Destruction horizons are a common part of the archaeological record and site biographies are punctuated by catastrophic events across all periods, which in many cases, result in settlement failure. These levels present significant issues when trying to develop broad settlement trends. This is a major problem in understanding the rural trajectories of Roman Britannia, Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior, where poorly understood pulses of destruction have been teleologically projected to construct narratives of violent barbarian raiding and invasion. This paper addresses this by presenting a clear methodology for assessing destruction horizons in Roman Northwestern Europe. It examines the current state of research on the topic and builds a categorisation for certainty grading of the data as well as examining the typologies of destruction present in the archaeological record. To achieve this, it will apply the system to a test-case of destructive events at villa complexes.
The results of non-invasive research conducted using the GPR and magnetic methods in Dakowy Mokre (woj. wielkopolskie/PL) revealed the existence of a previously unknown ditch with a low embankment, located in the central part of the stronghold. This discovery raises new questions about the function of this space, and at the same time the entire stronghold, as well as the mutual connections between the two structures and their chronological relationship. Analogies at early medieval hillforts in Lubusz Land, Lower Silesia and Pomerania indicate their connotations with the cult or sepulchral sphere. Some of the strongholds mentioned in the text have been excavated, revealing interesting archaeological material in the fillings of ditches and embankments, indicating cyclical non-utilitarian activities. The newly discovered structure in Dakowy Mokre will undergo the same verification, which we hope will open up new interpretative possibilities.*
Gold-leaf crosses represent a specific category of finds that can be traced almost simultaneously in early medieval cemeteries in southern Germany and Italy from the last third of the 6(th) century onwards. Their characteristic materiality suggests an interpretation as exclusively funeraryjewellery, whose symbolic function is to be located within the context of burial rituals. A detailed analysis of burial contexts that have received little attention to date, as well as the iconography of pressed-plate decorated examples, opens up new perspectives on the multi-layered levels of meaning that could be associated with these objects.
Neuenstadt am Kocher was located during Roman times in the border region of Germania Superior. It was the main settlement in the civitas Aurelia G(---). The settlement was originally founded after the middle of the 2nd century, and was inhabited until the second half of the 3rd century. Excavations are ongoing under the auspices of a DFG project of the University of Bamberg and the Landesamt f & uuml;r Denkmalpflege Baden-W & uuml;rttemberg. The unusual glass vessel was found in a large, high-status building within the settlement. The special feature of this clear glass jug is its twisted handle with an eyelet midway. The handle is related to jugs with chain handles, a type particularly found in Mainz. There are two known parallels for the Neuenstadt vessel from Cologne and Tongeren. The twisted handle is also known from vessels of different shape, but remains a rare feature. Chemical analysis (LA-ICP-MS) shows that the Neuenstadt vessel was made from raw antimony decolorised glass. The analysis of four blown glass vessels from different locations showed that they were made using some recycled glass.
Augusta Treverorum (Trier) was a major city of Gallia Belgica and a key node in the Roman Empire's trade networks. Strategically situated in the Moselle valley, from its foundation in the early 1st century AD it linked the western Mediterranean, inner Gaul and Germania. Yet its economy and place within these routes remain poorly understood; a systematic study of its imports is still pending. The so-far unexamined amphora assemblage from Trier offers a unique opportunity to close this gap: quantitative analysis will illuminate its supply system, with special attention to staples such as wine and oil. Within the project >> Treveris Amphorae Survey and the Roman Economy< (TREASURE), a collaboration between the University of Trier and the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, a systematic review of the city's amphorae began in 2023. The first stage documents stamped amphorae from museum and private collections. This paper presents the initial results.
During the Middle Ages, tuff from the East Eifel was exported for construction purposes to the stone-poor regions of the Rhine and the North Sea coast. Despite many years of research, a comprehensive map covering the entire distribution area is still lacking. This article compiles the results of regional studies for Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark, and presents a list and a distribution map that also includes the Rhine region. Among the approximately 1100 recorded buildings are about 950 churches and about 150 secular buildings, including fortresses, residential buildings, and other structures. Not only the church but also secular elites played a role in constructing these buildings. The number and distribution of churches seem to be closely linked to the development of the economy and population. The distribution is primarily oriented along waterways for transport-economic reasons but also appears to depend on the regional soil conditions.
Recent archaeological research at Mu & scaron;ov-Burgstall in the Czech Republic, a key Roman military site during the Marcomannic Wars, has uncovered three armour scales with unique features. While Roman scale armour was usually left plain, these scales are decorated with embossing. They display a stylized laurel leaf, filled in with three dots representing hobnails. Both elements are known as emblematic symbols of the 10th legion used on legionary stamps. For the first time, these symbols are also seen on armour scales that date to the Marcomannic Wars. This discovery reinforces the importance of symbolism in military attire, highlighting its role in group identity and the need for psychological stability amid uncertainty. The finds contribute to a broader understanding of Roman military equipment, demonstrating not only their functional character but also their symbolic aspects.
The people of the Eburones living in the Lower Rhine frontier zone of northern Gaul has attracted the attention of historians and archaeologists since many generations. On the one hand because they successfully defeated a large Roman army at a place called Aduatuca during their revolt of 54 BC. On the other hand because they were almost completely destroyed by Caesar's revenge campaigns with genocidal traits in 53 and 51 BC. An important question for a full understanding of Caesar's confrontation with the Eburones is the location of the Roman winter camp and battle site of Aduatuca. In this article we aim to summarise the current debate and present a new hypothesis that locates Aduatuca at Tongeren-Berg (prov. Limburg/BE), a hilltop directly northeast of the Roman civitas capital of Aduatuca Tungrorum/Tongeren. Judging by the numismatic evidence, Berg seems to have functioned as a central place of the Eburonean polity, an hypothesis that can be tested by further archaeological research in the next few years.
The golden (80-83 % Au, 19.16-19.93 carats) three-sided pendant, decorated with granulation and filigree work of Early Byzantine origin, was found in 2022 at Sadsk & aacute; (okr. Nymburk/CZ) in the newly discovered Early Medieval settlement with finds mainly from the 8th century. The pendant consists of 13 main components, 5 filigree wires (3 round-sectioned, 2 beaded) and 174 granules; XRF and SEM/EDS analyses were performed on different components and solder areas. The seams and solder areas are clearly visible, so the manufacture of the pendant can be described in detail. It was most likely a pendant from an earring with a little pyramid pendant of the Deszk type. The best analogies can be found in graves from the second half of the 7th century from the southeast of the Carpathian Basin and also in graves from the southeast of Ukraine and the Caucasus region, dated from the 6th century. The pendants are, however, a bit bigger. In terms of the continuity between Late Roman and Byzantine products, Late Roman import cannot be ruled out, although dating to the second half of the 6th and mainly the 7th century is more plausible. The pendant represents one of three cases of golden imported finds in Bohemia from the late 6th and 7th centuries.
During the third to mid-second millennia BC in Europe, human culture witnessed dramatic changes. Various studies indicate that this sociocultural shift had complex and regionally variable biological impacts. Hence, palaeodemographic analyses of age-at-death and sex from human skeletal remains provide valuable insights into life span and mortality. This study reconstructs the demographic profile of 322 Final Neolithic (Corded Ware culture) and Early Bronze Age (Neckar group) individuals from 17 sites in Baden-W & uuml;rttemberg (Southwest Germany) by using life tables. The results indicate diachronic changes in mortality and life expectancy of infant individuals, and juvenile and adult females accompanied by regional variations. This suggests generally improving living conditions from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, except for increased mortality in Early Bronze Age juveniles potentially related to adolescent pregnancies.
The site of Kalkriese, which has been the subject of archaeological research for over 30 years, is associated with the historic Battle of the Teutoburg Forest of AD 9. While most of the controversy has revolved around the chronology and historical contextualisation of the battle, the interpretations of the battlefield scenarios have remained largely undiscussed. For a long time, the Kalkriese narrative was characterised by an ambush set up by the Germanic warriors. More recent excavations have replaced this with the assumption of a Roman march camp that was eventually overrun in the course of the battle. Both scenarios are directly linked to the discovery of a linear structure. A recently published geoarchaeological study has now refuted both approaches. The structures in question date back to the Middle Ages. The foundations and results of this study are examined here. It turns out that these do not provide sufficient scientific evidence to reject the previous scenarios.
During excavations in 2022 near Empfingen (Lkr. Freudenstadt, Baden-W & uuml;rttemberg) in an area that was already known from Roman archaeological finds, an approximately 60 m x 55 m round-oval square was uncovered. In the centre of the structure, which was surrounded by a stone foundation as the base of a presumably wooden superstructure and had an entrance in the east, was a square stone foundation and three massive stone-framed post pits. In addition, a large number of small post pits were documented, which were arranged on the inside of the enclosure. To date, no corresponding comparisons to the structures documented in Empfingen are known that would allow an interpretation of the find. The finds from the late 1st to the early 3rd century, which show the typical spectrum of a provincial Roman settlement, also give no indication of the use of the enclosed site, for which mercantile, political and religious functions are discussed.
Grave VI-2 is the only grave at the cemetery of Dudka (Masuria, north-eastern Poland) which contains three sitting burials and is the most complicated of all the graves in the cemetery. The taphonomic analyses of grave VI-2 proved that the deceased were buried in the pit in at least two episodes. In the first episode, a young adult male - individual C - was interred in a sitting-squatting position. The next two primary burials of the second male (ind. A) and a child (ind. B) were added sometime later in the second funeral episode, when the body of individual C was decomposing. Disarticulated bones of other individuals were most probably added to grave VI-2 in the second episode, which is suggested by their location inside the grave. The cremation was at the top of the grave, so it could have been added later, in a possible third funeral episode. The body position of the sitting individuals, as well as the location of the bones of the secondary burials, was undoubtedly intentionally arranged. It could have a ritual importance and most probably indicate the kinship and social relations between the deceased.
The Louvre holds a small engobed beaker with applied decoration, of unknown provenance, from the collection of & Eacute;mile Guimet. It belongs to form C of the two-handled beakers of the D & eacute;chelette 74 type and is part of the Lezoux production (probably from the workshop on the route de Maringues). Its applied decorations not only enabled a complete reconstruction of a previously catalogued applique, but also to reveal a new, previously unknown scene. Their analysis has provided a concrete example of how the Roman art industry functioned, and of the interactions between different craftsmen. We were able to reconstruct a prototype of work that had been used to make metal vases that served as models for Roman potters in various provinces to make moulds for appliques. A die for stamping tiles was also created from this model. Appliques, in turn, were used to produce secondary moulds from Antiquity to the modern era.
Between 1953 and 1958, excavations were carried out at two sites (nos 21 and 22) in the village of Zes & lstrok;awice (now part of Krakow). Both sites were associated with the settlement of the Baden culture. In one of the sites, two intriguing vessels with >> pockets << were found. They were shaped like pear-shaped amphorae with cylindrical rims and bases with a small diameter. One of the vessels, due to the lack of analogies in the Baden culture, resembles a Kernos-type vessel in shape. This container refers to vessels with nozzles, which were used for twisting threads. The skeins of thread were placed in smaller compartments, and the ends were pulled through the nozzles of the vessel and then pulled out through the main opening. In this way, the threads were twisted using a spindle, probably suspended from the ceiling. The use of such clay vessels began in the Chalcolithic period and continued throughout prehistory in various forms and cultural contexts.
Between 2020 and 2024, the Landesamt f & uuml;r Denkmalpflege im Regierungspr & auml;sidium Stuttgart investigated the impressive fortifications at Althayingen near Hayingen-Indelhausen (Lkr. Reutlingen/DE). Prospections and excavations revealed evidence of a hilltop settlement that was fortified during the Late Hallstatt period. Of particular note was the discovery of a fortified gateway that had been destroyed by fire. A striking feature of the archaeofauna from Althayingen is the very high proportion of domestic pigs (almost 90 % by the number of finds). Architectural similarities and the recovered artefacts suggest close links to the Late Hallstatt centre of power at the Heuneburg, located 23 km away. Althayingen's location directly above the Grof3e Lauter is probably related to controlling the transport axis to the north, towards the Neckar.
On the edge of the excavations in Doliche on the Keber Tepe, located in the Syrian-Turkish border region near Gaziantep, three objects were found that had presumably been recovered and left behind undocumented during illegal excavations. These were an iron pickaxe, a Roman stone mixing tablet and a Roman bronze vessel. The latter can be identified as a miniature form of a Hemmoor bucket. Such buckets are mainly known from the central and eastern European Barbaricum and the neighbouring north-western and Danube provinces; miniatures are extremely rare. The find from Doliche, together with an example from Juliopolis which was discovered 700 km to the west, marks the easternmost distribution of these buckets, which correspond to the Hemmoor type.
Numerous Middle Palaeolithic sites are known from north-western Switzerland, which can generally be dated to the last glaciation and can be summarised under the >>cultural term< of Moust & eacute;rien. Apart from isolated attempts to categorise them as belonging to a particular Moust & eacute;rian facies, no absolute dating are available for the individual sites. With the surface find of a heart-shaped biface (biface cordiforme) in the F & uuml;llinsdorf-Oberholz site discovered by a volunteer in 2016, a find inventory can now be assigned to the Moust & eacute;rien de tradition acheul & eacute;enne (MTA) for the first time in Switzerland, the dating spectrum of which is around 50 ka BP. In addition to this biface, the series contains a scraper (racloir & agrave; dos aminci) and a limace made of flint, as well as two choppers made of hard volcanic rocks. Several flakes and two cores prove the use of the Levallois technique. F & uuml;llinsdorf-Oberholz lies at the southern end of a zone of MTA sites that extends far northwards along the Rhine. According to current knowledge, this zone, which is mainly defined by MTA bifaces, is clearly distinct from the other MTA distribution with its main zone in south-west France.
Since 2007, at least three surface scatters of Middle Palaeolithic artefacts have been discovered at the site called >> Peest<<, near Assen (prov. Drenthe/NL). The largest scatter, >> A<<, produced at least 34 handaxes, and numerous other finds. Given the presence of relatively small, more-or-less triangular or >> cordiform<< handaxes and couteaux & agrave; dos, the site can be assigned to the Moust & eacute;rien de tradition acheul & eacute;enne (MTA) type A with an estimated age of c. 50,000 years. Two recently found handaxes are described and illustrated in this paper. One of the handaxes was made by an experienced flintknapper, the second probably by an advanced learner. Scatter A has produced multiple examples of both well-made and somewhat defective handaxes, the latter probably made by Neanderthal children. The co-occurrence of masterly and clumsily made handaxes indicates that scatter A represents a >> base camp<<, where a group of Neanderthals including one or two youngsters resided for a while and engaged in a variety of activities.
Thanks to the Aachen tunnel excavation in 2013, we have evidence of a bone-processing workshop with a sales room on the street side, the destruction of which may have been linked to the riots of 275/276 AD. The proximity of the forum and the thermal baths apparently made the production of (hair) needles, which were essential for the complicated hair fashions of the 3rd century, a lucrative business; this is also supported by fragments of luxury equipment (snake thread vessel, bronze jug, jasper gem) from the sales room of the workshop. The precise analysis of the extensive bone material made it possible to clearly localise storage, work and sales rooms within the workshop and thus fully document the entire production process.
