Heidelsburg

The Heidelsburg, also called the Bunenstein, is an old fortification in the western Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate that goes back at least to the days of the Roman Empire.

The castle ruins lie 3 kilometres southeast of Waldfischbach-Burgalben on a rocky ridge of the Drei-Sommer-Berg at a height of 340 metres above sea level (NN) above the valley of Schwarzbachtal.

[4] According to historians, Christian Mehlis (1883) and Friedrich Sprater (1927/28), who conducted the excavations in two stages, there was an oval walled enclosure of solid ashlars on the ridge that drops steeply into the Schwarzbachtal valley.

The axe was the symbol of a Roman forest manager, the Saltuarius, and an eponymous name suffix, inscribed on the wall, was found in the vicinity along with a corresponding tool.

Although there are no written sources detailing whether and to what extent the Romans operating around the Heidelsburg area were actually engaged in forestry, it is nevertheless the oldest known evidence of forest administration in late antiquity on German soil.

In addition to coins, shards of Roman pottery and iron tools were found in the area around the castle, which are also displayed in the local history museum.