Archeologists reported the confirmation of the discovery of the oldest Roman military fortification found to date in Germany in the journal Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt on September 14, 2012. The research was reviewed at the Alpha Galileo web site the same day.
Archaeologists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) confirmed that the well known location near 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 is a camp built during Julius Caesars’ Gallic War in the late 50s B.C.
Dr. Sabine Hornung of the Institute of Pre- and Protohistory at JGU confirmed the site through a systematic study of the 182,000 square meter fortress that included discovery of numerous shoe nails originating from the sandals of Roman soldiers found in a stone road that crossed the remains of the fortress. Dating of earthenware shards found within the fortress confirmed the suspected time frame.
The proximity of the fortress to the late Celtic fortified settlement known as the “Hunnenring” ("Circle of the Huns") which functioned as one of the major centers of the local Celtic tribe called Treveri confirms the location as a Roman fortress referenced by Julius Caesar in his "De Bello Gallico" (Commentaries on the Gallic War).
The encampment could house several thousand soldiers and included a fortified extension of 76,000 square meters that enclosed a spring and secured a water source for the army during the wars in Gaul.
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