Roman Castle Haselburg

The fortification, positioned almost centrally between the beginning of the "Vorderer Limes" at the Miltenberg-Ost fort and the Walldürn fort, was built on a flat, gently eastward-sloping rise. This rise is part of a ridge that separates the western Hambrunner Valley from the eastern Kaltenbach Valley on the Baden-Bavarian border, and along which the Limes runs in an almost straight line from northwest to southeast, disregarding the topographical conditions of the terrain. About 70 meters from the border installations, the garrison had an excellent field of vision from the ramparts of the fort. Looking north, the nearest Limes watchtowers, almost at the same height, could be observed, and to the south – where the rise occupied by the garrison first drops into a narrow saddle – the next towers on the rising slope were under control. To the east, looking over the Limes, the mouth of the Kaltenbach into the narrow, deeply cut Storchsklinge valley was probably of particular interest. From there, according to the archaeologist Hans Ulrich Nuber, who excavated at the small fort of Haselburg, a path ascended through the border installations from the Barbaricum to the fort, which had to be monitored.

The enclosing wall of the small fort in the Haselburg area, which was apparently still well preserved until the 18th century, is said to have been demolished for the construction of the Reinhardsachsen church, completed in shell construction in 1726, and subsequently for road construction. The construction period of the Reinhardsachsen church, often cited in literature as "around 1780", is incorrect. It possibly refers only to the road construction measures. Until the time of the first scientific excavations, the fort was exposed to destruction by local residents. In 1880, an initial investigation of the fort took place, followed in 1892 by a comprehensive excavation under the direction of Wilhelm Conrady (1829-1903) and with funds from the Imperial Limes Commission (RLK). However, according to archaeologist Ernst Fabricius (1857–1942), who, among other things, edited this section of the Limes for the standard work "Der obergermanisch-raetische Limes des Roemerreiches" (ORL), Conrady left insufficient documentation. Fabricius noted in the 1931 ORL report on Haselburg that during a site visit, he could still find loose stones, fired clay, and Roman pottery shards on the field above the camp area.

After the underground small fort was massively threatened by continuous intensive agricultural use in the 20th century, and building remains and small finds continued to be brought to the surface by plowing, a complete re-excavation of the fort area was carried out between August and October 1975, commissioned by the State Office for Monument Preservation Baden-Württemberg and led by Nuber. The extent of the damage the complex had suffered since Conrady's time became apparent after this re-excavation, which covered an area of 1800 square meters. The excavation generated so much positive interest among the local population that the section of the terrain with the east gate of the small fort was acquired. In 1980, a partial reconstruction and conservation of this gate took place by means of a slight re-walling.

In the course of the advance of the Neckar-Odenwald Limes to the newly established line of the Vorderer Limes, the first fortification was built on this site. Older research – including the ancient historian Géza Alföldy – speculated that this advance occurred "around 155 AD". More recent finds and methods could potentially pinpoint and correct this assumption more precisely in time. Dendrochronological investigations support the idea that the Vorderer Limes was built shortly after the death of Emperor Antoninus Pius (January 161) as part of a cross-provincial expansion measure, along with the Rhaetian Limes, from which chronologically matching dates originate. However, since the oldest datable inscription fragment on the "Vorderer Limes" already dates from the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius, only new finds will make a definitive assessment of the events of that time possible.

The findings from Haselburg provided evidence that small forts – like most cohort forts in the Limes area – can have a multi-phase construction history.

Wood-Earth Fort

The rectangular small fort, originally conceived as a wood-earth complex, was built on a base area of 41 x 37 meters (0.15 hectares) during the early expansion of military bases on the Vorderer Limes. A palisade fence with rounded corners (playing card shape) served as the enclosure. The fort always had two entrances in all construction phases. The main gate was in the praetorial front to the east, facing the Limes, and the west gate could be identified on the rear decuman side. The left and right edges of the camp road connecting the two gates inside were lined by elongated rectangular half-timbered buildings in sill-beam construction for housing the troops. The internal layout of these buildings followed the standardized scheme of the Principate period. They had a larger front common room and a smaller rear sleeping chamber for each contubernium. The larger head building adjoining the southern barracks to the east was reserved for the commander and, like the end section of the northern barracks reserved for his deputy, had a sunken cellar. In the northeast corner of the fortification was a corridor house measuring 11.6 x 7.5 meters, also built in half-timbered construction, whose central corridor, running across the width, opened up three almost equally sized rooms on each side. The house possibly served for storage. A large rectangular pit, located in the center of the camp, is believed to have served as a cistern. The camp road was largely interrupted by this pit. Another equally large cistern, slightly offset to the side at the west gate, was located in front of the corner of the south barracks and was built somewhat later. A shaft discovered to the southwest could belong to the workshops located there. After only a short existence, the fortification completely burned down.

A new building was erected shortly thereafter, retaining the same internal layout, but its area was enlarged to 52.5 x 43.5 meters (= 0.22 hectares) to the east. The earth rampart, now serving as an enclosure, could be measured at 3 meters wide. The construction was supported on the outside by a wooden plank wall and on the inside of the camp – towards the 1.8 meter wide Via sagularis (camp ring road) – prevented from sliding by a closely set row of posts. This complex also had rounded corners. The entrances, built in the same alignment as the two preceding gates on the narrow sides, were each supported by four large wooden posts, allowing a 3-meter-wide passage, above which stood a wooden tower. As an obstacle to approach, a continuous ditch, about 4.8 meters wide and 2.3 meters deep, had been dug around the entire complex. At the gates, there must have been wooden crossings that bridged this defensive ditch.

Stone Fort

Towards the end of the 2nd century, the wooden planks of the enclosure were replaced by a 1.20 meter wide stone wall made of red and grey sandstone. For this purpose, the new defensive wall was placed directly in front of the earth ramp of the older complex. A new embankment of the three-meter-wide dam supporting the rampart walk was thus omitted. This fortification also retained its rounded corners and the position of the two entrances, now also built of stone, which were flanked by two gate cheeks each. The slightly larger eastern main gate, of which only sparse remains were found in parts, now had a width of 3.75 meters; the gate cheeks – five to six layers of masonry were still found in situ on the left one in 1892 – were 1.20 meters thick and receded 3.10 meters into the interior of the fortress. In addition to shards, nails, and iron parts, Conrady also found wedge-shaped hewn stones of the arch and a semicircular, 0.41 meter long, 0.29 meter high, and 0.09 meter thick window lintel lunette at this gate. This piece, which was no longer available to the ORL and of which no drawing exists, had a semicircular inner wreath bead from which seven radial lines ran to an outer semicircle. Conrady noted that the Haselburg piece was smaller and less carefully crafted than comparable pieces from the watchtowers of the older Odenwald line and the Lützelbach fort located there. The rear west gate was only 2.30 meters wide and enclosed by 2.65 meter long and one meter thick cheek walls. As with most forts, drainage ditches had also been led through the gates of this small fort. In front of the enclosing wall was a 4.80 meter wide and still 2.30 meter deep pointed ditch. Since this ditch did not cease in front of the gates, it could only have been crossed by means of a wooden bridge.

The rapid progressive destruction of the wall by the plow can be illustrated by the three existing excavation reports. In 1880, on the east side, the masonry of the outer casing was still preserved four layers high and showed wide mortar joints, which stood above a projecting plinth cornice made of bevel-hewn ashlar stones. Such a cornice-like projection could also be seen at some other fort sites, such as Obernburg. In 1892, the wall was still 0.20 to 0.30 meters below the topsoil. Conrady found only one to two layers, totaling 0.10 to 0.20 meters high, on the east side and at the adjoining rounded corners during the new excavation. When Nuber started digging again in 1975, he could no longer find any standing masonry. Only sparse remains of the interior buildings of this younger fortification were preserved. The excavators surmise that this building was similar to that of the older fort.

Demise

In the late phase, during the turbulent time of the Limes fall, women also sought refuge behind the walls. Nuber noted that at this time the defensive ditch was no longer maintained and apparently served as a refuse pit, filled with ceramic shards, animal bones, and other debris. During the 1975 excavation, irregularly arranged stone barriers were uncovered in sections in front of the small fort's enclosing ditch, some of which extended into the ditch and belong to the latest fort period. To the south, one of these segments ran almost parallel to the ditch and overlapped a pit in front of it with recent finds. The purpose of these advanced barriers, which had a width of up to 2.20 meters, remains unclear.

The youngest layer of the fort ditch, beneath the collapse of the enclosing wall, contained a coin significant for dating the Limes, an Antoninian. Apart from Haselburg, the youngest coins of the Vorderer Limes have only been discovered at the southern small fort of Rötelsee. They were minted during the reign of Emperor Gallienus (253–260) and no earlier than 259. In the course of the Limes fall, which culminated in the abandonment of the Agri decumates (Decumate Lands) in 259/260 AD, the remaining Roman border installations on the Vorderer Limes were evacuated by the troops, if they had not already been violently destroyed. According to Nuber, Haselburg seems to have been one of those complexes that were systematically abandoned at that time.

Based on the construction of the wood-earth fort, a non-independent centuria of 60 to 80 men can be assumed as a garrison, which had been detached as a vexillation from the fort of Miltenberg or Walldürn. The pottery from Haselburg sometimes shows graffiti, which apparently are the names of soldiers. However, the designation of a unit is missing.

The small vicus, the camp village, was located, according to scattered finds, on the road coming from the rear fort gate. The military bath is presumed to be 180 meters southeast of the defensive wall, above a spring. Extensive finds only emerged with Nuber's excavations. These include a hoard found in the fort from a former wooden box, which contained about 20 bronze and iron parts, including a shortened sword, which has a stylized, floating goddess of victory Victoria as an inlaid decoration on its blade – directly in front of the hilt. In addition, the box contained other weapons, tools, agricultural equipment, a yoke fitting, kitchen utensils, fittings, keys, nails, and two bronze rings. Nuber also reports 13 coins found directly inside the fort during his excavation, the youngest of which is a denarius from the reign of Emperor Severus Alexander (222–235). A single stamp of the potter Martialis, whose wares came from Chemery-Faulquemont in Eastern Gaul or from one of his branches, also originates from the garrison. Martialis is one of the earliest potters from Eastern Gaul verifiable in Upper Germania. His production focus falls in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries. However, the Haselburg stamp, along with other stamps from Chémery, proves that this manufacturer's goods were still distributed until around the middle of the 2nd century. In addition to this sigillata, pottery from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) or Rheinzabern (COSTA F, NIVALIS) and Sinzig (NASSO F) was also found. While Aachen-Schönforst and Sinzig were centers for the production of relief-decorated Terra Sigillata in the Lower Germanic province, this was particularly true for Rheinzabern in Upper Germania.