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The Roman watchtower at Mittlach |
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At the end of the 1st century A.D. the Roman military drew a frontier line along the northern edge of the Swabian-Franconian Alb. An important part of the fortification system were the watchtowers, controlling the areas across the frontier and serving as signal stations. They had a quadrangular layout of usually 5 m length, were ca. 10-12 m high and garrisoned by 4-5 soldiers. One of them, the tower at Mittlach, served as a look-out across the Hambach valley, which lay north of the limes on German territory. For safety reasons the entrance to a Roman watchtower usually is placed on the 1st floor, thus reached only by a ladder. The tower at Mittlach was entered on ground level, due to its main purpose being the controlling of traffic along the frontier-crossing right next to it. Karte in google maps |
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