Germany: Roman battle field frozen in time. 600 artifacts found. No one thought the Romans came North that far.
- From: GLOBALIST <free.tuneup@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:26:44 -0700 (PDT)
German Archaeologists Hail New Find
Discovery of Roman Battlefield Poses Historical Riddle
By Andrew Curry in Kalefeld, Germany
Archaeologists in Germany say they have found an ancient battlefield
strewn with Roman weapons. The find is significant because it
indicates that Romans were fighting battles in north Germany at a far
later stage than previously assumed.
The wilds of Germany may not have been off-limits to Roman legions,
archaeologists announced on Monday. At a press conference in the woods
near the town of Kalefeld, about 100 kilometers south of Hanover,
researchers announced the discovery of a battlefield strewn with
hundreds of Roman artifacts dating from the 3rd century A.D.
Finding evidence of Roman fighting forces so far north is surprising,
the archaeologists say. Germany was once considered prime territory
for Roman conquest. But in A.D. 9, thousands of Roman legionaries were
slaughtered in a forest near modern-day Bremen.
"We thought that with the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the Romans
gave up on this region and pulled back behind the limes," or frontier
fortifications further south, says Henning Hassmann, the Lower Saxony
Conservation Department's lead archaeologist.
But evidence found in woods outside the small town of Kalefeld may
force historians to take a new look at the Roman presence in Germany.
More than 600 artifacts, ranging from axe heads and wagon parts to
coins and arrowheads, have been found on a forested hill called the
Harzhorn. So far, the artifacts indicate that Roman soldiers fought a
battle on top of the hill.
The site first came to light in the summer of 2000, when local metal
detector hobbyists found some pieces of metal while looking for a
medieval fort. The fragments languished for years, until the men
finally decided to turn them in to Petra Loenne, the Northeim area
archaeologist.
Loenne immediately recognized an unusual tangle of metal. Called a
"hippo-sandal," it was a sort of early horseshoe that was wrapped
around the hoof of a horse or draft animal. "It definitely wasn't
medieval," she says. In fact, it was Roman – but as far as Loenne knew
it had no place in Lower Saxony, hundreds of miles north of the Roman
frontier.
Loenne quickly assembled a team of archaeologists and historians – and
local metal detector hobbyists with good connections to the
archaeological authorities. Her priority was to locate any more
artifacts close to the surface as quickly as possible. "We had to
hurry and excavate before word got out and looters arrived," Loenne
says.
Over the course of three months, they found a Roman-era battlefield
spread over more than a mile of dense German forest. Standing under
towering pines on Monday, Loenne said the battlefield may be one of
the largest ever discovered intact from that era.
Metal detector hobbyists working under the watchful eye of Loenne and
her team located over 600 metal objects, from Roman sandal nails to
arrowheads and six-inch long iron spear points that once capped
javelins fired from ballistae, a sort of giant crossbow.
DPA
The battlefield is located on top of a wooded hill. The poles with
tennis balls stuck on them show where artifacts were found.
After the press conference on Monday, the local fire department
ferried visitors up a muddy dirt road to the hilltop. Snow still clung
to the forest floor, which was pocked with tiny craters where
archaeologists had dug holes.
The steep face of the hill was studded with tennis balls on spikes,
each one marking where an artifact had been found. The center of the
hill was covered with neon-green balls, each one marking where a
ballista's javelin had landed; a few balls painted blue and green
marked spear and arrow points. Archaeologists found eighty percent of
the points were found oriented in the same direction. The rest may
have bounced off of trees – or barbarians – and landed pointing in a
different direction.
Battle Action Frozen in Time
Along the ridge on either side of the hilltop, dozens of tennis balls
painted red support the argument. The red balls mark where Roman
sandal nails came loose. After archers and artillery launched their
weapons towards the defenders on top of the hill, the archaeologists
think Roman legionaries may have swept in from either side to finish
the job.
"It took half an hour or an hour at most, but it's preserved like it
was frozen in time," said Michael Geschwinde, an archaeologist at the
Lower Saxony Conservation Department who participated in the dig. "For
an archaeologist, it's amazing to be able to explore this moment."
The layout of the battlefield contains yet another tantalizing clue:
The Romans attacked the hill from the north, suggesting that they were
on their way home from a mission even further into German territory.
Geschwinde said there may have been about a thousand men on the Roman
side, perhaps including auxiliary archers and spear-throwers from the
empire's provinces in Africa and the Middle East.
At least one arrowhead still contained enough of the original wooden
shaft to provide organic material for radiocarbon dating, which place
it some time in the 3rd century A.D. Coins and other objects support
the idea that the battle may have been fought some time between 200
and 250 A.D.
There is sketchy evidence in the histories for some sort of Roman push
into German territory in the 3rd century. Historians like Herodian say
the Emperor Maximinus Thrax declared war on the Germans, but this is
the first evidence he may have actually carried out his threats. "From
what sources say, he did push into Germany," says Eric de Sena, an
archaeologist at John Cabot University in Rome. "In a way it seems to
correspond with the histories."
The specialized artillery and hundreds of Roman sandal nails found
atop Harzhorn Hill is a good indication the combatants were Romans,
not barbarians using Roman weapons. Roman artifacts have been found as
far north as the Baltic Sea, but have usually been dismissed as trade
goods. "Roman sandals on German feet doesn't make sense, at least not
in that amount," says Friedrich Lueth, head of the German
Archaeological Institute's Roman German Commission. "At this late
stage, it's quite surprising to see them so far north."
The site was under wraps until Monday to protect it from looters, but
Loenne says full-scale excavations will commence in March to dig
deeper into the mystery of Harzhorn Hill.
.
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