Roman Watchtower 3/55

The Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes, with a length of 550 km, from Eining near Regensburg to Rheinbrohl on the Rhine, is the largest archaeological monument in Germany and has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Limes (Latin: border path/wall) refers to the border fortifications of the Roman Empire, which were erected towards the end of the 1st century AD.

This border was monitored by more than 900 towers, which were built in timber construction during the initial phase, starting around 80 AD. Stone towers followed, which were plastered from 150 AD onwards. Excavations have shown that the white plaster often had cracked joints, which were painted in terracotta. This created the impression of beautiful ashlar masonry.

Already documented by Rossel and Cohausen, the tower site of a wooden and a stone tower was investigated in 1894 by the commission under Jacobi.

The wooden tower was circularly surrounded by a 1.2 m deep, 12 m diameter ditch and an eight-meter-wide rampart. In the center of the complex, four large post holes, 1.2 m deep into the bedrock, formed a slightly irregular quadrangle with sides measuring 4.5 m to 5.0 m. The Limes wall cut through the northern half of the wooden tower site, while the palisade led in a wide arc around the tower.

The stone tower was located about 22 m southeast of the wooden tower. It had a square footprint with sides measuring 5.6 m. On the east side, the rising masonry had a thickness of 90 cm to 95 cm up to a height of about 1.4 m. It then stepped back on both the outside and the inside, thereby tapering to a thickness of 65 cm to 75 cm. On all other sides of the tower, however, the wall did not taper up to a maximum remaining height of two meters. In places, the white plaster, painted with red false joints, could still be found on the outside of the tower. On the north side, 25 cm above the rammed earth floor of the interior, there was a 75 cm wide entrance. The distance of the tower to the Limes wall was 21 m, and it was 32 m away from the palisade ditch.

The location of the tower site was optimally chosen. The view extended from there into the "Stannheimer Grund" and the upper "Erlenbachtal".