Finally a real English report of the story I have been blogging about for the past couple of weeks. The first Roman camp on what is now German soil - a camp in Hermeskeil in the Hunsrück, south of Trier
built between 53-51BC, in the aftermath of Caesar's Gallic War. First post here, follow up here and here. It is the press release from the University of Mainz:
In the vicinity of Hermeskeil, a small town some 30 kilometers
southeast of the city of Trier in the Hunsrueck region in the German
federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, archaeologists from Johannes
Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have confirmed the location of the
oldest Roman military fortification known in Germany to date. These
findings shed new light on the Roman conquest of Gaul. The camp was
presumably built during Julius Caesars’ Gallic War in the late 50s B.C.
Nearby lies a late Celtic settlement with monumental fortifications
known as the “Hunnenring” or "Circle of the Huns," which functioned as
one of the major centers of the local Celtic tribe called Treveri. Their
territory is situated in the mountainous regions between the Rhine and
Maas rivers. "The remnants of this military camp are the first pieces of
archaeological evidence of this important episode of world history,"
comments Dr. Sabine Hornung of the Institute of Pre- and Protohistory at
JGU. "It is quite possible that Treveran resistance to the Roman
conquerors was crushed in a campaign that was launched from this
military fortress."
The existence of this site with a size of about 260,000 square meters
had been known since the 19th century, but its interpretation was
controversially discussed. "Some remains of the wall are still preserved
in the forest, but it hadn't been possible to prove that this was
indeed a Roman military camp as archaeologists and local historians had
long suspected," Hornung explains. The breakthrough came through
systematic investigations closely linked to archaeological research
conducted in the vicinity of the Celtic settlement "Hunnenring" near
Otzenhausen in the St. Wendel district. The Celtic fortification is
located just 5 kilometers from the military camp at Hermeskeil and can
be seen directly from the site of the Roman stronghold. As a result of
agricultural development, large sections of the former military camp can
no longer be recognized and are in danger of being lost forever.
Sabine Hornung and her team began their work in Hermeskeil in March
2010, supported by the Rheinische Landesmuseum Trier. Initial research
enabled them to determine size and shape of the military camp that was
fortified by means of an earth wall and a ditch. They determined that
the fortress consisted of an almost rectangular earthwork enclosure with
rounded corners, which, by its size of about 182,000 square meters,
provided space for several thousands of soldiers, including both
legionaries and mounted auxiliaries. An extension of additional 76,000
square meters encompassed a spring, which thereby secured water supply
for the troops.
These findings made it possible to undertake targeted excavations in
which one of the gates of the camp was discovered in summer 2011. This
consisted of a gateway paved with stones crossing the fortifications
consisting of wall and ditch. In the gaps between these paving stones,
Hornung's team of archaeologists found numerous shoe nails originating
from the sandals of Roman soldiers that had loosened as they marched
along. The size and shape of the nails were among the first indications
that the military camp at Hermeskeil dated back to the time of the late
Roman Republic or the Gallic War. This theory was subsequently confirmed
by shards of earthenware vessels discovered during excavations and
further verified using scientific dating methods.
The special historical significance of the Hermeskeil military camp
lies in its relationship to the neighboring Treveran settlement
"Hunnenring". Based on the findings of their recent excavations, Hornung
and her team were able to confirm that this settlement was abandoned by
its inhabitants around the middle of the 1st century B.C. Before the
identification of the camp near Hermeskeil, however, it was only
possible to speculate that this abandonment had had something to do with
the Gallic War. In his "De Bello Gallico," Julius Caesar reported that
the tribe of the Treveri was split into anti-Roman and pro-Roman
factions. The anti-Roman faction, led by the aristocrat Indutiomarus and
his relatives, fomented unrest that resulted in Roman reprisals in
54/53 B.C. and 51 B.C., over the course of which the Treveran resistance
to the invaders was broken. The discoveries near Hermeskeil have
potentially provided the first direct archaeological evidence for this
dramatic episode in world history.
Link is here. Also a couple of photos.
UPDATE: History of the Ancient World and Past Horizons have now written the story too.
