Posted on 05/15/2012 9:33:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Lecturers at Bonn University had set up a mock archaeological dig at a building site on campus to teach hopeful historians digging techniques. What they did not expect to find were the 2,000-year-old foundations of a building, nestled into the dense, clayish mud.
While the initial discovery was made in March, it was only in the past fortnight that the team realised the foundations were from a temple from the Roman era, the floor of which was scattered with broken pottery dating as far back as 800 BC.
The building, which could have been part of a wealthy country estate, was 6.75 metres wide and 7.5 metres long. It was probably made from wood or clay, but roof tiles and iron nails that matched other second century Roman buildings were fished out of the rubble.
Only one similar temple – a room surrounded by an enclosed walkway – has been found in that part of North Rhine-Westphalia...
Historians had previously thought that the only settlement in that area from the time was near the Rhine. But Dr Frank Rumscheid, archaeology professor at the university, said that the temple suggests people lived away from the lush river banks, in what is now the Poppelsdorf campus area, some kilometres back from the water.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.de ...
it was only in the past fortnight that the team realised the foundations were from a temple from the Roman era, the floor of which was scattered with broken pottery dating as far back as 800 BC.
Not sure what that means...Rome wasn’t founded until 753BC. Maybe they are saying it was a more ancient building adapted later as a Roman temple? It makes no sense the way its written....
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Probably a typo, should be 80 BC.
The 800 BC pottery was pre-Roman, naturally. :’)
How far is that from the Tutoberger forest where Arminus whupped hinny on the Romans?
“VARIUS! GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS!”
About 250km (170 miles) between Bonn and Bielefeld/Osnabruck, which seems to be the most likely location.
But this site would date from long after, during a period when the Rhine border region was largely pacified and settled.
Wealthy Romans valued privacy and seclusion for their country estates.
Somewhere east of there — the Romans retook the territory, whipped Arminius and his “troops”, and a few years later A was murdered by some kinsmen — sounds like hired-gun retribution, else how would word have reached Rome? The Romans expanded eastward into what’s now Germany, and built the Limes or wall linking the upper reaches of the Rhine and Danube in order to provide an artificial barrier to complete the natural one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limes_Germanicus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Limes2.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Limes2.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Limes_Germanicus_2nd_c.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Limes_Germanicus_2nd_c.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borders_of_the_Roman_Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karte_limes.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Karte_limes.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mapa_del_Conf%C3%ADn_del_Imperio_Romano.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Mapa_del_Conf%C3%ADn_del_Imperio_Romano.gif
Thanks Renfield for this one, I checked it out on my TV.
Time lapse map of Europe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBK9yncmps8
The over-the-border private colonization of frontier areas during the Roman Empire hasn’t been taught in schools (gee, I wonder why?), but it led to an extension of the reach of Roman culture, politics, and maybe (for a time) the Latin language. In the 1990s a Roman fortified outpost was found in Ireland. It could have been a military station, perhaps dating from Agricola’s campaign in Scotland, or it may have been a privately-established trading post / colony. Or perhaps a combination of both (since the Roman army opened up areas for commerce as well as settlement). One unknown ancient entrepreneur brought a small colony of pottery makers from India, settled them on the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea (just as inviting and habitable then as now, I’m sure), and made fake-authentic Indian pottery to sell into the the seemingly boundless Roman market for Indian imports, thus saving him time and long voyages using the monsoon winds.
That makes a lot of sense to me. Look at how influential American culture, business, entertainment, etc. are in the world today. Roman influence would have been even more influential in its day in Europe.
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