Bechtolsheim

Bechtolsheim
Coat of arms
Bechtolsheim
Location of Bechtolsheim within Alzey-Worms district
Coordinates: 49°48′15″N 8°11′38″E / 49.80417°N 8.19389°E / 49.80417; 8.19389Coordinates: 49°48′15″N 8°11′38″E / 49.80417°N 8.19389°E / 49.80417; 8.19389
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Alzey-Worms
Municipal assoc.	Alzey-Land
Government
• Mayor	Harald Kemptner (SPD)
Area
• Total	10.66 km2 (4.12 sq mi)
Elevation	150 m (490 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	1,667
• Density	160/km2 (410/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55234
Dialling codes	06733
Vehicle registration	AZ
Website	www.bechtolsheim-rheinhessen.de

Bechtolsheim (Literally Bechtol's Home) is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land, whose seat is in Alzey.

The municipality lies on the Selz, which here snakes along the Petersberg (mountain), at whose foot the municipality is found. The nearest towns are Alzey, with its dual administrative functions of district and Verbandsgemeinde seat, and Wörrstadt, roughly 10 km away. The state capital of Mainz, 30 km away, can be reached most quickly on Autobahn A 63.

As a winegrowing centre, Bechtolsheim lies in Germany’s biggest winegrowing district and in the middle of the Rheinhessen (Rhenish Hesse) wine region.

The municipal area covers 1 065 ha, of which 300 ha is planted with grapevines.

The municipality’s nearest neighbours are Biebelnheim (1 km) and Gau-Odernheim (1.5 km). After these come Gabsheim and Undenheim. With Weinolsheim there is a common municipal limit, but aside from paths across the countryside, there is no road link.

In the early 20th century, at what are now Bechtolsheim’s limits with Biebelnheim and Gabsheim, a stone axehead from the New Stone Age was found. On 7 February 1962, a skeleton was discovered in the form of a seated burial.