In the
New Stone Age (3000 to 2000 BC), the Uersfeld-
Kelberg area was home to hunter-gatherers, as witnessed by finds of
flint blades and stone
hatchets. The first time in which there were settlers in the area came in the first millennium BC, specifically about 700 BC, in
Hallstatt times. There have been finds in the Uersfeld-Kelberg area from this time through to late
Roman times, showing that there was settlement, albeit rather thin, but continuous, growing settlement nevertheless. A great deal is known about Roman times in the area from
archaeological finds. What is known matches ancient authors’ writings and is defined by
ceramic finds and also coins.
Dendrochronology can even yield details of years in which things happened. Many
barrow fields can be found in the Uersfeld church woods within the limits of the outlying centre of Höchstberg. However, for want of any archaeological investigation, it is uncertain from what time they date, but the grave robberies and Court Counsellor Comes's (1774-1856) resulting collection in
Cochem have yielded some idea of the time. Court Counsellor Comes bequeathed part of his collection to the Society for Beneficial Research (
Gesellschaft für nützliche Forschungen) in Trier. The rest was
auctioned off, scattering Roman finds from Uersfeld throughout the world. After the fall of the
Roman Empire in the 5th century, there was nothing left in the Vulkaneifel but empty land. This is not hard to understand when one considers that all Western Europe lay at the perhaps 200,000
Frankish warriors’ feet. The Vulkaneifel could hardly have been called the most fruitful land available to the Franks and their families, nor the land with the most favourable climate. For well over one thousand years, people held an unfavourable opinion of the region. With few exceptions, the area around the
Hochkelberg and the Höchst, where Uersfeld now lies, was uninhabited. Only in the 11th century did the first clearing in a thousand years take place. In the early 12th century, Uersfeld (
Urnesfeld) had its first documentary mention in an undated document. Research has put its date somewhere between 1120 and 1169. The Abbot of Springiersbach, Richard, is named in this document. Springiersbach Abbey's first two abbots were both named Richard. They appeared in document between 1120 and 1163. The third abbot, Gottfried von Springiersbach, only crops up in a document for the first time in 1169. The 1120-1169 time period for the document is confirmed by the mention of three witnesses to the document who are named, Heinrich von Ulmen and his brother Rudolf, and Theodorich von Klotten. All three are named in documents from 1130, and the brothers von Ulmen are furthermore mentioned in documents from 1144. In the document containing the first documentary mention, Justina, the knight Siegfried's noble wife, bequeathed three estates at Uersfeld,
Wollmerath and Princka, which she had inherited from her rich father Alberto, to Springiersbach Abbey, receiving in consideration thereof eight
Fuder of wine each year (a
Fuder was somewhere between 800 and 1 000 L). == Politics ==