More Time Travel Tours

I know I've been a bad blogger and not updated for weeks. Well, I blame a nasty cold, lots of work at the money job, a nice journey (yay) and more job work. But I've finally found time to sort my latest photo booty and share some of them with you.

Our four day tour this time led us westward, to Paderborn (which will be covered in its own post) and the the area of Lippe / Egge Mountains / Teutoburg Forest. A land equally rich in history as the Harz, with its share of castles and churches.

Reconstructed long house from the Late Neolithic period, Archaeological Museum Oerlinghausen
The Archaeological Open Air Museum in Oerlinghausen is a fun place and we spent a nice bit of time there. They got everything from a tent of the reindeer hunters to a 7th century Saxon long house. Since it was late into the season already, there were no performances of old crafts, but also almost no tourists.

The Neolithic house, interior
The trapezoid shaped long house is part of the so-called Rössen Culture (4300 - 3500 BC) and modeled after finds at the Rhine. The culture spread over a large area in Middle Europe. The pillar beams are a bit thicker than archaelogical finds prove, thanks to modern safety laws.They lit actual hearth fires there on occasion, so a smokey smell was in the air.

Bronze Age long house, interior
We're getting a bit more stylish in the interior of a Bronze Age long house. There are even sleeping bunks and a ladder leading to the storage floor above. It is a house with the living/sleeping quarters for humans on one side and shelter for the cattle on the other; separated by an entrance room.

A post slot wall, 3rd century BC
The above photo shows the reconstruction of a Celtic post slot wall (Pfostenschlitzmauer), a variant of the murus gallicus Caesar describes, dating to the 3rd century BC, though it was in use at least until the time of the Gallic wars. The structure is a three-dimensional timber framework filled with stone and earth. Remains of the original have been found on a hill near Oerlinghausen.

Roman camp Anreppen, reconstructed double trench
We got Romans, too. *grin* The camp of Anreppen-Delbrück is part of the line of semi-permanent forts along the Lippe used during the campaigns of Drusus (16-9 BC) and probably also Varus (AD 6-9) in Germania. Anreppen may have been the wintering camp; it could hold an entire legion, and at least the officers had half-timbered houses. The layout follows the structure of more permanent forts.

7th century Saxon long house, Oerlinghausen
This 7th century Saxon house is supported by exterior beams and thus doesn't need any pillars in the inside, making room for a spacious hall. It follows a pattern often found in Westphalia. The house is accompagnied by a reconstructed pit house and a smithy, forming a 'Saxon village'.