Overview

The Schwedenschanze is a polygonal wall enclosure surrounded by a ditch that probably dates back to a Celtic settlement and could be considered part of the populated area, which extends from the Dommelberg to the East – overlooking the Rhine river – to this fortified location, which overlooks the Mosel river.  This location gets its name based on the fact that people were hiding within the confines of this structure from roaming and deserting troops during the 30 year war (1618-48).

Location

N 50,19.499, E7,33.597, Elevation 214 m above sea level

Description

The Schwedenschanze is a rectangular or pentangular stone mound enclosure, which is oriented according to the topographic shape of the surrounding landscape slightly to the North-North-West. At the Northwestern side there is a small opening between the mounds.  There is a Northern extension of the mound that parallels the path along the Mosel river heights.

The term Schwedenschanze refers to the use of a fortified area to escape from roaming soldiers during the 30 year war (1618-48).  This term does not accurately reflect the original use of this facility.  In fact, the origin of the fortification walls go much further back, probably during the time of the Early Latène (about 350 BC) period.

Based on some GPS measurements, it appears that the structure of some polygonal shape wit a major North-East South-West axis, which follows the topography of the landscape.  The entrance to the structure is located at the North-West end of the enclosure and corresponds to the GPS measurement: N 50,19.499, E7,33.597.  The South-West contains various cone-shaped elevation that intrude into the center of the structure as far as 5-10 meters (the 4 gray dots on the South-West show the apex of these elevations).  The Northern-most point within the structure shows the location of the series of digital pictures that were generated to create a 360 degree panoramic view.

This enables the individuals dwelling in this location to be able to quickly identify intruders.  On the East side, just above the ridge of a small elevation is the Brueckenbach, which provides year-round water .

The side length of the mound is between 32 and 39 meters, which encloses an area of approximately 1000 m².  The North-South axis is slightly longer than the East-West.  The Southern part of the enclosure is slightly elevated.

The base of the enclosure consists of layers of tightly compacted gravel.

Context

These polygonally shaped mounds are found in many areas of Germany (a scientific description of one example can be found here.

Speculation

It is likely that during the Latène period wooden poles were mounted on top of the stone wall, which formed part of what has been called the “celtic wall”, a combination of weaved wooden branches, poles and rocks, which were used as fillers and to structurally enhance this type of fortification (an example reconstruction can be found here.

There is still today an open non-forested area to the South of the enclosure, which – because it is fairly level - may have been used for agricultural purposes.

The enclosure is located along a path that probably dates back to a pre-Roman route along Western extensions of the Hunsrück following the winding course of the Mosel river all the way to Trier and beyond.

References