Murus Gallicus

Murus gallicus (Latin for " Gallic wall" ) is the trade name of archeology for a specific construction method of Gallic ( Celtic ) ramparts. The term goes to a contemporary description of such plants in " De Bello Gallico " by Gaius Julius Caesar back ( Caes. B Gall. VII, 23).

Construction

When Murus Gallicus is an architectural technique of building the wall that used mainly the Celts in antiquity for the construction of defense installations. Here, a framework of logs and beams was set up and filled the gaps with stones and debris.

The advantage of a defensive structure built in this way, was the stability against attackers who wanted to leave the plants with ramming. The lattice construction of the wall gave a toughness and stability that was superior to those of pure stone installations. While the stability of a solid - stone walls, which were connected to each other without mortar, the fact is that the load are mutually grip on short-range stones that guide the beams within the truss of Murus Gallicus the load on the longer range. This meant that even with larger local damage the wall did not collapse. So breaches were avoided, could penetrate the plant through the attacker.

What on the one hand, accounted for the stability of the fortress, led on the other side in the long term to maturity of defenses: Where the rotted wood construction, the wall fell in on itself and vanished into a stone wall of the infilled stone and rubble. So were all the fortifications of the Celts, which were based on this technology, to decay, which is why no intact Murus Gallicus is longer exists.

Well-known examples of fortifications of the Celts, which were built in this way are the North Wall of the settlement Fossé of Pandours, the ring wall of Otzenhausen, the weir on the title mountain in Luxembourg, the Celts system of Manching and the ramparts of the hillfort Sopron - Várhely.

The cost of materials for the curtain wall of Manching is estimated as follows:

Model of a Murus Gallicus ( design principle as in the castle wall in Praise )

Reconstructed section of a Celtic fortification at the Milseburg

Bibracte, Porte du Rebout, recovering a Murus Gallicus

Vitrified forts

If this wall construction set on fire, such a heat development was by the burning of wood truss with the right wind, and the appropriate drying out of the bar possible that the stones of the front panel partially " glazed ". Whether this is always done by enemy action, is referred to by archaeologists as unlikely, it is rather assumed an achievable thereby selective solidification of the masonry. As examples of these so-called vitrified forts (vitrified forts ), which are mainly to be found in Britain are at Abernethy (Perth and Kinross ) (10 km south-east of Perth ), Tap o ' Noth, West Lothian and Finavon called Castlelaw in Angus.

The computer simulation of a night image of the afterglow stone rampart on top of the Tap o ' Noth is in the book " Celts. To see pictures of their culture " ..