Archaeologists Excavated Mysterious Ruins—and Uncovered an Ancient Roman Fort
The site served as a strategic trade crossing for the Danube River as part of the historic Amber Road.
This is the first Roman bridgehead fort ever discovered in Austria.
Archaeologists solved the mystery of the ruins of the Desolate Castle, determining that the mysterious site on the Danube River shore was once part of a crucial Roman trade route.
Located two miles from the Roman legionary fortress of Carnuntum along the Danube River and long known in Austria as 'Odes Schloss' (which translates to the 'Desolate Castle'), the 'castellum'—a Latin word for fortlet or tower—was the subject of recent archaeological work. The well-preserved, nearly nine-foot-tall tower walls had long been thought to be some sort of Roman structure, and the team of experts that confirmed the suspicion have opened a new window in the history of Roman military and trade habits.
The site is Austria's only known Roman bridgehead fort. Around 1850, the still-visible walls at the site were dubbed the Desolate Castle, but experts were never sure what the area represented—that is, of course, until now.
Experts, according to a translated statement from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, believe castle construction occurred in two phases. The first was around 170-180 A.D., when Emperor Marcus Aurelius reinforced the Roman border against the Germanic tribes during the Marcomannic Wars. The site's location—on the shore of the Danube River and along the trade route known as the Amber Road, which led from the Baltics via Carnuntum to the Roman Empire—offered a critical trade crossing at the river, which was a natural border of the empire.
The second phase of construction, which occurred around 260 A.D., saw a renovation under Emperor Gallienus. Since that time, troop levels manning the fort dropped.
During the excavation, archaeologists unearthed stamped bricks from the Roman legion groups XIV and XV, along with small bronze pieces, ceramics, and coins. 'They prove the great strategic importance of Carnuntum within the Roman military system and provide new insights into the military security of the north-south connection,' Eduard Pollhammer, archaeologist and scientific director of Carnuntum, said in a statement.
Roman military strategy commonly called for the construction of forts on the opposite side of a border river. From these bases, troops observed both the passage across the river and the surrounding area. The Amber Road would have crossed the Danube at this spot, and having a military presence on the river gave Romans defensive control of comings and goings. Experts believe no physical bridge ever stood at the site—rather, a prominent ferry crossing was the transportation of choice all the way into the 18th century.
The Danube River was an important location for Roman border security and control of trade routes. Now, this newly understood castle has been designated part of the Danube Limes, which has been a UNESO World Heritage Site since 2021.
'This impressive find proves the importance of Bernsteinstraße [the Amber Road]—and the Lower Austria region—as an important traffic artery,' Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Lower Austria's governor, said in a statement, 'and as a center in the midst of various dominions, function that Lower Austria still holds today.'
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