10-18-2015, 09:09 PM
So here it is, the Translation -- as good as it gets -- taking into account the original german lines.
Ah, yes -- the finders of mistakes may keep them.
Fun, Boys and Girls !
Simplex
----
Wilkenburg: Roman marching camp confirmed.
The camp that has been spotted at Wilkenburg is the first one to be detected and excavated in Northern Germany. The existence of a number of such camps has long been suspected by archeologists , but it is hard to prove as their very temporary use rarely leaves any traces.
The Chief Monuments' Authority of Nether Saxony (NLD) summarizes the dicovery of the roman marching-camps at Wilkenburg as follows:
Discovery
As early as 1992 aerial archeologist Otto Braasch from Landshut, while performing systematic aerial surveillance under order of the NLD, had spotted trench structures in an farming area near Wilkenburg (City of Hemmingen, County of Hannover) south of Hannover and west of Laatzen, which made itself recognizable by cropmarks showing on the surface.
No traces above ground were present anymore, though. Braasch had marked the pictures he sent to the Monuments' Inventory of the NLD with "Roman Camp ?" and kept repeating his flights over this area during the following years. All in all about 180 photographs were taken as black/white pictures and diapositives. The archeologists of the NLD could not verify his claims when they checked the area,
finding only pottery sherds from primeval and early history. The area , however, was marked as "finding spot of unknown dating" on the archeological maps.
Confirmation and Suspicion
Voluntary aerial archeologist Hein-Dieter Freese had been scrutinizing many finding spots marked as
"presumably roman" in the archives of the NLD,cross-checking them with his own aerial photographs.
Through the years the aerial photographs had been displaying different views depending from
crop-height, weather conditions and time of the year, showing varying structures, which led to an
increasingly clearer general picture.
After clearing up and layering the multitude of pictures by Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Andreas Niemuth, M.A. of
NLDs monuments' inventory department, a square of about 500 to 600m could be identified, which then could, after excluding all other thinkable alternatives, sensibly be related to a roman marching camp.
The 3 corners that have been preserved showed up in "playcard-shape".
Markedly typical for roman marching camps, which usually have been engineered at short notice, customarily defending a resting-place for one night only, is the scarcety of finds.
Main reasons for this is the very short span of use, lack of use of pottery, the sherds of which can usually
be utilized for dating, and the farming on site, that had been going on there for centuries.
Excavations
A very short timespan in April 2015 between harvesting an new sowing was used by the team of the local NLD-institutions at Hannover, headed by Friedrich-Wilhelm Wulf, to perform the digging of two
tracing trenches, where the top view of a trench showed up in the planum, the downcut then showing the typical pointed trench-profiles of a roman trench.
Since the NLD had been contracting the department for Antique History, branch for "Archeology Of The Roman Provinces" at Osnabrück University for organizing "Studies for Museum and Monumental Preservation", it was agreed with Professor Dr. Salvatore Ortisi, who also has become responsible for the excavations at Kalkriese, to stage a joint test excavation.
In the process of this joint excavation in October 2015, two tracer trenches have been cut into the northwestern area.
One trench brought up a "gate-situation", while the other trench was pursued to verify a "corner-situation"
of the encompassing trench. Here, too, the typical shape of an roman pointed trench could be confirmed.
Trenches of this kind show a pointed cross-section or mostly a rectangular bottom, a cleaning trench,
just as wide as a roman shovel. Since both version have been detected here, all other thinkable ways of interpretation as medieval cross-country fortification, agricultural boundaries or camps from Napoleonic
era can be ruled out.
The extension of the camp or the course of the trenches have been surveilled geophysically by Prof.Dr. Joachim Härtling and Dipl.Geogr. Andreas Steele from the Institute of Geography, Chair of Physical Geography at the University of Osnabrück. Since the soil has not lend itself exactly well to this kind of precise survey , interesting hints have been gained but no final results as yet. The work on this is to be continued.
Surface prospection yields dating
In parallel to the excavation and the geophysical survey, members of the local NLD-authorities from Hannover and Braunschweig set out to a systematic search inside of the camp by use of metal-detecting devices - and with success. Fractured parts of bronce fibulae were found, datable to the time shortly before or around 0 AD. Some characteristic nails have been attributed to roman military sandals. A tweezer for hygiene can also attributed to roman times. Many more unspecific non-iron metal finds still wait for futher research.
But deceisive for the dating of the camp still remain a couple of copper, bronce and silver coins, giving clear clues for grouping the camp.
This in clear evidence shows how essential detector finds still remain a "piece of mosaique" for the
countries' archeology and history.
Therefore the surveillance using metal detectors stays only liable to schooled persons with a licence from the lower monumental authorities.
Copper coins represent the typical soldier' money here, two of them halved, a typical feat of the era, as this smallest unit of roman coinage had double the worth north of the alps than it had e.g. in Italy.
A coin with a crocodile's head, from the colony of Nemausus/Nimes, called "Nemausus-As", was struck in the second or first decade BC. It is typical for the so-called "Oberaden-Horizon", the first era of roman occupation, when Drusus, step-son of emperor Augustus, intruded as far as river Elbe. Coins like these
have been found e.g. at the supply camp of Hedemünden on river Werra and ,as implied , at Oberaden on river Lippe.
Comfortably fitting in here is a so-called "Münzmeister-As", dated after a swift categorisation by Dr. Frank Berger (Historical Museum, Frankfurt/Main) as struck under C-Plotius Rufus in 15 BC.
Quite remarkable is another copper-coin, --severely corroded, which could be identified as a "Lugdunum-As". As the "youngest" datable find it points to the times immediately "after birth of christ", when the romans steadied their grip on Germania, a process, which came to an end after the "varian desaster", which can be localized at Kalkriese near Osnabrück.
Furthermore a republican Denar and an early imperial Augustean coin have been found, as well as gaulish coinage, so-called "small-oar".
According to the recent state of research, we can assume, that the camp has been established during the
so-called "era of occupation" between 12 BC and the so-called Varian-horizon in 9 AD.
For the first time a roman marching camp in the area of Nether-Saxony has been securely verified.
On the significance
The camp spotted at Wilkenburg is the first marching camp in Northern Germany that has been discovered and excavated. For a long time now it had been suspected by archeologists that there is a number of such camps, but their verification remains difficult, because the short time of use left scarcely any traces.
The finding spot near Laatzen, however, perfectly fits into the schema of roman strategy: Since the discovery of the supply camp at Hedemünden, the valley of river Leine has been be identified as one line of
advance of the roman army. Additionally, the area south of Hannover was densely populated, then.
Vital routes of traffic met there.
The discovery of the camp at Wilkenburg near Laatzen for the first time provides a clear proof for the
presence of the Roman Army in central Nether-Saxony.
----Greez
Simplex
Ah, yes -- the finders of mistakes may keep them.
Fun, Boys and Girls !
Simplex
----
Wilkenburg: Roman marching camp confirmed.
The camp that has been spotted at Wilkenburg is the first one to be detected and excavated in Northern Germany. The existence of a number of such camps has long been suspected by archeologists , but it is hard to prove as their very temporary use rarely leaves any traces.
The Chief Monuments' Authority of Nether Saxony (NLD) summarizes the dicovery of the roman marching-camps at Wilkenburg as follows:
Discovery
As early as 1992 aerial archeologist Otto Braasch from Landshut, while performing systematic aerial surveillance under order of the NLD, had spotted trench structures in an farming area near Wilkenburg (City of Hemmingen, County of Hannover) south of Hannover and west of Laatzen, which made itself recognizable by cropmarks showing on the surface.
No traces above ground were present anymore, though. Braasch had marked the pictures he sent to the Monuments' Inventory of the NLD with "Roman Camp ?" and kept repeating his flights over this area during the following years. All in all about 180 photographs were taken as black/white pictures and diapositives. The archeologists of the NLD could not verify his claims when they checked the area,
finding only pottery sherds from primeval and early history. The area , however, was marked as "finding spot of unknown dating" on the archeological maps.
Confirmation and Suspicion
Voluntary aerial archeologist Hein-Dieter Freese had been scrutinizing many finding spots marked as
"presumably roman" in the archives of the NLD,cross-checking them with his own aerial photographs.
Through the years the aerial photographs had been displaying different views depending from
crop-height, weather conditions and time of the year, showing varying structures, which led to an
increasingly clearer general picture.
After clearing up and layering the multitude of pictures by Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Andreas Niemuth, M.A. of
NLDs monuments' inventory department, a square of about 500 to 600m could be identified, which then could, after excluding all other thinkable alternatives, sensibly be related to a roman marching camp.
The 3 corners that have been preserved showed up in "playcard-shape".
Markedly typical for roman marching camps, which usually have been engineered at short notice, customarily defending a resting-place for one night only, is the scarcety of finds.
Main reasons for this is the very short span of use, lack of use of pottery, the sherds of which can usually
be utilized for dating, and the farming on site, that had been going on there for centuries.
Excavations
A very short timespan in April 2015 between harvesting an new sowing was used by the team of the local NLD-institutions at Hannover, headed by Friedrich-Wilhelm Wulf, to perform the digging of two
tracing trenches, where the top view of a trench showed up in the planum, the downcut then showing the typical pointed trench-profiles of a roman trench.
Since the NLD had been contracting the department for Antique History, branch for "Archeology Of The Roman Provinces" at Osnabrück University for organizing "Studies for Museum and Monumental Preservation", it was agreed with Professor Dr. Salvatore Ortisi, who also has become responsible for the excavations at Kalkriese, to stage a joint test excavation.
In the process of this joint excavation in October 2015, two tracer trenches have been cut into the northwestern area.
One trench brought up a "gate-situation", while the other trench was pursued to verify a "corner-situation"
of the encompassing trench. Here, too, the typical shape of an roman pointed trench could be confirmed.
Trenches of this kind show a pointed cross-section or mostly a rectangular bottom, a cleaning trench,
just as wide as a roman shovel. Since both version have been detected here, all other thinkable ways of interpretation as medieval cross-country fortification, agricultural boundaries or camps from Napoleonic
era can be ruled out.
The extension of the camp or the course of the trenches have been surveilled geophysically by Prof.Dr. Joachim Härtling and Dipl.Geogr. Andreas Steele from the Institute of Geography, Chair of Physical Geography at the University of Osnabrück. Since the soil has not lend itself exactly well to this kind of precise survey , interesting hints have been gained but no final results as yet. The work on this is to be continued.
Surface prospection yields dating
In parallel to the excavation and the geophysical survey, members of the local NLD-authorities from Hannover and Braunschweig set out to a systematic search inside of the camp by use of metal-detecting devices - and with success. Fractured parts of bronce fibulae were found, datable to the time shortly before or around 0 AD. Some characteristic nails have been attributed to roman military sandals. A tweezer for hygiene can also attributed to roman times. Many more unspecific non-iron metal finds still wait for futher research.
But deceisive for the dating of the camp still remain a couple of copper, bronce and silver coins, giving clear clues for grouping the camp.
This in clear evidence shows how essential detector finds still remain a "piece of mosaique" for the
countries' archeology and history.
Therefore the surveillance using metal detectors stays only liable to schooled persons with a licence from the lower monumental authorities.
Copper coins represent the typical soldier' money here, two of them halved, a typical feat of the era, as this smallest unit of roman coinage had double the worth north of the alps than it had e.g. in Italy.
A coin with a crocodile's head, from the colony of Nemausus/Nimes, called "Nemausus-As", was struck in the second or first decade BC. It is typical for the so-called "Oberaden-Horizon", the first era of roman occupation, when Drusus, step-son of emperor Augustus, intruded as far as river Elbe. Coins like these
have been found e.g. at the supply camp of Hedemünden on river Werra and ,as implied , at Oberaden on river Lippe.
Comfortably fitting in here is a so-called "Münzmeister-As", dated after a swift categorisation by Dr. Frank Berger (Historical Museum, Frankfurt/Main) as struck under C-Plotius Rufus in 15 BC.
Quite remarkable is another copper-coin, --severely corroded, which could be identified as a "Lugdunum-As". As the "youngest" datable find it points to the times immediately "after birth of christ", when the romans steadied their grip on Germania, a process, which came to an end after the "varian desaster", which can be localized at Kalkriese near Osnabrück.
Furthermore a republican Denar and an early imperial Augustean coin have been found, as well as gaulish coinage, so-called "small-oar".
According to the recent state of research, we can assume, that the camp has been established during the
so-called "era of occupation" between 12 BC and the so-called Varian-horizon in 9 AD.
For the first time a roman marching camp in the area of Nether-Saxony has been securely verified.
On the significance
The camp spotted at Wilkenburg is the first marching camp in Northern Germany that has been discovered and excavated. For a long time now it had been suspected by archeologists that there is a number of such camps, but their verification remains difficult, because the short time of use left scarcely any traces.
The finding spot near Laatzen, however, perfectly fits into the schema of roman strategy: Since the discovery of the supply camp at Hedemünden, the valley of river Leine has been be identified as one line of
advance of the roman army. Additionally, the area south of Hannover was densely populated, then.
Vital routes of traffic met there.
The discovery of the camp at Wilkenburg near Laatzen for the first time provides a clear proof for the
presence of the Roman Army in central Nether-Saxony.
----Greez
Simplex
Siggi K.
