Mittelstrimmig - Vicus

The settlement near Mittelstrimmig is already documented in the school text of 1876.
From the end of the 1st to the end of the 4th century the settlement north-west of  Altstrimmig was of great  importance to Roman infastructure in the Hunsrück.
Conveniently situated the settlement was between the Treves-Andernach road, leading over the river Eifel, and the Treves-Bingen road in the Hunsrück. A road passing Mittelstrimmig connected these two main roads.
This important link lead from Mittelstrimmig, through the Flaumbach valley, down to the Moselle and crossed the river near Karden, the antique Cardena.
The route now followed the Brohlbach valley and passed Martberg, a celtic tribal centre, and a Roman shrine and arrived at the main road on the Eifel-plateau.
To the south of Mittelstrimmig was Ausonius-street and the street station of Kirchberg – the  objective of travellers.
In antiquity most travellers went on foot. Wagons were used mainly to transport heavy loads. Carriages, such as that found in the street settlement near Mittelstrimmig, were rare.
Iron strap holders, part of the wooden chariot’s suspension system, were found here. The body of the chariot was suspended by leather straps, which acted like shock absorbers during the journey. 
It is through geomagnetic surveys – resistance measurements in the ground – that the location of Roman settlement buildings is best known. Using these surveys as a basis the picture of a settlement can be reconstructed even though no excavations have taken place.
Houses stood close to one another and were often using common partition walls on their land. Protected from the rain by a canopy travellers and citizens walked along the row of shops. Most produce could be found in the markets and shops. As a rule every house had a garden and people supplied themselves appropriately. The larger fields were not tilled by the inhabitants of the vici but by the farmers living in the surrounding homesteads.
The rural population, comparable to the small towns of today such as Kastellaun, Simmern and Kirchberg were supplied by the smaller settlements along the roads.  Blacksmiths made, and mended, tools and agricultural equipment. Slag metal particles come from the smelting   of manganese iron ore. Another find proves that glass manufacture also took place here.  Potters and merchants offered fine tableware. Briefly: the vici were trading centres for local and regional products.
Among the features of Mittelstrimmig are the large tumuli that showed up on the geophysics picture within the later settlement area. They are believed to date from the Hunsrück-Eifel-culture of from 6th to 3rd century B.C. and were laid along the pre-Roman road that passed over Strimmiger Berg.
Access to fresh water is vital for any settlement. Besides normal everyday uses a considerable quantity of water was necessary for the baths, temple complexes, workshops and cattle troughs.
The fresh water supply of Roman Mittelstrimmig was guaranteed by chambered wells, springs and aqueducts, which were frequently broached for drainage purposes.  
By counting the annual growth-rings several of the preserved timbers can be dated. According to this some of the oak was felled between 170 and 350 A.D.
Baths were an essential part of Roman life. . A street village of this size had at least one thermae. According to the 19th century report of a schoolteacher by the name of Saur the remains of a baths could still be found. Travellers as well as the village and rural population enjoyed here the amenities of Roman life, made contacts and exchanged information.
Several temples served as places in which to worship the gods.
In order to protect the settlement against Teutonic raids a small fortification was erected. In the course of the 4th century A.D. more and more Roman settlers left the heights of the Hunsrück and never returned. The end of the settlement near Mittelstrimmig was probably also caused by the continual Teutonic raids along the Moselle. The Roman settlement near Mittelstrimmig declined and sank into oblivion.

[Martin Thoma]