Archaeologists have uncovered the remnants of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort in what is now Germany that once housed 500 soldiers.
In what is now Gernsheim, Germany, visitors can see students excavating the ruins of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort that originally housed 500 soldiers.
The fort was discovered in the German state of Hesse’s Gernsheim, which is located along the Rhine River.
According to dig leader Thomas Maurer, an archaeologist at the University of Frankfurt, the region’s history during the Roman rule is mostly unclear. However, it is known that the area was the location of a community from the first to third centuries.
The families of the soldiers were accustomed to living outside the fort in a settlement that resembled a village, therefore it was considered that this community had to have been based on a fort, according to Maurer. But nobody had ever discovered the fort before.
Military rediscovery
Maurer and his colleagues unearthed two V-shaped ditches, which were typical of Roman forts of the time, as well as postholes that once contained the foundations of a wooden tower during an educational excavation in the area.
Between roughly A.D. 70 and A.D. 120, a force of 500 soldiers known as a “cohort” was stationed in the fort.
For the benefit of contemporary archaeologists, the last Romans to depart the fort damaged the location on their way out by dumping trash into the ditches.
This debris includes “box after box” of ceramic fragments, which can be dated to establish the time of the abandonment of the fort, said Hans-Markus von Kaenel, a professor at the Goethe University Institute of Archaeology. In the release, von Kaenel added, “With this excavation campaign, we really hit the jackpot.
Roman history
A brick fragment stamped with the sign of the 22nd Roman Legion, an elite unite from the late first century.
A scattering of archaeological discoveries in the Gernsheim region have allowed researchers to piece together a lengthy history of the area.
According to von Kaenel and his associates, the newly found fort was constructed by the Romans in the year 70 as a base for gaining control of regions east of the Rhine.
The region served as a significant transportation hub, with highways branching off to access the Roman Empire’s boundaries. According to Maurer, there might have also been a harbor on the Rhine at the time, however that hasn’t been confirmed.
The modern expansion of the town paved over many suspected Roman sites, but Maurer, von Kaenel, and their colleagues managed to secure permission for a dig on a vacant double lot near where Roman-era finds were discovered in the 1970s and 1980s. This lot turned out to hold the remains of the long-lost fort.
A brick fragment found at the site identifies the troops quartered at the fort as members of the 22nd Legion, an elite unit from the late first century.
Researchers also found real treasures such as rare garment clasps, several pearls, parts of a board game (dice, playing pieces) and a hairpin made from bone and crowned with a female bust,” Maurer said in the press release
Archaeologist Professor Thomas Maurer and his team of students found some interesting artifacts, including gaming pieces. SHARE THE ARTICLE
Source: archaeology-world.com
