Ancient Roman Military Camp Unearthed in Eastern Germany

ScienceNow ^ | 13 May 2014 | Andrew Curry

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists have confirmed the presence of a long-lost Roman military camp deep in eastern Germany. The 18-hectare site, found near the town of Hachelbich in Thuringia, would have sheltered a Roman legion of up to 5000 troops. Its location in a broad valley with few impediments suggests it was a stopover on the way to invade territory further east...

The Hachelbich site, along with a battlefield near Hannover uncovered in 2008, show... that the Romans were willing to cross their frontier when it suited their political or military needs.

The encampment was discovered in 2010, during routine excavations as part of a road-building project...

On the camp’s northern edge, the soldiers built a gate protected by another trench that projected out past the perimeter...

Additional evidence of an ancient encampment includes traces of eight makeshift bread ovens not far from the camp perimeter and a handful of artifacts, including four nails from the bottom of Roman boots, a piece of horse tackle, and part of a scabbard. The style of these artifacts—and a few radiocarbon dates—place the camp somewhere in the first 2 centuries C.E., too broad a range to be linked to a known specific event in Roman history...

“Now we have the first camp that’s clearly more than a day trip from the edge of the empire,” he says. “It’s no isolated frontier outpost, but something that clearly points to the Elbe River,” hundreds of kilometers deep in German territory.

[Verginius Rufus]

The Persians don't become a problem until the 220s--until then the enemy in the east was the Parthian kingdom. There was a major war against the Parthians in the 160s, commanded by Lucius Verus (co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius).

Marcus Aurelius spent much of his time on the Danube frontier fighting the Marcomanni and Quadi--he died either in Vindobona (modern Vienna) or at another place on the Danube. His successor Commodus quickly ended the war--sort of the Roman counterpart to Obama being eager to end Bush's war in Iraq regardless of the consequences.

[pierrem15]

Not sure I agree entirely-- the fact that the Parthians were not as great a threat as the Sassanids is undoubtedly true, but the fact that the threat was real enough to send Lucius Verus with a substantial army to the East (draining resources from the Danube frontier) shows that the fundamental strategic threat to the Empire was already serious at the time Marcus Aurelius.

The fact that both campaigns ended indecisively also did not bode well for the Romans. Only a little more than sixty years before Trajan was able to mop the floor with the Persians, and (with difficulty) to acquire Dacia.

In retrospect it appears Hadrian's decision to call off Trajan's Persian campaign and build enormous and costly frontier fortifications may have been a grave mistake.

[ZULU]

When the “History Channel” gets involved, all kinds of rubbish is tossed around. Let’s see them do a follow up on THIS one and apologize.

[minnesota_bound]

I thought that the United States was at fault for everything. obama even went on an apology tour.

Now I know it was those Italians.

[SunkenCiv]

Hadrian did what he did because he was only interested in boy’s anuses. Regardless, considering what turmoil the people of the Roman Empire were put through, it was obviously cohesive and durable; from the death of Hadrian to the fall of Rome was nearly three centuries. And the eastern capital didn’t fall for another millennium.

Romans and Barbarians: Four Views from the Empire’s Edge, 1st Century AD
Derek Williams
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312199589/sunkencivilizati

Frontiers of the Roman Empire
Hugh Elton
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN//0415692555/sunkencivilizati

[Jimmy Valentine]

Thanks!

[pierrem15]

Well I think Hadrian was interested in considerably more than boys' anuses, although I would think those were among his top ten.

He was reputed an able commander in the Dacian campaign by Trajan and was well regarded by his soldiers, who seem to have respected him a great deal despite their general disdain for buggery.

I simply meant that taking a great offensive fighting force like the Roman army and turning it into a mainly defensive force had unforeseen consequences that are already visible in the Column of Marcus Aurelius: my impression is you can see the Roman troops doing most of the defensive engineering work, while non-Roman auxiliaries are doing a lot of the fighting.

[colorado tanker]

I agree with you. This is pretty darn far in the East, especially if it points to an expedition whose goal was even farther east.

[SunkenCiv]

map -- midway between Kassel and Leipzig.

[SunkenCiv]

• 'Spectacular' ancient public library discovered in Germany [2018]
• Archaeologist: We have evidence of the presence of Roman legionaries in Poland [2018]
• Archaeologists discover 'Roman Village' in Gernsheim [2015]
• Roman drunkard found on Danish island [2015]
• Hitting the jackpot on a dig in Gernsheim: Long lost Roman fort discovered [2014]
• A Roman hoard from the end of empire [2014]
• New Iron Age Sites Discovered in Finland [Roman era] [2014]
• Treasure trove reveals Iron Age town [Sweden] [2013]
• German battlefield yields Roman surprises [2013]
• Two Iron Age Sites Discovered in Finland [2012]
• Students find rare Roman temple on practice dig [Poppelsdorf, Germany] [2012]
• Lost Roman camp that protected against Germanic hordes found [2011]
• New finds suggest Romans won big North Germany battle [ Maximinus Thrax ] [2010]
• Near Army construction site in Germany, a trove of ancient Roman artifacts [2009]
• 2,000-year-old statue of Emperor Augustus on horseback found in stream [2009]
• Gold-plated Roman horse head found (near Frankfurt) [2009]
• Ancient Roman battlefield excavated in Lower Saxony[Germany] [2008]
• Report: Ancient Roman graveyard found in suburban Copenhagen [2007]
• Crystal Amulet Poses Question On Early Christianity (Denmark - 100AD) [2007]
• Graves Hint At Contact With Romans (Sweden) [2006]
• Gibbon on global warming [2006]
• Buddha statue from 6th c found in Viking hoard in Helgo, Sweden [2005]
• The Romans in Ireland [2004]
• romangermany keyword

[SunkenCiv]

(in 2012 it was merged with five or six other municipalities, only three of which were large enough to show on the map graphic I’d d/l’ed)

Hachelbich, Kyffhäuserland, Kyffhäuserkreis, Thüringen