Roman Watchtower 8/2

The rectangular stone tower, measuring 4.90 × 4.66 × 4.80 × 4.80 meters, was partially uncovered in 1880 by the antiquity-enthusiastic private scholar Karl Christ (1841–1927) and fully excavated in 1893 by Karl Schumacher (1860–1934) for the RLK. In 1970, it was re-exposed, surveyed, and re-conserved. The information from the ORL was fully confirmed. The original masonry, built in double-shell technique and 0.75 to 0.90 meters wide, was still preserved to an average height of 0.70 to 0.90 meters. The outer sides of the walls consisted of hand-hewn ashlar blocks of varying sizes. On the outside, a 0.5 to 0.10 meter wide plinth offset was visible. The interior was filled with mortared rubble stones. Inside the tower, the excavators of the Reichs-Limes-Kommission found small remnants of possibly two layers of fire adhering to the masonry stones. Besides pottery shards, a silver fibula from the 3rd century was found. The structure was surrounded by two rectangular ditches at a distance of 0.6 and 1.1 meters, respectively. The inner one was a steeply sloped palisade or fence ditch, the outer one a shallow drainage ditch. Unfortunately, during the renewed excavation by the State Forestry Office Walldürn, the tower interior was so thoroughly cleared down to the natural ground without prior archaeological investigation that a verification of the fire observations made by the RLK was no longer possible in 1970. However, individual fragments of handled jugs and pots could still be collected at that time. Approximately 17.40 meters from the eastern front of the tower, the RLK discovered the palisade ditch of the Limes.