Alcimoennis
Encyclopedia
Alcimoennis was a Celt
ic Oppidum
, or hill fort
, located on the Michelsberg hill, dominating the peninsula
between the Danube
and Altmühl
rivers in northern Bavaria
, Germany
, above the modern city of Kelheim
.
Although the peninsula has been more or less constantly inhabited since 13,000 BCE, the city as the Celts built it was founded around 500 BCE and abandoned again some time before Roman
arrival in the area during the 1st century BCE. It is only identified once in historical documentation, namely in the copious works of the Greek geographer Ptolemy
, who left us only the name and location of the city. Who exactly inhabited the city is also unclear. It appears to have been the central city for an unknown tribe, possibly a sub-tribe of the Vindelici centered in the nearby (and equally impressive) Oppidum of Manching
.
and Danube
. There is an inner defensive line enclosing 60 ha
near the confluence, then a long outer rampart enclosing an enormous area of 630 ha
, making it the largest Celt
ic settlement by land area. The defences also ran along the gentle bank of the river Altmühl
north of the city for a total of over 10 km. There were four gates in the wall with wooden gatehouses.
Cliffs and steep slopes then protected the south-eastern side of the settlement along the Danube. A small promontory fort
on the southern bank of the Danube
, near the later Monastery of Weltenburg, has a series of short linear ramparts protecting a settlement in the bend of a meander
. This is aligned with the end of the outer rampart on the far bank, dominating traffic on the river.
It would have taken at least 50 workers at least 70 years to build such a wall, evidence of the size and economic importance this settlement must have attained. Two 3 km stretches of the wall crossing the Danube-Altmühl peninsula are still clearly visible today.
The walls were built of thick timber
ed grids that were then filled with stone and earth and reinforced to the rear with a wide earth ramp. Kelheim
has given its name to the pfostenschlitzmauer
style of rampart construction characterized by vertical wooden posts set into the stone facing.
in the early 19th century, the Bavarian King Louis I
built a monumental "Liberation Hall" directly over the settlement's remains. During the same period, the construction of the King Louis Main-Danube canal through the Altmühl river valley destroyed the surviving bits of the northern wall as well as any evidence of the waterfront activities the city engaged in.
- and Iron-age
graveyards dot the woods around Alcimoennis, and likely house deceased residents of the city itself. Despite their frequency, the graves are far too few to house the many inhabitants the city once had, which indicates that the city normally used alternative means of interment such as cremation for the majority of residents and reserved burial for important members of society. These graveyards have been the source of many astounding discoveries, including many impeccably preserved and elaborately decorated urn
s and the Steer of Michelsberg, a bronze
figurine
in the shape of a steer from around 200 BCE. Most of the known graveyards consist of groups of 1 to 2 meter high grave mounds that are still quite visible today, notably around the nearby village of Altessing.
. The surrounding soil contains large concentrations of iron, and the thick forest
s on all sides delivered adequate fuel for the smelting
process. The landscape to the west of the settlement is literally covered in pock marks left by shallow mine
shafts. The valleys around the city contained vast fields for farming as well as livestock, most notably swine. Fishing
probably played an important role in every day life.
tribe which moved in from the north. This nearly destroyed the Vindelici as a people and left their infrastructure in a shambles. In 15 BCE the Romans defeated and incorporated what remained of the Vindelici tribe and the area south of Arcimoenis became the province of Raetia
. The so-called Devils Wall that ran the length of the Roman Limis ran straight through the ruins of the city, yet the Romans never made a single mention of it in their meticulous records, indicating total abandonment before their arrival. There is significant evidence that even though the city was abandoned, the life in the hinterland continued undisturbed. The iron mines did not cease work until the 10th century. The burials continued without pause, the only change being that the inhabitants interred remains in the Roman tradition.
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic Oppidum
Oppidum
Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...
, or hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
, located on the Michelsberg hill, dominating the peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
between the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
and Altmühl
Altmühl
The Altmühl is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Danube and is approximately 230 km in length.The source of the Altmühl is located close to the city of Ansbach. From here the river runs southeastwards as a narrow brook to enter the Altmühlsee north of Gunzenhausen...
rivers in northern Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, above the modern city of Kelheim
Kelheim
Kelheim is a municipality in Bavaria, capital of the district Kelheim. It is situated at the confluence of Altmühl and Danube. As of June 30, 2005, the town had a population of 15,667....
.
Although the peninsula has been more or less constantly inhabited since 13,000 BCE, the city as the Celts built it was founded around 500 BCE and abandoned again some time before Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
arrival in the area during the 1st century BCE. It is only identified once in historical documentation, namely in the copious works of the Greek geographer Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
, who left us only the name and location of the city. Who exactly inhabited the city is also unclear. It appears to have been the central city for an unknown tribe, possibly a sub-tribe of the Vindelici centered in the nearby (and equally impressive) Oppidum of Manching
Oppidum of Manching
The Oppidum of Manching was a large Celtic proto-urban or city-like settlement at modern-day Manching , Bavaria . The settlement was founded in the 3rd century BC and existed until c. 50-30 BC. It reached its largest extent during the late La Tène period , when it had a size of 380 hectares...
.
Walls
The most visible surviving evidence of the city are its walls. The ramparts were 11 m wide and 2 m high, crossing the promontory between the rivers AltmühlAltmühl
The Altmühl is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Danube and is approximately 230 km in length.The source of the Altmühl is located close to the city of Ansbach. From here the river runs southeastwards as a narrow brook to enter the Altmühlsee north of Gunzenhausen...
and Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. There is an inner defensive line enclosing 60 ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
near the confluence, then a long outer rampart enclosing an enormous area of 630 ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
, making it the largest Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic settlement by land area. The defences also ran along the gentle bank of the river Altmühl
Altmühl
The Altmühl is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Danube and is approximately 230 km in length.The source of the Altmühl is located close to the city of Ansbach. From here the river runs southeastwards as a narrow brook to enter the Altmühlsee north of Gunzenhausen...
north of the city for a total of over 10 km. There were four gates in the wall with wooden gatehouses.
Cliffs and steep slopes then protected the south-eastern side of the settlement along the Danube. A small promontory fort
Promontory fort
A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus utilizing the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to date to the Iron Age...
on the southern bank of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
, near the later Monastery of Weltenburg, has a series of short linear ramparts protecting a settlement in the bend of a meander
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
. This is aligned with the end of the outer rampart on the far bank, dominating traffic on the river.
It would have taken at least 50 workers at least 70 years to build such a wall, evidence of the size and economic importance this settlement must have attained. Two 3 km stretches of the wall crossing the Danube-Altmühl peninsula are still clearly visible today.
The walls were built of thick timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
ed grids that were then filled with stone and earth and reinforced to the rear with a wide earth ramp. Kelheim
Kelheim
Kelheim is a municipality in Bavaria, capital of the district Kelheim. It is situated at the confluence of Altmühl and Danube. As of June 30, 2005, the town had a population of 15,667....
has given its name to the pfostenschlitzmauer
Pfostenschlitzmauer
Pfostenschlitzmauer is a method of constructing defensive walls protecting Iron Age hillforts and oppida in Central Europe, including Bavaria and the Czech Republic. It is characterized by vertical wooden posts set into the front stone facing. The rampart is constructed from a timber lattice...
style of rampart construction characterized by vertical wooden posts set into the stone facing.
The settlement
Very little remains of the settlement itself; stone construction was foreign to the Celts and their thatched-roofed wood structures have mostly disappeared over time. What we still have are the foundations of a few smaller structures (probably domiciles) and of a larger social, religious and defensive structure (viereckschanze). What appears to be a sacrificial altar has also been found. What nature did not bury human hands destroyed. Following his victory over the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the early 19th century, the Bavarian King Louis I
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...
built a monumental "Liberation Hall" directly over the settlement's remains. During the same period, the construction of the King Louis Main-Danube canal through the Altmühl river valley destroyed the surviving bits of the northern wall as well as any evidence of the waterfront activities the city engaged in.
Graveyards
Numerous BronzeBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
- and Iron-age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
graveyards dot the woods around Alcimoennis, and likely house deceased residents of the city itself. Despite their frequency, the graves are far too few to house the many inhabitants the city once had, which indicates that the city normally used alternative means of interment such as cremation for the majority of residents and reserved burial for important members of society. These graveyards have been the source of many astounding discoveries, including many impeccably preserved and elaborately decorated urn
Urn
An urn is a vase, ordinarily covered, that usually has a narrowed neck above a footed pedestal. "Knife urns" placed on pedestals flanking a dining-room sideboard were an English innovation for high-style dining rooms of the late 1760s...
s and the Steer of Michelsberg, a bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
figurine
Figurine
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the creator. The earliest were made of stone or clay...
in the shape of a steer from around 200 BCE. Most of the known graveyards consist of groups of 1 to 2 meter high grave mounds that are still quite visible today, notably around the nearby village of Altessing.
Economics
Economically, the Alcimoennis thrived on ironIron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
. The surrounding soil contains large concentrations of iron, and the thick forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s on all sides delivered adequate fuel for the smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
process. The landscape to the west of the settlement is literally covered in pock marks left by shallow mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
shafts. The valleys around the city contained vast fields for farming as well as livestock, most notably swine. Fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
probably played an important role in every day life.
Abandonment
The abandonment of the city remains a mystery. There is no evidence that it saw a violent end. The layers of ash, remains of victims, and general chaos evident at places abandoned after a battle are absent. If the supposition that Alcimoennis belonged to the Vindelici is correct, then the city may have been abandoned after war with the Germanic MarcomanniMarcomanni
The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri, Suebi or Suevi.-Origin:Scholars believe their name derives possibly from Proto-Germanic forms of "march" and "men"....
tribe which moved in from the north. This nearly destroyed the Vindelici as a people and left their infrastructure in a shambles. In 15 BCE the Romans defeated and incorporated what remained of the Vindelici tribe and the area south of Arcimoenis became the province of Raetia
Raetia
Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria...
. The so-called Devils Wall that ran the length of the Roman Limis ran straight through the ruins of the city, yet the Romans never made a single mention of it in their meticulous records, indicating total abandonment before their arrival. There is significant evidence that even though the city was abandoned, the life in the hinterland continued undisturbed. The iron mines did not cease work until the 10th century. The burials continued without pause, the only change being that the inhabitants interred remains in the Roman tradition.