Celtic circular wall of Otzenhausen

The Celtic ring fortress is one of the biggest fortifications, the Celts had constructed.Ist builders were Celts of the tribe of the Treveri, who lived in the region north of the fortress. The ring fortress is located on top of the "Dollberg", a hill near Otzenhausen in Germany, about 695 m above sea level. The only visible remains are two circles of earth, covered with stones.

History

In times of war, the ring wall was a strong fortification against enemies. Theories suggest, there might have been more than just a refuge keep. There might have been a constant settlement, a village or a seat of a local leader.

The first construction origines in the fifth or fourth century B.C., the bloom of the construction dates in the second and first century B.C. For reasons yet unknown, shortly after this bloom the fortress was abandoned.

=Description= The site is formed as a triangle with rounded ends. One wall surrounds the whole fortress. On the southern side, another similar wall is build about 40 meters in front of the main wall. The ends of this outer wall approach the main wall but do not touch it. Because the entrance of the main wall is to be found on the western side, no significant purpose of the outer wall could be discovered. From west to east the fortress extends 460 m, from north to south 647 m. The walls of 2500 meters contain 240,000 cubic meters of stone. Thousands of beams were attached to the walls.

Julius Caesar describes such walls in Book seven chapter 23 of his De Bello Gallico. [Julius Caesar, "De Bello Gallico", Book XVII Chapter XXIII [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10657] ] "But this is usually the form of all the Gallic walls. Straight beams, connected lengthwise and two feet distant from each other at equal intervals, are placed together on the ground; these are mortised on the inside, and covered with plenty of earth. But the intervals which we have mentioned, are closed up in front by large stones. These being thus laid and cemented together, another row is added above, in such a manner that the same interval may be observed, and that the beams may not touch one another, but equal spaces intervening, each row of beams is kept firmly in its place by a row of stones. In this manner the whole wall is consolidated, until the regular height of the wall be completed. This work, with respect to appearance and variety, is not unsightly, owing to the alternate rows of beams and stones, which preserve their order in right lines; and, besides, it possesses great advantages as regards utility and the defence of cities; for the stone protects it from fire, and the wood from the battering ram, since it (the wood) being mortised in the inside with rows of beams, generally forty feeteach in length, can neither be broken through nor torn asunder."On the western side, there was a gateway, build of wood, standing on eight posts. This gateway was double-winged and 6 m wide. A central post divided the gateway into two gates of 2.5 m each. The wooden posts sunk into the holes of the gatepost were wedged with stones. Broken rock on the ground on the ground prevented the earth from being washed away.

Perhaps there was a second gate on the eastern side, but its existence is not yet proven.

From other examples of Celtic forts it is known, that the gateway presumably was a canopied wooden battlement. Because this gateway is build to the inner side of the wall, the ends of the wall and the battlement form a small square, which can be attacked from three sides without leaving cover.

Important for the use of the fortress is the existence of a spring on the top of the Dollberg. This spring is a result of the impermeable quartzite, the ground conists of.

Holes in the ground, the remains of former posts, prove the existence of buildings. Unknown is their purpose for housing or for storeroom.

Aftermath

In roman time a small temple of 2.15 meters x 2.70 meters, dating from the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. was build of quartzite rubble stone and brick-shaped sandstone. When the German tribes invaded the roman territories in 4th century A.C, the fortress was used again.

During the Thirty years war (1618-1648) again the citizens of the surrounding villages took refuge in the remains of the Celtic fortress.

The first documented appearance of the ring wall happened within the Grimburger Salbuch, a geological register of 1589, the first picture of the enclosure in the Gazette de Metz from 1836.

The same year, Count Villers von Burgesch addressed a petition to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III to bar the inhabitants of the nearby villages to carry off stones for use as building material. Reacting to this petition the Crown Prince later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV visited the fortress in 1837.

Today the whole aera with exception of the stone circles is covered with forest.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.keltenring-otzenhausen.de/ official site on the Celtic fortress of Otzenhausen]