European Archaeological Park of Bliesbruck-Reinheim

The European Archaeological Park Bliesbruck - Reinheim (French: Parc Archéologique Européen de Bliesbruck - Reinheim ) in the Saarland community Gersheim, the district clean home, and in the French community Bliesbruck in Moselle is a cross-border project that excavations and reconstructions of both Celtic and Roman finds with exhibition and training rooms together. It was created in 1989 from the both sides of the German - French border were carried out archaeological investigations. Along with excavation evidence from Mesolithic, Bronze Age and the time of the Germanic peoples hike show the Iron Age Celtic and Roman, and early medieval finds and features a continuous settlement of about 10,000 years in the valley of the Assemblies.

Sponsorship and financial support

The European Archaeological Park is jointly operated by the General Council of the French département of Moselle and the Saar- Pfalz-Kreis. Further financial support, the project gains by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Saarland, as well as by the community Gersheim. Mentor and founder of the European Cultural Park was the late entrepreneur Jean Schaub from Sarreguemines, which bought the first of the cultural park owned land from his private fortune to save them from the building, and so to save the evidence from the Roman past before the final destruction.

Findings and excavations

• Hoard from the 8th century BC, discovered in 1964 in a clean home. Similar types of hoards throughout the Saar- Mosel- space indicate a cultic significance of such depositions during the urnfield time.
• Princesses grave of clean home was provided with an exceptionally rich grave goods woman's grave from the 4th century BC. The grave chamber of oak beams (3.50 mx 3 mx 1.20 m) with a huge mound of earth (20 mx 4.60 m ) covered. Excavation in 1954 by Alfons Kolling. Originally, there were, as determined in follow-up 1956-1957, there are three grave hills, of which the princesses grave was even the smallest. The diameter of the other two hills was 22 and 36.5 meters. All three peaks were originally surrounded by circular ditches of 0.6 to 1.2 meters. Over the last two millennia of erosion and peasant Erdbearbeitung meant that the three grave mounds were a single two meters high ground wave, which was called in the population of the neighboring villages Katzenbuckel. In 1952, the entrepreneur John Schiel found in the sand and gravel mining in one meter depth an incomplete skeleton, later identified as male, and as grave goods still only a simple bronze choker and potsherds. 1954 met the entrepreneur when digging with a shovel on a bronze object, which was later interpreted as a figurative designed handle of a bronze mirror. Since John Schiel reported the find at the State Conservation Office, was the beginning of March 1954, a professional excavation be made, at a depth of 2.18 meters to the discovery of the first grave goods, including the " Reinheimer pot " with the " Reinheimer horse on the third Grabungstag " the very rich princesses tomb led.
• Double body grave from the 4th century BC in about 2000 meters Distance to princesses grave in Won Horres. This grave contains two children's skeletons with rich grave goods, probably about a twelve - to fourteen- year-old girl and a ten to eleven year old boy. The skeletons of the two children have been largely preserved in the limestone bottom of the Bliesgau. The two children had grown very large with 1.45 m and 1.34 m and 1.39 m between for their time, which suggests fairly well on a good diet and a life. The excavation was carried out in 2005.
• Vicus ( small-town Gallo- Roman settlement ) of Bliesbruck in France
• The Roman Villa in clean home was already in the early 19th century the subject of preliminary excavations, but is systematically excavated and explored only since 1987. It is a very large courtyard, whose walled courtyard area was 300 Mater long and 135 meters wide and its main building was almost 80 times 62 feet tall in the north. A part of the building in the northern area of the west wing is due to the conditioning of the rooms, the discovery of water channels and fragments of tubular bricks ( ( tubules ) that the presence of a floor heating system ( hypocaust ) prove ) is interpreted as gutseigene spa. The timing of the founding of the manor in which the Celtic tribe of the Mediomatrici populated and 50 BC by the Romans conquered territory is still unclear. Your greatest extent reached the manor in the first half of the 3rd century. After the first destruction in the 3rd century, a period of reconstruction followed. The fire destruction that followed no more reconstruction took place in the 4th century. Findings, however, indicate that there was a weak settlement in the west wing of the main building in the second half of the 4th century. The best known Find of the excavation is the rider mask 2000 found near an outbuilding of Rheinheim. This formed a human face iron mask was covered with sheet bronze, probably served as a movable visor of a helmet of a Roman cavalry riders. About 110 of these impressive masks have been reported worldwide found.
• Frankish burial ground from the Merovingian time. This salvaged from 1974 to 1986 burial ground contained about 115 burials.
• Adel grave on the hill Homerich from the Merovingian time (second half of the 7th century AD ) with associated pit, in which four decapitated horses and two dogs were buried. Discovered in the winter of 2007 /08.
• In addition to continuing excavations of the villa and Vicus archaeologists to focus on finding the suspected because of the princesses tomb near princely seat on one of the neighboring mountain ranges, including test excavations are carried out (2006).

Visit

On the German side there is a small museum in the exemplary finds and find duplicates is shown from the entire finding period. Also located on the site of a very impressive walk-in reconstruction of the tomb and princesses of the most valuable finds from the grave. In the western area of ​​some wooden buildings are built after Celtic models. The great Roman estate is of a panoramic hill from the bottom of foundations easy to read. This prestigious gatehouse and one of the 12 outbuildings in the area of ​​Hofareals were reconstructed. The most original finds are located in the Saarland Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Saarbrücken

On the French side are covered and partly reconstructed the Baths of Gallo-Roman town that are well explained by panels. The shopping street of the town is well illustrated by the exposed foundations and some basement as well as a stretch of road well recognizable and bilingual panels. Reconstructed for museum educational purposes is a mill and an oven. Newly created is a small garden with typical crops of time.

The entire park is very picturesque in Bliestal and is well suited for walks.

Reenactment

In collaboration with the scientists and the park a group of citizens has been working since 2004 under the name AREGALLIA the Celtic way of life and equipment of the early La Tène period (La Tène A, ca 475-370 ) to reconstruct. In the foreground of the representations antique and crafts from the tablet weaving stands up to the forging of Celtic artefacts. Based on scientific findings crafts and lifestyle of the Celts can be presented graphically. The group presents year after year in the park and as a guest at other events out its findings on Celtic life

Figures on Cultural Park

The cultural park covers an area of approximately 1200 by 600 meters. Use per year, about 40,000 interested visitors the offer of the archaeological site, including approximately 20,000 students per year.