Dorsheim

Dorsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Langenlonsheim-Stromberg, whose seat is in Langenlonsheim. Dorsheim is a winegrowing centre. Dorsheim lies on a slope in the Trollbach valley, west of the Nahe, shortly before it empties into the Rhine. The Trollbach valley is a place with extensive vineyards and marked hiking trails, and above it is the Naheblick, a lookout point that affords the visitor an outstanding view of the surrounding geography: Rhenish Hesse’s plains, the Rhine and the uplands beyond, namely the Taunus and the Hunsrück, and also the Donnersberg. To Dorsheim’s south lies Bad Kreuznach, while to the north lies Bingen am Rhein. Clockwise from the north, Dorsheim’s neighbours are the municipalities of Münster-Sarmsheim, Laubenheim, Langenlonsheim, Waldlaubersheim and Rümmelsheim. All but the first lie in the Bad Kreuznach district. Münster-Sarmsheim lies within the neighbouring Mainz-Bingen district. As archaeological finds show, the lands around what is now Dorsheim were settled quite early on. From the Old Stone Age (100,000–10,000 BC) comes a whole series of various artefacts, which are now in private ownership. Known to be from the New Stone Age (4000–1800 BC) are a great many small hatchets and points, the 12 flint blades from the hoard on the street “Am Rebstock” and Rössen finds (ceramic) from the countryside lying east of Dorsheim. Unearthed from the Hallstatt times that followed have been all kinds of bronze rings from former barrows on the Dorsheim Heath, as well as ceramics from not only the Hallstatt culture but also the Urnfield culture and the Hunsrück-Eifel culture, once again in the countryside lying east of Dorsheim. Roman finds (3rd century AD) have come to light at two sites in the municipality. Various archaeological objects that have been found are now in museums in Bad Kreuznach, Mainz, Bonn and Berlin, although many are in private ownership.