Landscape patchwork

Aerial view of farmland in the Nördlinger Ries near Alerheim, Möttingen, Donau-Ries, Swabia, Bavaria, taken on July 2, 2006.

The Nördlinger Ries was formed 14.6 million years ago by a meteorite impact. The current Ries crater was only shaped by glacial erosion and the deposit of loess. This laid the foundation for its agricultural use. The Romans were already farming here. The name Ries is derived from the Roman province of Raetia. Archaeologists uncovered a Roman estate in the fields near Großsorheim.