Riegel, capital of an unnamed civitas

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Foundation and structure

Riegel was occupied by the military from the mid 1^st century AD and the civitas was probably founded after the withdrawal of the troops which, to judge from the earliest dates from the forum basilica, probably happened under Trajan at the beginning of the 2^nd century. The Latin name for the settlement and civitas are both unknown and the further development of the town is difficult to reconstruct from the few known buildings.

The military installation

The older fort II, which is presumed to be 1.8ha in size, was built in the mid 1^st century AD and abandoned around 69. It was succeeded by the 6-7ha fort I, which remained in use until the end of the 1^st century. An adjoining military vicus was located along the main roads to the north and south of the fort and an additional ditch in the north, may belong to either fort II or a third fort.

General plan of the forts

The town and its structure

To judge from the finds distribution, the settlement was about 27ha in area. The road network probably continued the fort's road system which thus precluded the development of an orthogonal street grid. The area within the fort has been reconstructed as being divided into 21 insulae.

Plan of Roman Riegel, with reconstructed street grid

Public buildings and infrastructure

The symmetrical three-aisled basilica had wings with further rooms attached along its narrow sides and the partially excavated structure had an original length of about 75m. The earliest building of the early 2^nd century was demolished around 180 AD and rebuilt on an almost identical ground plan, possibly because of structural faults in the initial building. The adjoining forum is assumed, from the adjoining streets (see plan of town), to have stretched irregularly over two insulae.

Schematised plan of the forum basilica	Reconstruction of the basilica with proposed forum area	Reconstruction of the interior of the basilica

The sunken (9.9x 7m) mithraeum had an anteroom, a cult room with central corridor, flanking podia and an apse for the cult image. It dates to the 2^nd or 3^rd century AD and a further sanctuary in the west of the settlement has been suggested on finds evidence.

Plan of the Mithraeum

Residential buildings

Residential buildings have been excavated, mainly in the north of the town (Ronhofbuck), where occupation started towards the end of the 1^st century AD. Stone buildings are known from the mid 2^nd century, with building plots remaining unchanged throughout the entire occupation. The strip buildings are up to 10 m wide and 20-28m long.

Strip buildings in the north-western part of the settlement, showing both timber and stone phases

No stone buildings could be identified away from the main roads. Pottery kilns have been found at various points throughout the settlement, for example in the north and inside the former fort.

Visible remains
The consolidated remains of the Mithraeum can be visited.

Museum
The Roman finds from Riegel are on display in the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe and in the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Freiburg.

Text: Thomas Schmidts

Select bibliography

A. Bräuning/Ch. Dreier/J. Klug-Treppe, Riegel-Römerstadt am Kaiserstuhl. Das neue Bild von einem alten Fundplatz. Archäologische Informationen aus Baden-Württemberg 49 (Freiburg 2004).

Ch. Dreier, Römisches Militär in Riegel im 1. Jahrhundert n. Chr. In: Regio Archaeologica. Archäologie und Geschichte an Ober- und Hochrhein. Festschrift für Gerhard Fingerlin. Studia Honorea 18 (Rahden/Westf. 2002) 27-39.

Christian Dreier, Ein zentrales öffentliches Gebäude der römischen Siedlung von Riegel a.K., Kreis Emmendingen. Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Württemberg 1997, 117 - 120.

Ch. Dreier, „Leuchttürme“ der Romanisierung. Archäologie in Deutschland 2005/4, 26-31.

G. Fingerlin/B. Cämmerer in: Die Römer in Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart³ 1986) 504-508.

H. Steger, *Regula/Riegel am Kaiserstuhl - Helvetum? Ein römischer Rechts- und Verwaltungsbezirk in der römisch-germanischen Kontaktzone am Oberrhein: die Kontinuität seiner Bezeichnung in einem Ortsnamen und ein verschollener Siedlungsname. In: Römer und Alamannen im Breisgau. Freiburger Studien zum ersten Jahrtausend in Südwestdeutschland (Sigmaringen 1994) 233-361.

Preliminary reports on Riegel excavations in:
Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Württemberg 1986, 86 – 89; 1991, 118-120; 1994, 107 – 114; 1996, 143- 147; 2000, 129-132; 2001, 118-122; 2003, 122-125; 2004, 153-158.