburg. Tübingen 1908, pp. 152-155 in the Internet Archive
  4. ↑ see struck p. 275
  5. ↑ see Friedrich Kuhn: Fundschau 1940–1943. Grenzach (Loerrach). 1. Hornfelsen and 2. Hornfelsen. In: Baden find reports. Official yearbook for research on prehistory and early history in Baden, 17th year 1941–47, p. 300 digital copy from Heidelberg University Library
  6. ↑ see Friedrich Kuhn: Wegenstetten, an abandoned settlement on Grenzacher Horn, refuges on the Hornfelsen. In: Vom Jura zum Schwarzwald: Blätter für Heimatkunde und Heimatschutz, Volume 46–48 (1972–1974), pp. 115–120; here p. 117 digitized version
  7. ↑ see struck p. 273
  8. ^ Regional information system for Baden-Württemberg (LeoBW): Eckerle August - Brief Biographical Information
  9. ↑ see Kimmig p. 100
  10. ↑ see Meyer p. 18; Urnfield culture = late Bronze Age from around 1300 to 800 BC Chr., D. H. the ramparts would be between 900 and 800 BC. BC originated
  11. ^ Elisabeth Schmid : Prehistory and early history in the district of Lörrach. In: Rudolf Hoffmann, Hans Schleuning, Gabriele Süsskind (editor), Otto Leible (editor): Der Kreis Lörrach . Konrad Theiss Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-8062-0203-6 . Pp. 52-53
  12. ↑ see Richter p. 74
  13. ^ Gerhard Fingerlin : Prehistory and Early History. In: Department State Description of the State Archives Freiburg im Breisgau (editor): District descriptions of the State of Baden-Württemberg. The district of Loerrach. Volume IA general part. B. Community descriptions Aitern to Inzlingen. C. Sources and literature . Published by the Baden-Württemberg State Archives Directorate in conjunction with the Lörrach district. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1993, ISBN 3-7995-1353-1 . P. 97 (late Urnenfeldzeit) and P. 99 (Hallstatt period) and Anneliese Müller: C. History of the municipality parts. Grenzach. In: Department State Description of the State Archives Freiburg im Breisgau (editor): District descriptions of the State of Baden-Württemberg. The district of Loerrach. Volume IA general part. B. Community descriptions Aitern to Inzlingen. C. Sources and literature . Published by the Baden-Württemberg State Archives Directorate in conjunction with the Lörrach district. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1993, ISBN 3-7995-1353-1 . P. 833 (Urnfield settlement)
  14. ↑ see Bigott p. 210; without assignment Hallstatt A / B or C / D
  15. ↑ after Struck p. 275 "most recent urn field time"
  16. ↑ see Kuhn p. 117 and Kimmig p. 100
  17. ↑ see Kimmig p. 100
  18. ↑ see struck p. 273
  19. ↑ see struck p. 272
  20. ↑ see Kimmig p. 95
  21. ↑ see struck p. 273
  22. ↑ see Kimmig p. 98
  23. ↑ see struck p. 276
  24. ↑ see Kimmig p. 101; In 917 AD the city of Basel was destroyed and plundered by the Hungarians.
  25. ↑ see struck p. 276
  26. ↑ see Erhard Richter : The Grenzacher Horn was the most important stone supplier for the city of Basel and the fortress of Hüningen . In: Das Markgräflerland , issue 1/1997, pp. 81–87 digitized version of the Freiburg University Library
  27. ↑ see Kuhn p. 118
  28. ↑ see Kimmig p. 99