Very cool find in Germany of an old battlefield between Germans and Romans...might have been Maximinus Thrax? http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20081211-16075.html http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iY8SwRu6dheaLnRSctQr8uOG-lAgD95399Q01 http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/05/germany.battlefield/#cnnSTCText What a great find...surely there will be coins
Wow that's a great discovery . I can't wait to see some images of the coins that they are going to excavate real cool Jazzcoins Joe
apparently they are finding mostly weapons and the like...to be honest...most soldiers did not bring their money with them into battle if they KNOW they are going to be fighting...thats why so many caches are often found around encampment sites, they would leave stuff behind, go fight, and those who dont make it back, their stuff stays hidden until we find them... this dagger is in amazingly preserved condition: most of the objects they are showing seem in great condition...
Wow, is it peaty soil or something? I guess metal would resist the only major damage of peat which is usually squashing things, can't think of anything else that would keep that stuff so well preserved over such a long time. Greg
The condition of that dagger is incredible. The soil chemistry must have been perfect for preservation. More often than not, iron is mineralized during that span of time. However that happened is almost as interesting as the artifact.
Great story - the condition of that knife is really something else. Thanks for posting! Just think about the condition of those coins :eat:
By the way, there are three states in Germany which use "Saxony" as or in the state name. The location of this find is in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen, state capital: Hannover). Then we have the states of Saxony (Sachsen, capital: Dresden) and Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt, capital: Magdeburg) ... Christian
After a debate I had with some other people interested in this, we feel it could very well be Maximinus Thrax...I have one of his coins here: Now this is just conjecture and maybe it will be proved wrong later, but I think it might be because of this battle mentioned in the albeit untrustwothy Historia Augusta: Maximinus wasted no time in turning his attentions to the upstart German tribes but not before quickly suppressing plots that had already formed to remove him. First by the ex-consul Magnus to have disloyal soldiers destroy the bridge that allowed Maximinus to return across the Rhine; the other an uprising by disgruntled soldiers who accompanied Alexander from the East and who championed the recently dismissed provincial governor Quartinus as a rival emperor. This being done he marched his army in full strength across the Rhine burning and looting the villages that were all but abandoned by German warriors looking to gather and engage on terrain more favorable to them thus giving them the advantage. When he did engaged the German forces where they had gathered in the marshlands, it is said: 'the emperor took charge of the battle in person with great bravery. Maximinus took the lead by plunging into the marsh on horse-back (even though the level of the water came over the horse's belly), and killed many of the barbarians that resisted.' His example of bravery and skill in battle is said to have inspired his troops to fight and win the day even though they faced a larger force in hostile terrain. Just a possibility. There are many emperors who engaged the Germans around the time...before and after so in the end its hard to say.
Found the links on my computer again. When these finds were presented about four weeks ago, they did show a few coins. Well, only two. But one of them is interesting because it contributed to dating that battle. It is a sestertius coin showing emperor Commodus, and judging from the type/design it must be from around 190. This film http://www.3sat.de/webtv/?081215_schlacht_nano.rm shows the coins. The report (from "nano" on 3sat TV) may not be terribly interesting for those who do not understand German, but after about two thirds they do show the coins, one of which - the Commodus piece - helps completing the dating puzzle so to say. Christian
Thanks for that link, so the battle certainly took place after 190...coins of Commodus could have easily still been in circulation at the time of Maximinus we are talking any where between 190 and 235...at least. The other one proposed was possibly Gallienus who had big run in with the Germans and minted coins to his victories...but that is more like 253-268 and by then, it might be less likely to see a commodus coin in circulation I would think. I think the prevailing opinion right now is Maximinus against the Alemanni around 235, it would be cool if they found something that could date the battle a bit more exactly.
I read that article on CNN.com and they had a picture of this guy with his metal detector. The article said something to the sort that buried Roman treasures found in Germany and the first person I thought of was Eduard! Considering how sucessful he has been, I figured that was him with metal detector.
Hehe, yes, except Eduard is (and has his "favorite spots") in the state of Hesse as far as I know. But this case is a nice example of how detector users do not necessarily work "against" archeologists but in the end even cooperate pretty well ... Christian
Hehe, guess what "Der Spiegel" wrote on December 15 ... The magazine had a big cover story about the Varus Battle (9 AD, thus 2000 years ago now) and, on a separate page, an article about the new finds near Kalefeld. And what do they say? Christian
