Editing Hesse (section)

=== Early history ===
{{further|Chatti|Austrasia}}
The Central Hessian region was inhabited in the [[Upper Paleolithic]]. Finds of tools in southern Hesse in Rüsselsheim suggest the presence of Pleistocene hunters about 13,000 years ago. A [[Rhünda Skull|fossil hominid skull]] that was found in northern Hesse, just outside the village of Rhünda, has been dated at 12,000 years ago. The [[Züschen (megalithic tomb)|Züschen tomb]] (German: Steinkammergrab von Züschen, sometimes also Lohne-Züschen) is a prehistoric burial monument, located between [[Lohne, Germany|Lohne]] and [[Züschen, Fritzlar|Züschen]], near [[Fritzlar]], Hesse, Germany. Classified as a gallery grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone [[cist]] (''hessisch-westfälische Steinkiste''), it is one of the most important [[megalithic]] monuments in Central Europe. Dating to {{Circa|3000 BC}}, it belongs to the Late [[Neolithic]] [[Wartberg culture]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

An early [[Celt]]ic presence in what is now Hesse is indicated by a mid-5th-century BC [[La Tène culture|La Tène]]-style burial uncovered at [[Glauberg]]. The region was later settled by the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] [[Chatti]] tribe around the 1st century BC, and the name ''Hesse'' is a continuation of that tribal name.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

The [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] had a military camp in Dorlar, and in Waldgirmes directly on the eastern outskirts of Wetzlar was a civil settlement under construction. Presumably, the provincial government for the occupied territories of the right bank of Germania was planned at this location. The governor of Germania, at least temporarily, likely had resided here. The settlement appears to have been abandoned by the Romans after the devastating [[Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]] failed in the year AD 9. The Chatti were also involved in the [[Revolt of the Batavi]] in AD 69.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Hessia, from the early 7th century on, served as a buffer between areas dominated by the [[Saxons]] (to the north) and the [[Franks]], who brought the area to the south under their control in the early sixth century and occupied [[Thuringia]] (to the east) in 531.<ref>Clay 125-27, 137–39.</ref> Hessia occupies the northwestern part of the modern German state of Hesse; its borders were not clearly delineated. Its geographic center is [[Fritzlar]]; it extends in the southeast to [[Hersfeld]] on the river Fulda, in the north to past [[Kassel]] and up to the rivers Diemel and Weser. To the west, it occupies the valleys of the rivers Eder and Lahn (the latter until it turns south). It measured roughly 90 kilometers north–south, and 80 north-west.<ref>Clay 120.</ref>

The area around Fritzlar shows evidence of significant pagan belief from the 1st century on. Geismar was a particular focus of such activity; it was continuously occupied from the Roman period on, with a settlement from the Roman period, which itself had a predecessor from the 5th century BC. Excavations have produced a [[horse burial]] and bronze artifacts. A possible religious cult may have centered on a natural spring in Geismar, called ''Heilgenbron''; the name "Geismar" (possibly "energetic pool") itself may be derived from that spring. The village of {{Interlanguage link|Maden, Gudensberg|de|3=Maden (Gudensberg)}}, now a part of [[Gudensberg]] near Fritzlar and less than ten miles from Geismar, was likely an ancient religious center; the basaltic outcrop of Gudensberg is named after Wodan, and a two-meter tall [[quartzite]] [[megalith]] called the ''[[Wotanstein (Hesse)|Wotanstein]]'' is at the center of the village.<ref>Clay 132–137.</ref>

By the mid-7th century, the Franks had established themselves as overlords, which is suggested by archeological evidence of burials, and they built fortifications in various places, including [[Christenberg]].<ref>Clay 143–155.</ref> By 690, they took direct control over Hessia, apparently to counteract expansion by the Saxons, who built fortifications in [[Diemelstadt|Gaulskopf]] and [[Eresburg]] across the river Diemel, the northern boundary of Hessia. The [[Büraburg]] (which already had a Frankish settlement in the sixth century<ref>Rau 141.</ref>) was one of the places the Franks fortified to resist the Saxon pressure, and according to John-Henry Clay, the Büraburg was "probably the largest man-made construction seen in Hessia for at least seven hundred years". Walls and trenches totaling one kilometer in length were made, and they enclosed "8 hectares of a spur that offered a commanding view over Fritzlar and the densely-populated heart of Hessia".<ref>Clay 157–158.</ref>

Following Saxon incursions into Chattish territory in the 7th century, two ''[[Gau (country subdivision)|gau]]e'' had been established; a Frankish one, comprising an area around [[Fritzlar]] and [[Kassel]], and a Saxonian one. In the 9th century, the Saxon [[Hessengau]] also came under the rule of the Franconians.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Holy Roman Empire {{!}} Definition, History, Maps, & Significance {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Holy-Roman-Empire |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>