Oppida Europa

18/12/2021

05/01/2021

Cheslé or Tcheslé de Bérisménil, located in the Belgian commune of La Roche-en-Ardenne in the province of Luxembourg, is the second most extensive Celtic oppidum known to date in the country after Tranchée des Portes in Etalle.
Culminating on a rocky promontory 80 meters above the Ourthe, the fortification extends over a plateau 725 m long and 290 m wide and with an area of ​​13 hectares. The Celtic camp is surrounded by a double wall made of earth, shale and wood that stretches over 1,750 meters and which was remarkably improved throughout the Celtic occupation. Between the 8th and 6th century BC, it probably does not know of long-term occupation but serves as a refuge for the inhabitants of neighboring villages.
Originally, access to the promontory was from the north side via a rocky outcrop. Later a wider and easier path was built a little further west of the spur. The site is protected to the east, south and west by the steep slopes of the deep valley of the Ourthe which forms a pronounced loop.
Since 1960, the site has been the subject of excavations and reconstruction of the ramparts. A reconstruction of the work was carried out by the National Excavation Service in 1980 and it gives an idea of ​​the ingenuity of this tribe and demonstrates the deterrent effect of the fortress vis-à-vis a possible invader.
Excavations undertaken by the Free University of Brussels studied the structure of the dam wall erected on the constriction of the loop to the north of the site, the most sensitive part of the fortification, opposing a wall some 6 meters high to any attack from the high plateau.
The site is listed as a major heritage site in Wallonia under the name of the Cheslé and Val de Ourthe archaeological site between Maboge and Nisramont.
The Cheslé is only accessible on foot and several marked trails touch the site. The discovery of the site can be done in half a day from the village of Bérisménil.
According to local popular tradition, this difficult-to-access site was the lair of all the elves.
The Legend of the Gatte d'Or reports that in a well located in the center of Cheslé lies a fabulous treasure that comes to the surface every year on Christmas Day when the bells ring the twelve strokes of midnight mass. Whoever wants to grab it must throw a black hen into the abyss and grab the chest without saying a word. Three peasants who tried the experiment but voiced their success too loudly are gone forever.

Source: Wikipedia
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Cheslé

25/09/2020

BRAUNSBERG OPPIDUM, Haimburg an der Donau.

05/09/2020

Medium-sized castro, ca. 70 x 40 m, located at 552 meters above sea level and facing northwest-southeast. The place is easily accessible, from the same town of Fresno at 400 m. The town was located in the shape of a spur, with artificial defenses on the Northwest slope, and the rest of the slopes defended in a natural way. These artificial defenses consist of up to 4 pits of different dimensions:
-First outer pit: 5 m wide and 1.5 m deep.
-Second pit: 4 m wide and 4 m deep.
-Third pit: 2 m wide and 2 m deep.
-Fourth pit: 3 m wide and 5 m deep.

The three intermediate buttresses are an average of three meters high. It has an immediate environment of mostly agricultural uses.

Source: Los astures y el poblamiento castreño en Asturias (2015)
Fanjul Peraza, Alfonso
https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/tesis?codigo=45802

30/08/2020

Oppidum Uetliberg was a La Tène era oppidum located near the top of the hill Uetliberg in what is now the Swiss canton of Zurich (Stallikon municipality, just outside the city of Zurich).

It is one of the most important Iron Age fortifications in Switzerland, dating the very early La Tène or the late Hallstatt period (c. 500 BC). Early excavations on the Üetliberg were made in the 1830s and 1860s. A 5th century BC burial field was destroyed when the Üetliberg railway was built in 1874.

The fortified area was at a height of between 820 and 873 metres above sea level, surrounded by a system of earth walls extending to a maximal width of up to 2 km. Outside the settlement area the so-called Fürstengrab Sonnenbühl, a rich burial of a 5th-century BC female. The toponym Uetliberg itself may continue the Celtic name of the site, although its exact derivation remains uncertain.

The top of mount Uetliberg was settled from at least the Neolithic, amply documented in a total of some 60,000 small finds, the oldest artefacts dating to about 4000 BC. There was a village-like settlement on the site by the late Bronze Age (Urnfield culture). The fortifications were built in the 5th century BC, corresponding to the early Celtic culture which would emerge as the Helvetii in Roman ethnography of the 1st century BC. The walls had a height of up to 14 m and a width of up to 35 m, enclosing a large settlement on the slope, with two inner rings of fortifications protecting the core areas, one at Aegerten–Plateau (now the site of the Üetliberg television tower), the other at Uto Kulm (now the site of the look-out tower). The fortifications presumably remained in use for more than four centuries, until the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppidum_Uetliberg

09/08/2020

The oppidum of Salm
The stronghold of Gros-Thier which dominates the course of the Salm was surveyed in 1975 in Vielsalm-Salm-Château. Protected on two sides by a bent stone vallum preceded by a moat and on the other two by enormous impassable cliffs, this fortification of one and a half hectares was dated by radiocarbon to around 410 BC, i.e. beginning of La Tène.

The perched fortress of Gros-Thier
(Salmchâteau-Vielsalm)

On the territory of Salmchâteau, locality of the entity of Vielsalm, a prehistoric triangular fortress dominates the heights of Gros-Thier (545 m). The western side of the triangle was defended by the court of Glain, 180 meters below, and a steep ravine descending to the bed of the river, the other sides by two artificial ramparts arranged in V. The tower of the walls was 404 m of long, natural line overlooking the ravine. 240 m. The wall was 1.75 m high and 10 to 14 m wide. It was perhaps reinforced at the time by a wooden and wicker parapet. At the base of the unbroken rampart was a 1.20m deep ditch. The total area of ​​the bastion was 1.5 ha. The angle joining the two sides was 115 °.

Source:
http://samiotsunjour-samiotstoujours.e-monsite.com
http://ardwenna.e-monsite.com/pages/pierres-de-l-ardenne-belge/les-hauts-plateaux/region-de-vielsalm/salmchateau.html

19/07/2020

On the northwestern outskirts of Linz is the 1500 m long and 400 m wide ridge of the Gründberg. It reaches a maximum height of 546 m asl. To the west it falls steeply to the Höllbachgraben and to the east to the Haselgraben and is therefore naturally fortified. On the unprotected north side, two ramparts were built that split the mountain in two.
In 1911 the first mention of the mountain was made by L. Benesch, who also presented a first overview plan. In addition to the ramparts, a pincer gate, lying in the eastern area, was described. The first excavations were carried out in 1937 by F. Stroh and L. Franz. They examined the structure of the wall and also made numerous search cuts inside the system. The systematic investigation of the ramparts followed from 1994.
On the easily accessible north side, the Gründberg is secured by two section walls (north and south walls). The more recent investigations were able to show a dry stone wall, which on the inside showed niches for a wooden structure at a distance of approximately 2.5 m and 0.40 m. This wooden structure supported the wall and was built up into a ramp using earth. As early as 1911, a pincer gate was observed in the north of the plant.
So far, no information is available on the interior.
Four iron depots excavated in 1998, which were found directly behind the blind wall or in the fall of the stone wall, are sensational. They were brought in during the construction of the fortification and are probably to be regarded as victims of the construction. A total of 44 objects were recovered, the individual depots are composed in a variety of ways: in addition to tools (hammers, forging tongs, hook anvils) and wheel fittings, there are weapons (swords, lance shoes, three-spit), equipment (stove shovel, kettle hook, roasting spit, meat fork) and iron bars.
The Gründberg lies on a route that connects the foothills of the Alps with South Bohemia and on which the well-known localities Třísov, Závist and Stradonice are located.

Superficie : 60 ha
Relative chronology: LT D1, LT D2
Occupation of the site: La Tène finale (LT D)

Source: http://www.oppida.org

13/07/2020

The Rhine describes a mighty double loop a few kilometers below the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen. On the right bank it encompasses the approximately 233 ha peninsula "Schwaben" near Altenburg, on the left bank opposite the approximately 85 ha peninsula with the town of Altenburg.
The two peninsulas Altenburg and Rheinau are shielded from their hinterland by powerful fortifications. Near Altenburg, the more than 750 m long, straight wall "Schanz" blocks access to the "Swabia", the left bank peninsula is blocked off by the "Celtic ditch".
On the German side, the "Schanz" wall has no old interruptions, but a gate system is suspected in the northern end of the wall, which has not yet been investigated. The previous investigations in Rheinau, Switzerland, suggest that the gate at the narrowest point, now overbuilt by a modern street, was lying.
The knowledge about the interior construction is poor. An irregular building with small houses was observed on the German side, on the Swiss side up to now 10 to 11 houses with a maximum size of 6.50 x 4.50 m could be identified.
Nevertheless, there is numerous evidence of manual work. In addition to iron and nonferrous metal processing, the manufacture of glass is documented. Pottery ovens prove ceramic production. The production of coins underlines the importance of the site.
The analysis of the primer spectrum speaks for a start of settlement in Altenburg in early Lt D1. The differences in the range of coins and primers then indicate a shift in the focus of the settlement from Altenburg to Rheinau in Latène D2. The curly fibulae form the youngest fibula category.
It is currently not possible to determine whether the two settlements existed side by side or a short hiatus.

Source: http://www.oppida.org

12/07/2020

LA TRANCHÉE DES PORTES

The Trench of Doors covers an area of 100 hectares. It is the largest Iron Age fortress in Belgium (it would take 200 football fields to cover this area). This development required an abundant workforce.
The construction and maintenance of the rampart suggests a well-organized social entity. Unlike Montauban, which is occupied on an ad hoc basis, the Trench of Doors is not a refuge but an oppidum, that is to say a fortified site where one settles for the long term with his cattle and his crops.

It is a fortification which owes its name to the deep ditch (5 m) which precedes its rampart. Made up of a levee of more than 3 m formerly surmounted by a palisade, this dam, pierced with three gates, extends over more than 1 km. This type of defense site is called a barred spur. It was often used in the protohistoric era (Iron Age). We chose a place with two or three abrupt and almost impassable sides and we barred (prevented) its access by building a wall on the vulnerable side with what we found on the site (stones, trees, earth).

Who occupied it?

It was occupied for two periods. In the Iron Age the Gauls raised the dam around the 6th century BC. AD and occupied the fortress from the 5th and 4th centuries until the 1st century AD Excavations revealed human and animal bones, cut flint,
ceramic as well as an incineration burial (a pyre).

The fortification does not seem to have been abandoned. Its occupation continues without apparent transition by the Gallo-Romans present from the 1st to the 3rd century. During this period of peace, the unused rampart did not require new developments. The
remains found from a Gallo-Roman settlement and outbuildings along the ramparts testify to the agricultural activity of the population. We discovered pottery, metallic household utensils such as a grill and a ploughshare, coins and
jewelry. Located not far from the Roman roadway Reims-Trêves, near the Relais d'Etalle, this place was to favor the distribution of the products that its inhabitants cultivated there. It is likely that its occupation ceased at the end of the third century before the threat of Germanic invasions. Its inhabitants then sought shelter in refuges similar to that of Montauban.

How was the rampart built?

Archaeological excavations undertaken between 1980 and 1985 have revealed three successive states of the Gallic rampart.

PHASE I: the first rampart was about 2 m high by 4 m wide. His forehead was made up of logs placed horizontally and held by thin stakes driven into the ground. The earth extracted during the digging of the ditch was piled up behind this palisade.

PHASE II: in order to reinforce the wall, a second palisade was raised 2 meters in front of the first, thus bringing its width to 7 m and its height to 2.50 m. Its construction was much more solid than the first.

PHASE III: a third reworking brought the width of the rampart to 15 m for a height of 3.3 m. This time, an external stone covering was put in place to once again reinforce the solidity of the rampart. This dry stone facing was maintained
by vertically driven wooden stakes.

Source: soleildegaume.be