Erdwerk Ohrenbacher Schanze, Ancient fortification near Bremhof, Germany.
Erdwerk Ohrenbacher Schanze is a square fortification with earth walls and a surrounding trench located near Bremhof. The structure has an eastern entrance and contains the remains of a well inside.
Johann Friedrich Knapp first described the earthwork in 1813, giving sides of 90 by 80 paces. Georg Hocks probed the site in 1912 and 1913 and found only Roman pottery of the 2nd century. Because the enclosure lies between the two Limes lines, its Roman origin remains debated; Dietwulf Baatz in 1984 did not rule it out but called for further investigation. Bavarian heritage lists it as a late Roman or early medieval earthwork, D-6-6220-0003.
The site's names vary: Römerschanze recalls Roman origins, Heunenschüssel refers to a bowl-shaped hollow, and Vielbrunner Schanze points to nearby Vielbrunn. The rounded corners and pincer gate resemble Roman fortifications along the Odenwald Limes, though the inner ditch is atypical. Visitors can still see the eastern gate's 3.5-meter opening and the surrounding earth walls.
The earthwork lies on the wooded ridge of the Geißberg above the Ohrenbach valley, reached on foot from the saddle near the Lauseiche natural monument, where old paths cross. The ramparts, the roughly 1.5 m deep ditch and the rounded corners are best read in low, leaf-off vegetation; the ground is uneven and the site has no facilities.
Two search trenches dug by Georg Hocks at the dividing ditch in 1912/1913 can still be made out in the terrain relief. The site lies between the two lines of the Odenwald limes, which is why its Roman origin is not considered certain. Four inscribed stones from Trennfurt, Obernburg and Stockstadt, dated 206–214 AD, are cited in the timber-working theory.
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