Propylaeum

On the Rhine, north of the Moselle, Caesar's troops found a fertile basin with farmsteads and a flourishing millstone trade. The Germanic occupation and the urbanisation policy of Emperor Augustus meant, among other things, the beginning of stone building in Germany. In particular, the tuff deposits around the Laacher See volcano became the focus of Roman builders. An ancient industrial landscape had already developed here in early Roman times, and the conditions for its development were particularly favourable - high-quality volcanic rock and the Rhine port of Andernach only 5 km away.
This book deals with more than 200 Roman settlement sites and the development of society in this part of Upper Germania over a period of some 450 years. The introduction of the tuff industry and the stationing of Roman troops quickly gave rise to a prosperous, provincial Roman mixed culture. Even after serious destruction in the 3rd century, a prosperous society developed again in the advanced 4th century until the first half of the 5th century, with increasing immigration of Germanic tribes. Outstanding finds already known, such as the Nickenich niche tomb or the Kruft column, are analysed in their overall context. Archaeological finds from the 1st to the 5th centuries, mainly from graves of the early imperial period and the first half of the 2nd century, are newly presented. More than 20 water pipes, mostly of qanat construction, as well as a presumed civil miners' settlement shed light on the characteristics of rural settlement in the area of the Roman tuff mines.

From the beginning of the Roman Imperial period, the area between Mayen on the edge of the Eifel and Andernach on the Rhine experienced an enormous increase in its economic activity. In a short time, an industrial area developed there, from which wide areas in the Roman north-western provinces were supplied with high-quality basalt lava millstones, light tuff and later also heat-resistant ceramics. Quarries were newly established, land and water routes were expanded, existing outlets were extended and others were still to be developed. Setbacks in the 3^rd and 4^th centuries were followed by further booms.

How could the numerous workers and their families be fed, and what consequences did the success of the stone and energy-intensive pottery industries have for the environment? In order to clarify this, two Roman villas on the northern edge of the Mayen millstone quarries were investigated with geophysical measurements, excavations, geoarchaeological and botanical studies, and their entire surroundings were explored. The results are presented in this book. The inhabitants of the villa Mendig, »Im Winkel« were themselves involved in the production of millstones. In late antiquity, a surface drainage system there probably kept a transhipment point for millstones on the Segbach dry, while a fortified storage building ensured the supply of the quarrymen. Quarry owners resided in the villa Mendig, »Lungenkärchen«. It turned out to be an axial courtyard with an impressive water basin. Inspections led to the discovery of the burial ground belonging to »Lungenkärchen« with monuments made of Lorraine limestone as well as the discovery of a previously unknown vicus »Im Terl«.