OBERADEN
Kr.Unna, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen,
Germany.
One of the earliest Roman sites in
Germany, the fortress lies on the S bank of the Lippe,
about 80 km from the legionary headquarters at Xanten
(Birten)-Vetera. Oberaden is one of the great military
stations that served as a base of operations under the
emperor Augustus, placed as far across the Rhine in the
direction of the enemy as possible. The fortress (820 x
670 m) is irregular in plan. The four gates are not placed
exactly opposite one another. The area enclosed, 54 ha,
would have been sufficient to accommodate two legions
with their baggage train. But it is also possible that only
large detachments from individual legions were stationed
there or even auxiliary units, which changed often according to the needs of the military situation.
The fortress was protected on all sides by a ditch, 4 m
wide and over 2 m deep. Within this lay an earthen
rampart, 2.3 m wide, which was supported on its inner
and outer faces by timber uprights. (The narrow trenches
in which these posts were set have been found.) In this
earth and timber rampart stood wooden towers at intervals of 45 m. Little is known of the internal arrangements in the fortress, but recent excavations have demonstrated that, contrary to earlier views, the structures
were normal wooden buildings, such as are found in
Roman forts elsewhere.
The fortlet at Beckinghausen lies ca. 2 km W of the
fortress on gently rising ground immediately S of the
Lippe. It is 1.6 ha in extent, oval in plan, and surrounded
by three V-shaped ditches, except on the river side. One
is inclined to think of harbor installations and to imagine
that goods brought by ship up the Lippe for the great
fortress at Oberaden were unloaded here. That is possible, but it is also conceivable that Beckinghausen was a
largely independent supply base that played a role in
military activities farther up the Lippe. At any rate, both
Oberaden and Beckinghausen were occupied for more
than just a summer. At Beckinghausen a long period of
occupation is proved by the fact that pottery kilns were
constructed here to supply the needs of the garrison.
On the evidence of Cassius Dio (54.32ff) both forts
could have been founded in 12 B.C. or later when Drusus,
Augustus' stepson, began his campaigns from the Rhine
against the inhabitants of the Lippe area. Coin types
showing the altar at Lyons (Lugdunum), minted in 12
B.C. or more likely 10 B.C., are absent from the forts
and so both may well have been given up soon after the
death of Drusus (9 B.C.) when the military dispositions
were radically changed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
C. Albrecht, ed.,
Das Römerlager in
Oberaden, Veröffentlichungen aus dem Städtischen Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Dortmund II,1 (1938);
II,2 (1942); K. Kraft, “Das Enddatum des Legionslagers
Haltern,”
BonnJbb 155-56 (1955-56) 108f; H. Aschemeyer, “Neue Untersuchungen im Römerlager Oberaden,”
Prähistorische Zeitschrift 41 (1963) 210ff; for
plans see also
Saalburg-Jahrbuch 19 (1961) 5,1; in general see H. Schönberger in “The Roman Frontier in Germany: an Archaeological Survey,”
JRS 59 (1969) 144ff
with map A.
H. SCHÖNBERGER
