Römerschanze

The earthwork lies along an old ridgeway that accompanies the Main valley, running over the crest from Bremhof via Mainbullau to Miltenberg in a northwest–southeast direction. Just a few metres to the west, at the saddle of the Geißberg with the Lauseiche natural monument, several old tracks cross in a north–south direction. These once linked Laudenbach on the Main limes with the Ohrenbach valley and traverse the still wooded and thinly settled plateau between the Ohrenbach (locally Ohrnbach) and the Main.

The fortification is laid out as a rectangle with distinctly rounded corners. As early as 1813, Johann Friedrich Knapp measured its sides at roughly 66 metres east–west and about 58.5 metres north–south. A ditch about 1.5 metres deep encloses three earthen ramparts around three metres high: two outer ones and an inner one. In the middle of the eastern short side there is an inward-drawn pincer gate (Zangentor) about 3.50 metres wide; at this eastern gate the ditch is interrupted. The interior, divided by a small cross-ditch, still preserves the remains of a well that was additionally protected by its own fully encircling rampart-and-ditch system. Modern surveys of the terrain relief in the Bayernviewer yield slightly larger figures than Knapp and place the enclosure on a par with the forts of the Odenwald limes – it turns out even marginally larger than, for example, the Eulbach fort.

Johann Friedrich Knapp described the earthwork at the latest in 1813 and made it a matter of record; in 1900 it was included in the German limes survey (Limeswerk). In 1912/1913 Georg Hocks investigated the site with trial trenches and soundings, which yielded exclusively Roman pottery of the 2nd century. Two of his trenches at the cross-ditch are still discernible in the terrain relief today.

The location between the two limes lines is untypical for a Roman fortification, which means a Roman origin cannot be regarded as certain. In 1984 Dietwulf Baatz did not rule out a Roman origin but called for further investigation. Its size, rounded corners and pincer gate do recall the limes forts – only the inner ditch is unusual. In more recent times it has again been increasingly discussed whether the earthwork served as an outpost of the Odenwald limes to watch over the ridgeway, or as a work camp and timber-cutting site. It is conceivable that Roman logging detachments felled construction timber in the Odenwald for larger settlements such as Mogontiacum (present-day Mainz), because not enough material was available in that town's surroundings; the timber could be floated conveniently down the Main to the Rhine. In his 1995 dissertation, Theodor K. Kissel even described the earthwork as a timber-processing operation. Four inscribed stones from the forts of Trennfurt, Obernburg and Stockstadt are cited in support; they are said to derive from detachments of Legion XXII Primigenia stationed at Mogontiacum and are dated to the years 206 to 214 AD. The strikingly rectangular Trennfurt fort is in turn regarded as a possible depot and loading point on the Main.

In the Bavarian monument list of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments, the site is recorded under number D-6-6220-0003 as a qualified archaeological monument – the earthwork "Ohrenbacher Schanze" of late-imperial or early-medieval date. Deliberate investigation and the collecting of finds require official permission, and chance finds must be reported to the heritage authorities.