Oppidum Zürich-Lindenhof, Archaeological site and architectural structure on Lindenhof hill, Zürich, Switzerland.
Oppidum Zürich-Lindenhof is an ancient fortified settlement on a hilltop overlooking the city, used by both Celtic and Roman inhabitants. The site contains remains of buildings, defensive walls, and towers that are partially visible or exposed through archaeological work.
The Helvetii likely founded the oppidum on the Lindenhof in the 1st century BC; excavations in 1989, 1997, 2004 and 2007 uncovered its remains. After 15 BC the hill became part of the Roman vicus Turicum. Under Valentinian I (364–375) the Romans built a citadel of 4,500 square metres with ten towers and walls two metres thick.
The name Turicum, first recorded on a 2nd-century AD tombstone found near the Lindenhof, likely derives from the Celtic personal name Turos. The hill has served as a public square since the Middle Ages, and the Weinplatz square may preserve the memory of the Celtic-Roman civilian harbour. Visitors can see Celtic and Roman foundation stones in the Lindenhofkeller by contacting the Baugeschichtliches Archiv at Neumarkt.
The Lindenhof plateau is a public square in the old town, about 25 metres above the Limmat at Schipfe, reached on foot through the Rennweg and Pfalzgasse lanes. Celtic and Roman wall remains are built into the surrounding town houses and the Pfalz. The Lindenhofkeller with Roman foundations and the late 4th-century fort can be visited at one's own risk by contacting the Baugeschichtliches Archiv at Neumarkt.
On 3 July 1890, workmen digging a foundation at Bahnhofstrasse 1 near Bürkliplatz, 5.5 metres down, unearthed several lumps of metal; the largest weighs 59.2 kilograms. For decades nobody could classify them. The Lindenhof hill itself was long thought to hold no Celtic settlement, until excavations from 1989 onward showed the La Tène layers lay deeper than Emil Vogt's 1937/38 test borings had reached.
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