Archäologischer Hotspot: Porta Westfalica (Kreis Minden-Lübbecke)

Porta Westfalica. In the early days, the region was a popular settlement for the farmers. The soil in the shadow of the Weser Wien mountain range is considered particularly fertile. The people who lived here 3,000 years ago already knew this, as shown by an excavation in the village of Lehrbeck. My name is Sven Spiong. I am the director of the Wiedefeld Exhibition, the LWL Archeology. We are standing right here at Porta Westfalica, down in the Weser Valley. This is a very special place. It is really an archeological hotspot. We have all the eras here. This is because the Weser Valley has always been a communication area, where everyone moved through, information flowed, and people have lived here consistently since the Jungenstein period. That is why you have to do archeology in advance. We have come across a settlement from the 6th century. This is not so common in East-Westphalia, because there were only a few cemeteries at the time of the People's Liberation War. But this is a continuous settlement. But that is not all. In addition to these three courtyards from the 6th century, we have also found older burial sites from the Bronze Age. We will now introduce them to you. Here on the overall map you can see it quite well. We have one, two, three areas where the courtyards were and then here the grave site. Outside, the weather makes it difficult to find the excavators. The works on the about 3,000-year-old grave are therefore carried out in the protection of a tent. The bodywork, the grave itself, is located here. You can see the grave pit with the cross steps that were made there to better grasp the inner structures of the filling and the remains. The burial itself is a body burial, of which only a few remains have survived. The skull is at this point. There are still some traces of the long bones. But we have also learned in two places. One is a vessel that is there in front broken by the pressure of the earth, but probably intact. And at this other point, two arrowheads that belonged to the armament of this person. The area at a later point in time. The grave and the surrounding grave can be seen well. In the current state of the excavations, we have found two areas with early Jungbronze. On the excavation surface we have the Jungbronze-era grave system and in some distance a pit with Jungbronze-era settlement ceramics of a special type, which is completely covered with wool-like decorations. At the excavation manager Jasmin Rüdiger, all threads run together. Each excavation is different. This means being flexible. The biggest challenge for this construction site is in the first place the joint action with the trade unions, that the work is coordinated in such a way that the construction companies can continue to work. And then, of course, the archaeology. For me, the long grave is also new. I've never had that before. And of course, it remains exciting for me as an archaeologist. 1,500 years ago, there were houses like this on the construction site. A long house with a next to it pit house. Another pit house is on the drawing in the construction. Here we see the costs that were in here, which carried the roof of the main house where one lived. Such houses were up to 20 meters long and about 6 to 8 meters wide. Here we have protected the pit house in the tent, so that you can work properly. There is not much left of the pit house. Normally, the floor is about the same height. Such pit houses are 1.20 m high and 1.50 m deep. We see the posts 1, 2, 3 on the east and west sides. Here was the gable post. These are the two corner posts. So you have to imagine a normal roof gable with a gable on it. But we see more. Here we see a lying beam, very nice, which was probably for a weaving chair. These are the remains of a pit house that belongs to a farm. We have found three farms from the 6th century. The houses do not stand longer than 50 years, because the posts that are buried in the ground rot, and the house becomes rotten. You have to move on. Every 50 years about two generations. Then the younger generations build a new farm, maybe only 100, 200, 300 meters further. The researchers also come across very personal finds on the construction site. Here, for example, we have a small gable. This is a gaiter with which the gaiter was closed. Then we have a very nice gaiter here. Two such gables were normally worn by the lady from the 6th century. The needle construction is still preserved on the back. All cast from bronze. This is a typical gaiter from the first half of the 6th century. Then we have a very nice little finger ring, directly from a pit house. It was the first pit house that was excavated. Orange with spiral ends. That is also beautiful for the conditions at the time. You always have to imagine this green patina. Of course, it came later. Then of course we have the main mass. This is ceramic. This is what breaks down in everyday life. This is what early and middle-aged researchers will be looking forward to in the next few years. It remains exciting at the construction site near Porta, which has a lot of archaeological surprises to offer.