DOI Kapitel:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI Kapitel:Heumüller, Marion; Briel, Mirjam; Klimscha, Florian; Kotula, Andreas; Leuschner, Hanns Hubert; Schoon, Reinhold; Zerl, Tanja: Wetlands settlements and a wooden trackway: Swifterbant sites in the Dümmer basin
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0036
Marion Heumuller, Mirjam Briel, Florian Klimscha, Andreas Kotula, Hanns Hubert Leuschner, Reinhold Schoon and Tanja Zerl
35
missing. The best preserved part of the trackway was
the northeastern section which was investigated in
1992 and 1996. Here, the timbers of the superstructure
were packed so tightly that Alf Metzler and his team
had to excavate it in two layers. The structure consisted
of pine trunks which had been placed perpendicular
to the direction of the trackway, some with the slightly
thicker base to the right, others to the left. They are
mostly relatively small trunk segments with diameters
between 8 and 15 cm and lengths of 2.5 to 3.5 m. Un-
usally for wooden trackways, the branches had been
trimmed crudely - often stumps of branches up to
5 cm long were still protruding (Fig. 7). The track sur-
face rested, in some places, on a substructure of two,
but mostly of four longitudinal beams that marked the
route with a width of 1.20 to 2 m. Somewhat more
solid pinewood was used for these supporting beams,
which were up to 4 m long and 20 cm wide (cf. Metz-
ler 1993; Bauerochse /Metzler2001, 113-116). In
some places the longitudinal supports were under-
laid with further birch branches as crosswise support.
These were probably used in more waterlogged areas
that needed to be additionally secured by extra layers
of wood. Some timbers from the trackway surface
were found in secondary positions to the east of the
original construction, indicating that there must have
been occasional flooding.
Trackway Pr 31 is a pile trackway (Pfahlweg), i.e.
built of timber that has not been processed to planks
or boards (Hayen 1957, 248), even though the term
‘pile’ may seem inappropriate for horizontal wood.
The multi-layered, grid-like construction of transverse
upper timbers on longitudinal foundations and, in
some places, further underlaid by transverse timbers
corresponds to the conventional designs of bog track-
ways in northern Germany. The grid-like construction
spread the weight of the user over a wider area, gener-
ally allowing the constructors to do without vertical
construction elements.
The northern part of the track section studied
provided, however, an unusual and hitherto unknown
feature. There, beams over 4 m long were discovered
on both sides of the trackway which had been placed
with a roughly 2.5 m gap between them on top of the
actual transverse track surface (Fig. 8). Pegs, around
50 cm long and partly made of birch, had been driven
vertically through the wood to anchor the longitudinal
timbers (Bauerochse / Metzler 2001,115; see Fig. 9).
The pincer-like construction was evidently in-
tended to secure the superstructure of the trackway. It
was only completely preserved in the section studied
in 1996. The row of pegs continues to the northeast
(cf. Fig. 8) without the upper longitudinal timbers,
which do not appear to have survived. When two pegs
35
missing. The best preserved part of the trackway was
the northeastern section which was investigated in
1992 and 1996. Here, the timbers of the superstructure
were packed so tightly that Alf Metzler and his team
had to excavate it in two layers. The structure consisted
of pine trunks which had been placed perpendicular
to the direction of the trackway, some with the slightly
thicker base to the right, others to the left. They are
mostly relatively small trunk segments with diameters
between 8 and 15 cm and lengths of 2.5 to 3.5 m. Un-
usally for wooden trackways, the branches had been
trimmed crudely - often stumps of branches up to
5 cm long were still protruding (Fig. 7). The track sur-
face rested, in some places, on a substructure of two,
but mostly of four longitudinal beams that marked the
route with a width of 1.20 to 2 m. Somewhat more
solid pinewood was used for these supporting beams,
which were up to 4 m long and 20 cm wide (cf. Metz-
ler 1993; Bauerochse /Metzler2001, 113-116). In
some places the longitudinal supports were under-
laid with further birch branches as crosswise support.
These were probably used in more waterlogged areas
that needed to be additionally secured by extra layers
of wood. Some timbers from the trackway surface
were found in secondary positions to the east of the
original construction, indicating that there must have
been occasional flooding.
Trackway Pr 31 is a pile trackway (Pfahlweg), i.e.
built of timber that has not been processed to planks
or boards (Hayen 1957, 248), even though the term
‘pile’ may seem inappropriate for horizontal wood.
The multi-layered, grid-like construction of transverse
upper timbers on longitudinal foundations and, in
some places, further underlaid by transverse timbers
corresponds to the conventional designs of bog track-
ways in northern Germany. The grid-like construction
spread the weight of the user over a wider area, gener-
ally allowing the constructors to do without vertical
construction elements.
The northern part of the track section studied
provided, however, an unusual and hitherto unknown
feature. There, beams over 4 m long were discovered
on both sides of the trackway which had been placed
with a roughly 2.5 m gap between them on top of the
actual transverse track surface (Fig. 8). Pegs, around
50 cm long and partly made of birch, had been driven
vertically through the wood to anchor the longitudinal
timbers (Bauerochse / Metzler 2001,115; see Fig. 9).
The pincer-like construction was evidently in-
tended to secure the superstructure of the trackway. It
was only completely preserved in the section studied
in 1996. The row of pegs continues to the northeast
(cf. Fig. 8) without the upper longitudinal timbers,
which do not appear to have survived. When two pegs