Amelungsburg (Lippe Uplands)

The Amelungsburg is a 292-metre (958 ft) high hill in the Lippe Uplands in central Germany, in the municipality of Dörentrup in the district of Lippe.

Amelungsburg
Amelungsburg in the Lippe Uplands
Highest point
Elevation	292 m (958 ft)
Coordinates	52°02′52″N 8°59′03″E
Geography
Amelungsburg North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Amelungsburg Amelungsburg (Germany)
Parent range	Lippe Uplands
Geology
Mountain type	Keuper

The Amelungsburg is believed to be the observation hill (Warthberg) belonging to the Piepenkopf rampart system located on its south-southwestern spur.[1] Investigations into the charred remains (Brandfunde) at the site of the settlement with its double-embankment have been dated to 250 B.C. and can thus be presumed to have belonged to the La Tène culture. The settlement was not rebuilt.

1878 plan of the Amelungsburg

At the southwestern foot of the Amelungsburg today is a still easily recognised, roughly 2-metre-high section of the ramparts with a 1.5-metre-deep ditch. It is suspected that this advanced rampart used to guard the road system.[2]

In order to beat looters, the refuge castle has been investigated. Excavations on the plateau of the Amelungsburg unearthed about 300 individual items. In a number of spots there were both single and multiple hordes of goods.

References

1. Friedrich Hohenschwert: "Ur- und Frühgeschichtliche Befestigungen in Lippe". Herausgegeben von der Altertumskommission für Westfalen, Münster, 1978
2. Leo Nebelsiek (1950), Vor- und frühgeschichtliche Burgen in Lippe, Lippischer Kalender (in German)