Status: 06/02/2023 9:30 p.m
At least 15 houses stood in Kropp am Ochsenweg, the historic north-south route in Schleswig-Holstein. This is shown by the well-preserved remains of poles that archaeologists discovered where an industrial area is to be expanded. An archaeological milestone.
It’s just dark circles in the sandy soil. But there are many. The excavation team has already discovered 1,370 piles. Only a third of the entire area has been examined. Floor plans are also clearly visible. “It’s like in a picture book,” enthuses excavation director Alexander Maass. He estimates that the buildings were built between the third and fifth centuries AD. Seven longhouses are among them. Inner posts up to 70 centimeters thick carried the roof, smaller posts held wickerwork with clay plaster as the outer wall.
Their work takes a lot of time: the archaeologists dig into every second post. They photograph and document it, take measurements, bag samples. This means that the remains of the old buildings have been destroyed once and for all. But that is the usual way when an area is to be built on.
Floor plans have been optimally preserved
Apparently, the barren Geestboden was only plowed a little over the centuries, while in other places deep plow tracks are destroying the remains of old settlements. In Kropp it might not have been worth it at all. “You’re not over Kropperbusch yet,” Deputy Mayor Holger Schwien recalls an old saying. His warning did not only refer to highwaymen. “The path was so difficult, it’s a sandy path, and it was very difficult for the oxen to make headway there,” says Schwien.
Traces of the old ox trail can also be seen. Already am Danewerk Old traces were found, and now the excavation team in Kropp was able to uncover traces over a length of 40 meters. Archaeologists have never been able to document it so comprehensively. Three paths run parallel and the typical wheel spacing of about one meter is clearly visible.
Longhouses: Stable on the left, parlor on the right
The traces of the old ox trail run to the left and right. They must be older than 1500 years as a 3rd-5th century house was later built over a track.
Little is known about the inhabitants of that time. They must have farmed, because there were stables in the long houses. Anyone entering the entrance in the middle might have found themselves on a separate hallway. This is how Stefanie Klooß from the Archaeological State Office imagines it. On the left we went into the stable with cattle boxes that are still recognizable, on the right into the living area with a cupola oven. Possibly the people were poor, because the archaeologists have not come across any goods that testify to prosperity. Only a few shards of pottery and parts of a spindle were found in the ground.
The municipality of Kropp has to finance the excavations with more than 400,000 euros, but the local history is enriched by an important chapter. Kropp has just celebrated the village’s 750th anniversary, and as Holger Schwien puts it: “Now we see that we can bring history forward another 1,000 years.”
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