Last October, during renovation of a soccer pitch in Vienna, workers dug up an extraordinary find—a mass grave dating back to the 1st-century Roman Empire. The skeletal remains were believed to have belonged to warriors who died in a battle with Germanic tribes.
Vienna Museum archaeologists revealed their discoveries on Wednesday as they confirmed that the grave signifies ‘a catastrophic event in a military context’ and the earliest known indicator of combat in the area. “Within the Roman context for acts of war, there are no comparable finds of warriors,” Vienna Museum archaeologist Michaela Binder, who directed the excavation, said. She said, although battlefields with arms have been uncovered in Germany, finding the remains of dead combatants is a first in Roman history.
At least 129 Skeletons
The Vienna Simmering cemetery has at least 129 skeletons buried inside, and there are estimates that put the figure at over 150. They were all male, between 20 and 30 years, and showed good dental health. Each of the skeletons inspected showed signs of wounds from battle, such as injuries to the head, body, and hip. “They have all sorts of different battle wounds, which excludes execution. It really is a battlefield,” Kristina Adler-Wölfl, the chief of the Vienna city archaeology department, explained. She observed wounds typical of swords, lances, and blunt trauma.
In contrast to the Roman military practice of cremation, which was still the norm up to the 3rd century, the bodies here were quickly dumped in a pit, suggesting a disorganized or hurried burial. The remains have been dated to between 80 and 130 A.D. by carbon-14 analysis. This period was also supported by the find of artifacts like armor, helmet cheek guards, and nails from Roman army shoes called caligae. The most incriminating artifact was a rusty dagger, a model used particularly between the mid-1st century and early 2nd century.
Though just one person has been conclusively recognized as a Roman soldier, archaeologists expect DNA and strontium isotope analysis to tease out information about the warriors and which sides they fought for. “The most plausible theory right now is that this is related to the Danube campaigns of Emperor Domitian that’s 86 to 96 A.D.,” Adler-Wölfl said.
Aside from illuminating ancient warfare, the find gives us a glimpse into the early settlement of the region that would one day become Vienna.