Boppard - Tumulus and Vicus

On account of its natural environment the Middle- Rhine area has been populated since the earliest times. The settlements were located not so much in the narrow valley itself but rather, above it, in the lowlands of the nearby Hunsrück and Taunus mountain ranges. In pre-Roman times the banks of the Rhine were sparsely populated.
Evidence of Celtic settlements survive in old place names, such as the Celtic Baudobriga; now Boppard.
Above the Rhine valley numerous tumuli were grouped along the prehistoric ridge.
Among the most remarkable burial sites along this ridge, situated between Waldesch and Huhnenfeld is the ‘Brother-Tonies-Hill’, a large tumulus with a height, even today, of 10 m and a diameter of at least 40 m.
Hitherto, archaeological excavations have not taken place and it is still unknown whether the shaft dug by grave-robbers through the centre of the hill destroyed the central burial or whether, inside the tumulus, it remains undisturbed.
Due to its size the tumulus stands among the so-called royal tumuli of the early Celtic Iron Age. During the 6th century B.C. exceptional burials of that time were furnished with four-wheeled chariots, bronze tableware, weapons and jewellery.
A few kilometres from the Brother-Tönnies-Hill, in the area of Dörth near Emmelshausen a royal grave of the early Celtic period contained a two wheeled chariot from the fifth century B.C.                            
In Roman times the old ridge above the Rhine valley became one of the most important trunk roads of the Middle Rhine and Moselle area. To this day the Hunsrück mountain road follows the course of the prehistoric path.
Small roads wound their way down from the mountains and reached the Roman settlements on the Rhine. The Roman settlement near Boppard was at first located on the alluvial land of the stream, next to the valley road, and not far from the banks of the Rhine waterway itself.
Here was the ideal location for a trading centre, both for the heavy goods that came down in carts from the hillsides, and for those that wished to cross or use the waterway.
The Roman settlement – known as a vicus – consisted of sturdy half-timbered houses, some of which had basements. They date back to the 1st to 3rd century A.D.
One remarkable find was a clay statuette of the goddess Epona, in equestrian mode. Originally one of the most important divinities of the Celtic Treveri, in Roman times Epona was the tutelary goddess of carters.
As nothing of 4th or 5th century provenance has been found in the area of the unprotected Roman settlement it can be deduced that the later settlement, protected by the fort, was situated approximately 1km away.

[Martin Thoma]