Grosse Heuneburg

Near to the Heuneburg are the remains of another large fortified settlement, known as the Grosse Heuneburg, which is currently being excavated.

The following is translated from a report on the excavations in the Reutlinger General-Anzeiger newspaper (2016):

"archaeologists have found in excavations in the five-hectare Grosse Heuneburg south of Upflamör the remains of a huge stone wall. The mound of the Great Heuneburg near Upflamör turned out to be the stump of an imposing, approximately 3.6-meter-wide outer wall, which must have been several meters high. This recent discovery of a monumental building in the vicinity of the well-known Heuneburg near Herbertingen-Hundersingen led to the conclusion that the structure must have been part of a huge settlement system in the early Celtic period says Professor Dirk Krausse of the Stuttgart regional council.

He is head of a long-term project team funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), which carries out excavations in the vicinity of the early Celtic princely seat, the ancient city of »Pyrene«. The scientists were able to prove that in the 6th century BC there was a center comparable to a Greek city state (Polis), such as Athens: the northernmost city of antiquity and thus also the oldest written place of today's Germany, in the area inhabited by several thousand people.

On the neighboring Alte Burg near Langenenslingen, which was laid out in a visual axis, the archaeologists came across a completely artificial mountain spur in the previous year. The obviously planed cult place served as assembly or play place. A 13 meter wide and four, once even ten meters high wall impressed not only the excavation team. The bright, limestone-white monumental building may have already shown visitors the way in far Upper Swabia.

After almost 100 years of research interruption, the archaeologists managed to expose part of the impressive fortification wall of the Grosse Heuneburg and the remains of a large building.

The today densely wooded site is divided into dike-like ramparts surrounding more than five acres of the main castle, and an annex of 1.5 hectares attached to the north side, a kind of hill. The findings of the first excavations of 1921 had not been pursued.

Since May until the winter break, under the direction of dr. Leif Hansen and dr. Roberto Tarpon researchers excavated the fortifications in the northwest of the main castle and in the northern annex. From the approximately one kilometer long rampart they selected a four meter wide section. The semicircular wall turned out in the core as a double-shelled drywall of limestone. "We came across an impressive 3.6-meter-wide wall that was up to 1.6 meters high," says Hansen. "The characteristic curvature of the Wall comes in turn from the collapse of the upper layers of the wall on both sides; The walling once must have been much higher and also visible from afar through the bright limestone.

Tarpini and his people believe that they have located the spilled access gate of the facility not far from the test section in a depression. Accordingly, a path led from the slope up into the main site. In the interior, settlement layers were cut. They contained numerous early Celtic finds, including ceramics from workshops of the neighboring Heuneburg.

There were also pieces from the Bronze Age. A proof that the castle was already inhabited hundreds of years before the Celts. There are traces of different construction phases on the site. In the east of the annex, a mound with stone front was uncovered. "There are still many questions left."

As early as 2015, large-scale geomagnetic prospections were carried out on the Grosse Heuneburg. This showed a 16 by 9 meter large house plan in the north of the main castle. Now, six mighty, up to 0.75 meter deep pillar pits in the southwestern area of ​​this unusually large building could be exposed. The hitherto recovered find material from the post pits and the immediate environment also dates back to the 7th and 6th century BC.

"The Grosse Heuneburg very probably formed with the Heuneburg and the Alte Burg as well as numerous unpaved farmsteads, hamlets and villages in the surrounding area a complex system of fortifications and settlements," says Krausse.

The "holy mountain" of Upper Swabia was evidently also part of the Celtic center. "But we still have to do our homework," Krausse says promisingly, and he is already looking at perhaps the next sensation: "We suspect that the large Althayingen fort also somehow belongs to the chain of this system and was perhaps connected by roads."


http://www.gea.de/nachrichten/kultur...lb.5066588.htm