Germany

Klein Köris is situated in a lovely landscape with widespread forests, chains of lakes, bordering with a nature park & reserve. Between the mid 1970s and mid 1990s a Germanic settlement dating to the 100 - 500 AD was excavated “Klein Köris number 3".

When in the 1980s the A44 near Düsseldorf was extended, traces of an Iron Age settlement of about 500 BC were found by archaeologist Dr. Ralf Lommerzheim. October 2000, just a few hundred metres away from the original site, the reconstruction of the settlement was officially started by Wolfgang Diedrich, mayor of nearby Ratingen and protector of the project.

The French-German border cuts straight through a complex of archaeological sites, most of which date to the Iron Age & Roman Era. A perfect occasion to explain that our present borders are in our minds, not in reality. Archaeologist Jean Schaub founded the European Culture park at both sides of the border – in France at Bliesbruck, in Germany at Gersheim-Reinheim.

In 1978, a very rich Celtic grave mound at Hochdorf, a few kilometres North of Stuttgart was the archaeological sensation of the year. It was a very rich grave of about 550 BC and contained grave goods one had not dreamed of before.

In the early 1970s, the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier excavated at the “Altburg” near Bundenbach. This was the site of a Iron Age defended settlement between 170 BC and 50 BC in the West Celtic area.

In 1971, the archaeological site Rodenkirchen-Hahnenknooper Mühle was excavated northwest of Bremen along the B 437. The excavation was coordinated by Dr. Erwin Strahl of the “Niedersächsisches Institut für historische Küstenforschung” from Wilhelmshaven, an institute which is active in this region for a long time already. This Brozne Age settlement is the oldest found in these coastal marshlands so far, dating to the 10th and 9th century BC.

The Sachsenhof in Greven-Pentrup is a reconstruction of a 1200-year-old early medieval Saxon courtyard with cultivation trials of cultivated plants and field wild herbs from that time.

Just 60 kilometres North of Düsseldorf (DE) and a bit to the east of Nijmegen (NL), the city Xanten is situated. This city used to be known as Colonia Ulpia Traiana and existed as Roman Town since 98/99 AD. Now there is a large archaeological park (60 hectares) with ongoing excavations, a museum and (partly) reconstructed buildings.