Roman Watchtower 7/31

The then large rubble mound of Wp 7/31 was already known to the archaeologist Eduard Paulus (1837–1907) and was first investigated by Conrady in 1879 and 1880. As the name of the forest district "Steinernes Haus" (Stone House) testifies, knowledge of an ancient settlement site was never completely lost. The ruin was also known at the time as "Hönehaus" (etymologically from "Hüne" - giant) and famous through the legend of the giant maiden. Above the regularly laid foundation of slanted stones, the 0.75 to 0.85 meter wide walls of a rectangular building had been preserved. More extensive investigations did not take place during the time of the RLK. However, it was recognized that the actual watchtower had not yet been found.

Only in October 1969 was a complete excavation and conservation of the site, built up in three layers, carried out under the direction of the State Forestry Office Walldürn. In addition to the presumably single-story outbuilding, the rectangular stone tower foundation, located almost 6 meters further south, could also be identified. The structure, with its approximately 0.80 meter wide walls, measured 4.70 meters (NE and SW) × 4.50 meters (NW and SE) and had been built using a double-shell technique. The tower's ditch was recorded with two cuts in such a way that it could not be clarified whether this ditch was round or rectangular. At the two investigated points, the ditch was 1.80 and 2.00 meters wide, respectively, and 2.5 and 3.2 meters away from the ditch tip to the tower wall. On the inside of the northeast wall of the outbuilding, an apparently subsequently installed wall angle was found. The two flanks (NE and SW sides) of the structure were 8.10 meters long, the narrow sides were measured at 6.50 (NW) and 6.80 (SE) meters. Two exploratory cuts revealed the V-shaped ditch of the Limes palisade at a distance of approximately 17.50 meters (ditch bottom) from the tower site. At this point, it was still 0.70 meters wide. From the preserved charred wood, European beech could be determined with some certainty as the type of wood used for the palisade. However, the samples were not suitable for age determination.