Central archaeological sites in the Prignitz
The historic Prignitz landscape in the northwest of the state of Brandenburg has a rich archaeological heritage. To date there have been around 3500 sites. Seven archaeological monuments are currently emerging from this inventory because of their national or regional significance. Five of them are in the Prignitz district and two in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district . They are called Central Archaeological Places (ZAO) and represent the historical layers of time in the region.
The ZAO project is supported by the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and the State Archaeological Museum , the Prignitz district and the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district in conjunction with local partners. Its aim is the gradual archaeological, tourist and museum development and use of the archaeological monuments. An archaeological path from Lenzen to Wittstock is intended to link the places with one another, to convey regional history, cultural identity and homeland. The information boards for the trail reflect some of the results of the work done so far.
Lenzen Castle
The castle was the seat of Slavic and German lords. The city of Lenzen is located in the middle of the Elbe River Landscape Biosphere Reserve in the northwest of the Prignitz. It is dominated by the Slavic-German castle with its keep from the 14th century. Because of its proximity to the Elbe, the area around Lenzen has been a strategically important point in the conflict between Germans and Slavs since the 9th century. The Battle of Lenzen took place here in 929 , after which the Saxon King Heinrich I temporarily managed to take the Slavic castles on the Elbe.
In 1993 the BUND started to convert Lenzen Castle into a European center for floodplain ecology, environmental education and visitor information . The work was associated with extensive archaeological excavations, which produced remarkable findings on the Slavic castle complex and settlement, as well as on the German-medieval castle. The excavations document the development of Lenzen Castle from the oldest Slavic fortifications to the present day.
The large stone grave of Mellen
is a testimony to the megalithic culture . The megalithic grave of Mellen , a district of Lenzen, is the last preserved megalithic grave of the Prignitz. It gives an idea of the elaborate grave cult of the Middle Stone Age . Most of these graves disappeared, especially in the first half of the 19th century. The large boulders were very often crushed by stone cutters and used as building material or paving stones. So also parts of the Mellen grave. As a result of the stone extraction, it lost three of its six capstones, numerous support stones and stones of the enclosure. In 1887 the Mellener Hünenbett was placed under monument protection and has remained in unchanged condition ever since. It has not yet been scientifically investigated. However, it must be assumed that the burials in the chamber were destroyed as early as the 19th century.
The royal tomb of Seddin
In 1899, workers discovered one of the richest Late Bronze Age graves in northern Europe in the Hinzeberg near Seddin . According to legend, it is said to be the final resting place of a king named Hinz . The grave goods ended up in the Märkisches Provinzialmuseum in Berlin. Since 2000, intensive new archaeological research has been carried out on the royal grave. The monumental tomb was built at the end of the 9th century BC. Built in BC. With a diameter of 64 meters and a former height of around 10 meters, the hill of the grave stands out from all other preserved burial mounds in Northern Germany. The burial chamber with numerous valuable additions is also unique in size and construction and probably modeled on southern European models. All of this indicates an extraordinarily high social status of the man buried there during his lifetime.
The stones from Teufelsberg
The Teufelsberg stones were a place of worship and burial place. The Teufelsberg is located northeast of the village of Wolfshagen on an elevation near the Stepenitz . In its center, excavations about 80 years ago uncovered a double stone circle with a diameter of about seven meters. It was on the site of an older cremation site. In the vicinity of this cultic complex, numerous cremation graves with very different grave shapes were found in a small space . The variety of shapes and stone grave structures on the Teufelsberg is atypical and unique for the late Bronze Age flat grave fields of the Prignitz. Stone grave fixtures actually represent a feature of richly furnished grave mounds. The flat graves from Teufelsberg usually contained only a few additions. Due to the stone architecture, they obviously represent a special population group. The important late Bronze Age cult and burial site was used at the time when the royal tomb of Seddin was also being built.
Noble seat of Meyenburg
The town and castle were first mentioned in 1285 as Meyenborch . Important city and castle lords were the members of the von Rohr family . The oldest parts of today's castle were built in the 14th century on the remains of older structures that included the medieval city wall. Today's palace complex was built in 1866. Since the 1990s, first the shell and later the interior of the palace have been extensively restored. Extensive archaeological investigations were carried out in the course of the renovation. The remains of two older castle complexes were found under today's castle. In the margravial castle from the second construction phase (13th / 14th century) a very elaborate hot air storage heater with several ovens was found. This suggests a great importance of the building in the time. On Pentecost Sunday 2006 the ceremonial reopening of Meyenburg Castle took place. Today it houses the fashion museum and the local history museum with the Rohr'schen Stube.
Freyenstein
At the beginning of the 13th century, German settlers laid out a town on behalf of the Havelberg bishop, which was first mentioned in 1263 as Vrigstene . Around 25 hectares were walled around , roads laid out and paved. On the edge there was a small aristocratic castle. However, the location of the city in the border area with Mecklenburg made it an object of contention again and again. Several times there was devastating destruction. Therefore, the place was abandoned around 1287 and rebuilt in the immediate vicinity on a small branch of the Dosse . The buildings of the abandoned city were demolished, the cellars filled and the city area used as arable land again. The old town of Freyenstein disappeared from the landscape. Only the remains of the city fortifications and the field name Old Town reminded of the city's desert . Today they provide a unique insight into a Brandenburg city of the 13th century.
Archaeological research has been carried out in the desert since the 1980s. Using a geophysical measuring method, it was possible to reconstruct the layout of the city. The Freyenstein Archaeological Park opened its doors in the summer of 2007 .
Wittstock mass grave
During the Thirty Years' War , in autumn 1636, the situation of the Swedish army in Germany was critical. Pushed back to the north of the Holy Roman Empire without allies , the Swedish Field Marshal Johan Banér was forced to a decisive battle. On October 4, 1636, the battle of Wittstock took place , one of the bloodiest field battles of the Thirty Years' War. Despite the advantageous position and the numerical superiority of the Imperial Saxon army under Field Marshal Count Melchior von Hatzfeldt and Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony, the Swedes achieved victory. In addition to around 2,130 Swedish and an unknown, but probably higher number of Saxon-Imperial wounded, around 1,000 Swedish soldiers and 5,000 allies are said to have lost their lives. Some estimates even assume 8,000 dead during the battle and the subsequent persecution of the losers and their entourage . The following day, Field Marshal Banér ordered the battlefield to be cleaned up and the dead to be buried.
During construction work in an industrial area south of the city of Wittstock , a mass grave belonging to this battle was discovered in spring 2007. The size of the grave pit was reconstructed to about 6 × 3.5 meters. It was found that 125 people were buried. 88 skeletons could be documented in their original position, these were men between 17 and 45 years of age. The osteological examination revealed some of the soldiers' fatal injuries, but also previous bone fractures, infections and general illnesses. Thanks to the interdisciplinary collaboration of archaeologists and anthropologists on the finds from the Wittstock mass grave, it was possible to research the reality of life for mercenaries during the Thirty Years' War.
Web links
- Settlers, princes and soldiers - central archaeological sites in Prignitz at www.landkreis-prignitz.de