European Archaeological Park of Bliesbruck-Reinheim
Encyclopedia
The European Archaeological Park at Bliesbruck-Reinheim, in the German municipality
of Gersheim
(Saarland
) and the French municipality
of Bliesbruck (Départment Moselle
), is a cross-border project which combines excavations and reconstructions of Celt
ic and Roman
finds with exhibition and educational facilities. It was created in 1989 as a result of the archaeological work being done on both sides of the Franco-German border. Together with archaeological evidence from the Mesolithic
Period, the Bronze Age
, and the period of the Germanic migrations
, the Celtic and Roman finds from the Iron Age
bear witness to a history of continuous settlement in the Blies
Valley spanning a period of 10,000 years.
of Saarpfalz
. The project receives additional funding from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication
, from the German state
of Saarland
, and from the municipality of Gersheim
. The founder of the European Archaeological Park was the late Jean Schaub, an entrepreneur who used private assets to buy up the first tracts of land belonging to the park, protecting them from development and thus saving the relics of the Roman past for posterity.
.
On the French side are the partially reconstructed thermal baths of the Gallo-Roman town, now sheltered by a roof and accompanied by helpful information plaques. The town's street of shops is easily recognizable from its exposed foundations and cellars, as well as a portion of the street, with clear information displayed in French, German and English. There are reconstructions of a mill and baking oven, used for educational purposes. A recent addition is a garden containing plants that were typically considered useful at the time.
The entire park lies in the picturesque Blies Valley and provides a beautiful setting for walks.
" has, since 2002, been endeavouring to recreate the Celtic way of life with its accoutrements from the early La Tène
Period (La Tène A, c. 475 to 370 BC). They feature demonstrations of ancient crafts ranging from tablet weaving
to the forging of Celtic utilitarian objects. Basing their activity on scientific research, they then present these crafts and ways of life graphically. This group offers a re-enactment of its knowledge of Celtic life every year in the park, and receives invitations to participate in events at other venues as well.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
of Gersheim
Gersheim
Gersheim is a municipality in the Saarpfalz district, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the river Blies, approx. 15 km southwest of Zweibrücken, and 20 km southeast of Saarbrücken....
(Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
) and the French municipality
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
of Bliesbruck (Départment Moselle
Moselle
Moselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
), is a cross-border project which combines excavations and reconstructions of 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 and 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....
finds with exhibition and educational facilities. It was created in 1989 as a result of the archaeological work being done on both sides of the Franco-German border. Together with archaeological evidence from the Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
Period, the Bronze Age
Bronze 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 the period of the Germanic migrations
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
, the Celtic and Roman finds from the 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...
bear witness to a history of continuous settlement in the Blies
Blies
The Blies is a right tributary of the Saar River in south-western Germany and north-eastern France . The Blies flows from three springs in the Hunsrück mountains near Selbach, Germany. It is approximately 100 km long, ending in the French city of Sarreguemines...
Valley spanning a period of 10,000 years.
Management and funding
This European Archaeological Park is jointly operated by the of the French of Moselle and the German districtDistricts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
of Saarpfalz
Saarpfalz
Saarpfalz is a Kreis in the south-east of the Saarland, Germany. Neighboring districts are Saarbrücken, Neunkirchen, Kusel, Kaiserslautern, Südwestpfalz, district-free Zweibrücken, and the French département Moselle.-History:After the Treaty of Versailles, the Saar basin was placed under the...
. The project receives additional funding from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication
Minister of Culture (France)
The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and monuments; promoting and protecting the arts in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de culture"...
, from the German state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
, and from the municipality of Gersheim
Gersheim
Gersheim is a municipality in the Saarpfalz district, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the river Blies, approx. 15 km southwest of Zweibrücken, and 20 km southeast of Saarbrücken....
. The founder of the European Archaeological Park was the late Jean Schaub, an entrepreneur who used private assets to buy up the first tracts of land belonging to the park, protecting them from development and thus saving the relics of the Roman past for posterity.
Finds and excavations
- HoardHoardIn archaeology, a hoard is a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards may be uncovered by...
from the 8th century BC, discovered in 1964 in Reinheim. Similar types of hoards found in the greater Saar/Moselle region suggest that such repositories from the Urnfield cultureUrnfield cultureThe Urnfield culture was a late Bronze Age culture of central Europe. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns which were then buried in fields...
may have cult significance.
- The Tomb of the Celtic Princess of Reinheim, dating from the 4th century BC, is a woman's grave that was filled with exceptionally rich funerary objectsGrave goodsGrave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...
. The burial chamberChamber tombA chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one...
, constructed of oaken beams (3.5m x 3m x 1.2m) was covered over by a massive mound of earth (20m x 4.6m). It was excavated in 1954 by Alfons Kolling. Subsequent investigations in 1956-1957 revealed that originally there had been three burial mounds, of which the tomb of the princess was just the smallest. The other two mounds had diameters of 22 metres and 36.5 metres, respectively. All three mounds were surrounded by circular ditches of 0.6 metres and 1.2 metres. Over the course of the last two millennia, erosion and cultivation of the soil caused the barrows to smooth out into a single hump about 2 metres high, which neighbouring villagers referred to as the Katzenbuckel (cat's arched back). In 1952, while digging out sand and gravel, the entrepreneur Johannes Schiel found an incomplete skeleton, later identified as male, at a depth of one metre, along with only a simple bronze choker and pottery shards as funerary objects. While digging in 1954 the entrepreneur's shovel struck a bronze object that was later interpreted to be the handle of a bronze mirror in figurine form. The fact that Johannes Schiel reported the find to the government conservation authorities (Staatliches Konservatorenamt) meant that it was possible to commission a professional excavation, which commenced by the beginning of March, 1954. On the third day of work, excavators discovered, at a depth of 2.18 metres, the first funerary objects from the sumptuous Tomb of the Celtic Princess.
- A double tomb from the 4th century BC, located about 2000 metres away from the Tomb of the Celtic Princess. This tomb contains the skeletons of two children, thought to be a girl of about 15 years of age and a boy of about 14, together with rich funerary objects. The skeletons of both children were quite well preserved in the MuschelkalkMuschelkalkThe Muschelkalk is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic age and forms the middle part of the Germanic Trias, that further consists of the Buntsandstein and Keuper...
soil of the Blies River Valley. The children had grown to a height of 1.5 and 1.55 metres, very tall for their time, which leads to the conclusion that they were well nourished and lived in relative prosperity. The excavation took place in 2005.
- VicusVicus (Rome)In ancient Rome, the vicus was a neighborhood. During the Republican era, the four regiones of the city of Rome were subdivided into vici. In the 1st century BC, Augustus reorganized the city for administrative purposes into 14 regions, comprising 265 vici. Each vicus had its own board of...
(a provincial Gallo-Roman settlement) at Bliesbruck in France. The excavations consist of a western craftsmen's quarter of 14 buildings used for manufacturing and trade, a large public thermaeThermaeIn ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...
complex and an eastern quarter and forumForum (Roman)A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...
area which have yet to be fully excavated (2008).
- The Roman villaRoman villaA Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
in Reinheim. The first excavations go back as far as the early 19th century, but the villa has only been systematically excavated and researched since 1987. It is a very large complex which includes courtyard walls enclosing an area 300 metres long and 135 metres wide, and to the north there is a main building measuring almost 80 by 62 metres. One portion of the building in the north end of the west wing is thought to have been the villa's private thermal baths, due to the layout its rooms, as well as the discovery of water channels and fragments of cylindrical tiles (tubuli) attesting to the existence of under-floor heating (hypocaustHypocaustA hypocaust was an ancient Roman system of underfloor heating, used to heat houses with hot air. The word derives from the Ancient Greek hypo meaning "under" and caust-, meaning "burnt"...
). The exact date of the initial construction of the villa, located in an area that was settled by Mediomatrics, a Celtic tribe, and conquered by the Romans in 50 BC, is not yet known. The complex reached its greatest size in the first half of the 3rd century AD. Following the first wave of destruction in the 3rd century there was a period of reconstruction. It was destroyed by fire in the 4th century, after which it was never rebuilt. However, artefacts indicate that in the second half of the 4th century the west wing of the main building was again inhabited to some extent. The most famous artefact from the excavation is the Equestrian Mask of Reinheim, found in the year 2000 near one of the outbuildings. This bronze-plated iron mask, in the form of a human face, most likely served as a hinged visor on a Roman cavalryman's helmet. , 110 of these impressive masks have been found worldwide.
- FrankishFranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
burial ground from the Merovingian period. This burial ground, recovered in the years from 1974 to 1986, contained approximately 115 graves.
- In addition to ongoing excavations of the villa and the vicus, there is thought to be a prince's residence in the vicinity of the tomb of the princess, and archaeologists are also conducting exploratory excavations on the neighbouring heights in a concentrated effort to discover its location (2006).
Visiting the park
On the German side there is a small museum which exhibits a selection of artefacts and replicas representing the whole range of periods from which finds have been made. In addition, there is a very impressive walk-in reconstruction of the Tomb of the Celtic Princess, including the most valuable funerary artefacts. In the area to the west there are reconstructions of a few Celtic-style dwellings. From a viewing mound it is easy to make out the partially reconstructed foundations of the large Roman villa, while the main gatehouse and one of the outbuildings of the villa have been completely reconstructed. Most of the original artefacts are now in the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Protohistory) in SaarbrückenSaarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
.
On the French side are the partially reconstructed thermal baths of the Gallo-Roman town, now sheltered by a roof and accompanied by helpful information plaques. The town's street of shops is easily recognizable from its exposed foundations and cellars, as well as a portion of the street, with clear information displayed in French, German and English. There are reconstructions of a mill and baking oven, used for educational purposes. A recent addition is a garden containing plants that were typically considered useful at the time.
The entire park lies in the picturesque Blies Valley and provides a beautiful setting for walks.
Re-enactment
In collaboration with the experts and the park authorities, a group of citizens calling themselves "TaranisTaranis
In Celtic mythology Taranis was the god of thunder worshipped essentially in Gaul, the British Isles, but also in the Rhineland and Danube regions amongst others, and mentioned, along with Esus and Toutatis as part of a sacred triad, by the Roman poet Lucan in his epic poem Pharsalia as a Celtic...
" has, since 2002, been endeavouring to recreate the Celtic way of life with its accoutrements from the early La Tène
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
Period (La Tène A, c. 475 to 370 BC). They feature demonstrations of ancient crafts ranging from tablet weaving
Tablet weaving
Tablet Weaving is a weaving technique where tablets or cards are used to create the shed through which the weft is passed. The technique is limited to narrow work such as belts, straps, or garment trim....
to the forging of Celtic utilitarian objects. Basing their activity on scientific research, they then present these crafts and ways of life graphically. This group offers a re-enactment of its knowledge of Celtic life every year in the park, and receives invitations to participate in events at other venues as well.
The Archaeological Park in numbers
The park covers an area of approximately 1200 by 600 metres. Its archaeological sites attract about 40,000 visitors per year, including 20,000 schoolchildren.Film
- "Schätze des Landes" Bliesbruck-Reinheim und sein Europäischer Kultturpark. Im Tal der Keltenfürstin. ("Treasures of the Saarland" Bliesbruck-Reinheim and its European Archaeological Park. In the Valley of the Celtic Princess.) Documentary, 30 min. A film by Wolfgang Felk, produced by SWRSüdwestrundfunkThe Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...
, premiere broadcast on November 4, 2006.
External links
- bibliography
- official website
- press report by Saarländischer Rundfunk on the discovery of the double tomb
- Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Protohistory) in Saarbrücken: the artefacts, such as those from the Tomb of the Celtic Princess at Reinheim, are exhibited here]