Altenbamberg  Altenbamberg 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" of Bad Kreuznach, whose seat is in the like-named town. The recreational village of Altenbamberg lies in the Alsenz valley on the edge of the North Palatine Uplands at an elevation of 130 m above sea level. The municipal area measures 753 ha, of which 286.5 ha is wooded, 50 ha is used for winegrowing (vineyards) and 226 ha is used for agriculture. Altenbamberg borders in the north on the town of Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg, in the northeast on the town of Bad Kreuznach, in the east on the municipalities of Frei-Laubersheim and Fürfeld, in the south on the municipality of Hochstätten and in the west on the municipality of Feilbingert. The narrow stretch of the Alsenz valley where Altenbamberg now lies is known to have been settled even in prehistoric times. The Stone Age archaeological finds from the Altenbamberg and Neu-Bamberg area have yielded clues as to a settlement here in the New Stone Age. Traces of Bronze Age dwellings have been confirmed in this same area and also near Frei-Laubersheim and Siefersheim (the latter in the neighbouring Alzey-Worms district). It may be assumed that Bronze Age dwellings were represented in the North Palatine-Rhenish-Hessian region rather densely. In 1903, near the Schäferplacken (a wooded area) within Altenbamberg's limits, an archaeological dig at the "Hünengräber" (“Huns’ Graves” – actually barrows) was undertaken with great eagerness. Recovered from this operation were grave goods that were most important to confirming the presence of an Iron Age culture in the area from about 750 to 15 BC. Right from the beginning, Altenbamberg's history has been bound to the castle, Altenbaumburg. This castle, which had its first documentary mention in 1129, was seat to the line of the Raugraves, descendants of the Emichones, who from 960 were counts in the Nahegau.