The circular rampart of Burg (German: ''Ringwall von Burg'') is a defensive work from the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

period located near the German town of

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. The site, dating roughly to the 10th century and located in an inaccessible area of marsh by the River Fuhse, probably acted as a refuge for the local population (against Viking or

Slav Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

attacks). Today this circular embankment belongs to one of the most important Early Middle Age historical monuments in Celle.

Location

The circular rampart at Burg is located in the Celle suburb of Altencelle, several hundred metres west of the settlement of Burg. It is easily accessed via an improved road and a field track. Formerly this defensive work lay on a

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

in the middle of the wide, flat valley of the Fuhse. At that time the river ran northwards past the ''Burg'', because another rampart was built to the south of the circular rampart with ditches in front of it. Today the river flows southwards past the site.

Description

In spite of the surrounding land being cultivated in past centuries the almost perfectly circular rampart, 70 to 85 metres in diameter whose interior covers about , is well preserved. It still retains its original height of 3 metres. The rampart was made of

plaggen Plaggen soil or plaggic anthrosol is a type of soil created in parts of northwest Europe in the Middle Ages, as a result of so-called "plaggen" agriculture on marginal podzol soils. In order to fertilize the fields, pieces of heath or grass includ ...

, turves cut from peat bogs. In front of it to the south, facing the direction of attack, is a dry V-shaped ditch ('' Spitzgraben''), 2 m deep and 6 m wide. Between the rampart and the ditch is a

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/ separation ...

. The ditch was crossed by an earth bridge that led to the only entrance on the eastern side of the rampart. This is still visible today as a break in the embankment. To the north protection was afforded by the River Fuhse which, at that time, was about 50 m from the position. A flight of stone steps has been built for visitors today leading to the top of the rampart. Stones have also been laid at the foot of the rampart in recent times. In front of the rampart is an information tablet with an explanation of the historical significance of the site.

Excavations

The first archaeological investigation was undertaken in 1906 by the archaeologist,

Carl Schuchhardt Carl Schuchhardt (August 6, 1859 – December 7, 1943) was a German archaeologist and museum director. For many years, he was the director of the pre-historic department of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. He was involved in numerous excavations ...

, who cut through the embankment profile. This confirmed that the embankment had been built purely from

, no remains of old wooden reinforcements being found. A second dig took place between 1935 and 1936 carried out by the historian, Ernst Sprockhoff. He cleared a good third of the interior of the rampart. This revealed post sockets which suggest that there were three buildings inside the site immediately next to the embankment. They would appear to be a 20 x 7 m hall, a secondary building and a barn. The entrance in the rampart was discovered, comprising an entrance passageway with wooden posts on either side and measuring 3 x 5 m. Finds included individual shards of pottery, a rusted knife and several horseshoes. These dated the defensive position to the 10th century. The find indicated only a short period of settlement. Sites of similar construction were not uncommon on the plains and appeared from the 8th to the 12th century as refuges for the population. During the excavation stone age

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

s and fireplaces were also discovered. They indicated that the sand dune in the valley of the Fuhse had already been settled in the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

Adaptation

This well-preserved circular rampart gained renewed fame in the early 20th century, thanks to the novel ''Der Wehrwolf'' (''The Werewolf'') by

Hermann Löns Hermann Löns (29 August 1866 – 26 September 1914) was a German journalist and writer. He is most famous as "The Poet of the Heath" for his novels and poems celebrating the people and landscape of the North German moors, particularly the L ...

. Löns was inspired by the rampart site and set parts of his work at this location during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

. According to the novel, marauders and other warring groups passed through the land and plundered the farms of the heath farmers. The farming folk retreated to the old refuge. According to Löns' novel they fortified the site and built houses within its interior. One day they defended themselves successfully against an attack by Swedish ''

Landsknecht The (singular: , ), also rendered as Landsknechts or Lansquenets, were Germanic mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front lin ...

s'' ( pikemen with supporting infantry).

References

* Ralf Busch: ''Die Burg in Altencelle: ihre Ausgrabung und das historische Umfeld'', Celle, 1990, {{Coord, 52.585268, N, 10.091586, E, type:landmark_region:DE-NI, display=title

Burg The German word Burg means castle. Burg or Bürg may refer to: Places Placename element * ''-burg'', a combining form in Dutch, German and English placenames * Burg, a variant of burh, the fortified towns of Saxon England Settlements * Burg, Aar ...

Location

Description

Excavations

Adaptation

See also

References