Wettenburg
The betting Castle is one of the section fixing betting castle named hill in the main loop at Urphar in the west of the district Kreuzwertheim in the Lower Franconian district of Main-Spessart in Bavaria . The river bend was settled thousands of years ago and was still home to a fortified hilltop settlement from the time of the migration of peoples around 400 AD . A total of four settlement phases can be identified:
Already in the time of the younger Michelsberg culture there was a presumably fortified settlement on the easily accessible loop of the river near the mouth of the Tauber . During the more recent Urnfield period, there was a settlement secured with a wood-earth fortification with a socially upscale population. In the late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods there was a settlement with fortifications including a dry stone wall facing on the mountain, which also indicates the high status of some residents.
The most elaborate fortification took place during the time of the Great Migration , when the mountain was secured with fortifications made of over six meters wide, double-shell dry stone walls with anchor beams and front posts. This shows Roman influences during this time, which is confirmed by numerous, partly valuable Roman finds. According to the ceramic and traditional costumes found, the inhabitants were Germanic, at first probably even Burgundy , later Alemanni . Even the seat of a Burgundian juggler or an East Germanic-Burgundian federation camp is suspected there. While agricultural equipment is missing from the finds, there is evidence of craft and military equipment as well as items for keeping animals. Settlement during the migration period is documented from the end of the 4th century to the middle of the 5th century. In addition to the unusual finds, evidence of this height fortification provided one of the rare evidence of a fortification system in free Germania.
Some individual finds also come from epochs that cannot be assigned to any of these four phases, the late Latène period , the Middle Ages and the modern era .
The “Heu (n) weg” leads over the Wettenburg in a north-south direction, which crossed the Main as a long-distance route at Urphar and was already handed down in 839 as “heristraza” or “via publica”.
literature
- Dieter Neubauer: The Wettenburg in the Mainschleife near Urphar, Main-Spessart-Kreis. Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2007, ISBN 978-3-89646-537-5 ( Early history and Roman provincial archeology. Volume 8)
Coordinates: 49 ° 46 ' N , 9 ° 33' E