Dommelberg: A Settlement of the Urnfield and Late Hallstatt era |
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Overview Map of the Koblenz city forest, the blue rectangle marks the Dommelberg site. |
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Topographic Map of the Dommelberg Excavation Site |
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Composite Image of Wall #1 |
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Overall Description |
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(detailed description can be found at: H.E. Joachim, Der Dommelberg bei Koblenz. Eine befestigte Höhensiedlung der Urnenfelder- und Späthallstattzeit. Rhein. Ausgr. 17, 1976, 81-128) |
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Overview from the Dommelberg site |
The Dommelberg area to the south of Koblenz
is the site of a settlement, which
is located along the North-Eastern side of the
Hunsrück and dates back to the Late
Iron Age
during the so-called
Urnfield Culture. The settlement was strategically located at a
site, which affords an overview of the Rhine and Mosel as well as a view
into the valley of the Lahn river.
The site falls off rapidly towards the Rhine river but extends gradually into the higher elevations of the Hunsrück. Thus, the wall fortifications were mainly built towards the ascending heights of the Hunsrück. During excavations in 1936/37, three separate walls were found that concentrically surround the overview. |
Some historical remarks |
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Wall 1 Top |
The settlement was first occupied during the 10-11th century B.C. (Urnfield culture) and again during the 5-6th century B.C. (late Hallstatt or early La-Tene culture). It appears that the earlier settlement was not fortified. Subsequently, Walls #3 and #4 were erected first, which consisted of an earth mount supported on the outside by stone walls and were surrounded by ditches. |
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Ditch which separates dirt fortifications
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During a second building period, which
occurred during the 5-6th century B.C., wooden posts
were mounted on the decaying earth mounts and further fortified by rocks,
which can be seen in Wall #1 and #2.
During various excavation periods, a large gate area was found along Wall #4.
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Example of the wall structure, which was built of rocks. |
The settlement was finally abandoned
approximately 3rd century B.C. There were significant climatic
changes during the late Iron Age and the Hallstatt era. In
particular, temperature rose and with it, new settlement developed along
the Rhine and Mosel river. It is likely that this site was
abandoned because it did not provide favorable farming areas, which were
found along the extended banks of the Rhine and Mosel rivers.
This time is an example of extensive settlements of new areas and a development of new agricultural and craftsmen techniques. An important aspect of the development of new technologies was the need to obtain iron ore from the surrounding areas, which obviated the dependence of imports from the Mediterranean. There are numerous remnants of iron ore excavations in the forests surrounding Koblenz, however, their precise dating is difficult.
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[Exerpt] The Rhine Valley During Antiquityby Sigrid und Hans-Helmut WegnerOne of the special archaeological monuments of national importance is the fortified settlement on the Dommelberg near Koblenz. This ring embankment arrangement is situated across the mouth of the Lahn and enables control of the Rhine Valley where it opens from the narrow incision in the slate mountains and flows through a wide curve, the Medium Rhine depression of the Neuwieder basin. The area drops to the Rhine precipitously, but is easily accessible from the massif of the Hunsrück. Therefore, this is an ideal place for a fortified settlement: an embankment surrounds the south hilltop, three other embankments stretch around the northern cone. Archeological investigations of these height settlements we begun around the turn of the century by R. Bodewig from Lahnstein and in the 1930s by K. Wagner. During these excavations two extension phases were discovered as evidenced by the arrangement within the remains of the settlement: accordingly, there was a group of settlers already in the time of the outgoing Urnfield culture (11. - 10th century B.C.) and again during the Late Hallstatt and Early Latène period (6.-5-th century B.C.). A comprehensive embankment structure was built during the older settlement period. This first fortification was built of an earthwork with external stone wall and a deep ditch in front of it. It was destroyed in the course of the 5th century B.C. and was abandoned subsequently. In the second construction period the settlers built on top of the dilapidated earthworks stone walls with post stands and established another embankment. A small ditch can still be made out in front of the first embankment, which was possibly rebuilt during the second period. Within the embankment a noteworthy gate arrangement from post settlements was ascertained. During this later phase the Dommelberg was settled lastingly and functioned as a fortified settlement during the middle Iron Age and in the 6th to 5th century (Hallstatt D). According to the findings, the fortified settlement was abandoned in the 5th century B.C. Fire destroyed not only the gate arrangement in the embankment area but als other fortified arrangements in the surrounding area. The destruction of this settlement was probably due to wars between local groups. The structures inside the arrangement consisted of half-timbered houses whose posts have been partly pushed into the bedrock. The houses stood together in small groups. Sometimes cellar-like deepening was also trained in the slate rock. It is to be assumed from the fact that also this height settlement was inhabited permanently at least during the later phase of the populated period until the 5th century. |
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New Pictures of Dommelberg (Spring 2006) |
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