Schwedenschanze

The Schwedenschanze is an old hilltop fortification between Frickingen and Heiligenberg in the Bodenseekreis of Baden-Württemberg. It sits on a sandstone ridge 735 metres above sea level, separated from the main ridge by a deep hollow that has been deepened further by a ditch. The plateau is ringed by earthworks and ditches, some in double lines, to guard its slopes.

Experts believe the site was built either in the Carolingian period or the early Middle Ages, possibly by the counts of Frickingen in the 10th or 11th century. The name ‘Swedish Schanze’ comes from a later misunderstanding and has nothing to do with the Thirty Years War. Archaeologists have found medieval pottery from the 11th to 13th centuries and two funnel-shaped hollows that may once have held buildings.

Visitors walk along the grassy ramparts and peer into the wide ditches that once formed the outer defences. The views stretch across the surrounding countryside from the high plateau. A single flint blade from the Stone Age has been found here, but it is not connected with the fort. The site remains largely unexcavated, so the full story of the Schwedenschanze is still waiting to be uncovered.