Wamboltsches Schlösschen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sketch of the location of the Roman site. The Frankfurter Straße (formerly Old Höchsterstraße ) is today's trail; the old border path corresponds to the proven path in Roman times.

The so-called Wamboltsche Schlösschen near Groß-Umstadt - Heubach is a Roman settlement on a ridge between Heubach and Breuberg - Sandbach . It got its name because it was originally thought to be the ancestral castle of the Wambolt von Umstadt . Various excavations since 1878 have proven the Roman origin of the buildings.

View of the preserved foundation walls of building I.
View from today's forest path (Alte Frankfurter Straße).

location

The site is located in the front Odenwald , northwest of Breuberg Castle , near the current municipal boundary between Breuberg and Groß-Umstadt in the "Heidestock" forest district. The summit of the Heidenstock, almost of the same name, is about 500 m to the north. The ridge at about 330  m above sea level. NN drops too steeply to the northwest (direction Heubach), east ( Wald-Amorbach and Hainstadt ) and south (Sandbach) and is now densely forested. The ridge turns to the west south of the site . In an approximately north-south direction, the Alte Frankfurter Straße (also known as "Alte Höchst Straße") runs through the settlement, an old street that probably existed in Roman times.

exploration

According to legend, the ruins were supposed to be the ancestral seat of the Wambolt von Umstadt family , a noble family in the Odenwald that has been traceable since the 13th century. The Historical Association for the Grand Duchy of Hesse under Heinrich Gieß carried out the first excavations at the facility in 1878 (Building II). Finds from this activity gave a dating of the ruins to Roman times.

Further excavations were carried out in 1977 and between 1980 and 1985 by the Archaeological and Folklore Working Group Dieburg eV (AVA). They led to the uncovering and conservation of the walls that are visible today. The AVA also set up a number of explanatory panels in the facility.

investment

Map from 1725 - on the far left is the location of the former villa rustica

Before the excavations, the surrounding wall was recognizable as a rampart alongside the rubble mounds of the three buildings . It has an irregular floor plan of around 60 × 75 × 80 × 90 m with sometimes quite sharp corners. There were three buildings in it, of which the foundations of Building I have been preserved along with parts of the surrounding wall. The integration of the building into the surrounding wall as well as a structural joint recognizable from it suggest that this 12 × 13 m building already existed when the wall was erected. A later installation in the northwest corner of the building can be interpreted as a reduction or tower-like structure.

At least two other buildings (II and III) within the complex can be seen as rubble mounds in the forest floor and have not been preserved. Findings from the excavations are rather poor. In addition to a few ceramic shards , there are millstone fragments and an iron plate that was recovered in Building I. Since no traces of fire could be found either, this suggests a scheduled evacuation of the facility, probably with the Limes Falls around AD 260.

The interpretation of the complex varies between a street station, a sanctuary and a Roman manor ( villa rustica ), which, due to the topography, was heavily based on pasture farming.

literature

  • Archaeological and Folklore Working Group (AVA) of the Museum in Dieburg eV (Hrsg.): Witnesses of the past. Prehistory, Roman times, Middle Ages in the Dieburger Land, depicted on the basis of the finds from 1970-1980. Dieburg 1980, p. 54.
  • Heinrich Gieß: Breuberg Castle in the Odenwald and the Germanic and Roman monuments in its vicinity. Allendorf, Heppenheim 1893, pp. 20f.
  • Friedrich Mössinger: The Romans in the Odenwald . Südhessische Post, Heppenheim 1954. (= Writings for local history and home care in the southern Hessian area 13/14) p. 40.
  • Egon Schallmayer : Groß-Umstadt-Heubach, DA. Roman estate Wamboltsches Schlößchen. In: Dietwulf Baatz / Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (ed.): The Romans in Hessen . Licensed edition of the 1989 edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , pp. 331f.
  • Egon Schallmayer: The Romans in Rai-Breitenbach. In: City of Breuberg (ed.): 1200 years of Rai-Breitenbach 798-1998. Breuberg 1997 pp. 97-99.
  • Find reports from Hessen 26/1, 1986, p. 392.

Web links

Commons : Wamboltsches Schlösschen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Egon Schallmayer: The Romans in Rai-Breitenbach. In: City of Breuberg (ed.): 1200 years of Rai-Breitenbach 798-1998. Breuberg, 1997, p. 86.

Coordinates: 49 ° 49 ′ 59.2 "  N , 9 ° 0 ′ 29.6"  E