Latest news with #KristinaAdler-Wölfl
Fox News
07-04-2025
- Science
- Fox News
Archaeologists uncover hundreds of bodies under soccer field in eerie find: 'Truly a battlefield'
Archaeologists recently made a colossal discovery: They found an ancient Roman mass grave, dating back to the first-century A.D., underneath a soccer field in Vienna. The necropolis was found by construction crews working in the Vienna neighborhood of Simmering last October. The discovery was unknown to the world until the Vienna Museum announced it on Apr. 2. The 129 bodies, which were likely a mix of Roman soldiers and Germanic tribesmen, were found in total. Dislocated bones were also found at the site, meaning that as many as 150 victims' remains were found, the Associated Press reported. The discovery, which dates back to between 80 and 130 A.D., is the largest of its kind in Central Europe. It is also the first-known mass grave of Roman soldiers and Germanic tribes in Vienna. What made the discovery particularly unusual was the fact that any Roman soldiers were found at all, the experts said. Soldiers were typically cremated until the third century, they said. "Within the context of Roman acts of war, there are no comparable finds of fighters," excavation leader said Michaela Binder, as the Vienna Museum shared. "There are huge battlefields in Germany where weapons were found." "But finding the dead — that is unique for the entire Roman history." The victims were all male, and their remains were haphazardly scattered around, implying that they were hastily dumped. Experts have also been able to identify head, pelvis and torso injuries from the bones. "They have various different battle wounds, which rules out execution. It is truly a battlefield," Vienna archaeologist Kristina Adler-Wölfl said, as the AP reported. "There are wounds from swords, lances; wounds from blunt trauma." Archaeologists used carbon-14 dating to determine the age of the bones while also consulting the artifacts, which included armor and helmet cheek protectors. "The most likely theory at the moment is that this is connected to the Danube campaigns of Emperor Domitian — that's 86 to 96 A.D.," Adler-Wölfl said. Though one victim has been confirmed as a Roman warrior so far, the examination of the bones will continue, the scientists said. The archaeologists hope to paint a fuller picture of the soldiers and which sides each of them fought on. The experts at the Vienna Museum shared a public presentation of the details last week.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mass grave of over 120 Roman soldiers found under soccer field
Soccer field renovations near Vienna, Austria recently revealed a significant—if grim—archeological find: a mass grave dating back to the first century CE and Roman empire. The gravesite contained the skeletons of potentially over 150 soldiers. According to archeologists, the discovery is as dark as it is unique, and may provide unexpected new insights into life on the Roman frontier at the height of the nation's power. The city of Vienna has existed for hundreds of years, but its history extends even further into the past. Roughly 2,000 years ago, Rome's forces stretched into present-day Austria and established multiple military outposts across the region. One of the largest garrisons constructed was a settlement known as Vindobona on the Danube River, and it eventually grew to include 16,000 to 20,000 residents. Rome ultimately left Vindobona to the Huns in 433 CE, and the outpost was subsequently abandoned for centuries. However, experts only have historical accounts of combat in the region prior to this and t no direct evidence. In October 2024, a construction team came across a sea of skeletal remains while working on renovations to a soccer field in Vienna's neighboring town of Simmerling. Archeologists from the Vienna Museum soon visited the site and confirmed the extraordinary: a mass grave of at least 129 individuals, but likely many more. Further analysis confirmed that the bodies belonged almost exclusively to 20 to 30 year old Roman legionnaires, all of whom appear to display evidence of fatal battle injuries from spears, swords, daggers, and bolts. But as surprising as this discovery is from an everyday perspective, it also proved hard for archeologists to believe. As history shows, Rome wasn't known for its lack of military campaigns. But until the fourth century CE, Romans didn't even bury they cremated them. 'In the Roman Empire, there were strict burial rituals, and precise rules had to be followed for the time after death,' Kristina Adler-Wölfl, Vienna's head of archeology, said in a city announcement. 'Since cremations were common in the European parts of the Roman Empire around 100 AD [CE], inhumations are an absolute exception. Finds of Roman skeletons from this period are therefore extremely rare.' 'Within the context of Roman acts of war, there are no comparable finds of fighters,' dig leader Michaela Binder added on April 4 in Arkeonews. Historical accounts report multiple battles between Roman forces and Germanic tribes on the Danube border during the reign of Emperor Domitian (81-96 CE). These led his successor, Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE), to expand the Vindabona fortification borders, later known as the Danube Limes. 'The mass grave in Simmering is the first physical evidence of fighting from this period and indicates the location of a battle in the area of present-day Vienna,' said archeologist Martin Mosser. According to Mosser, the mass gravesite may directly relate to Emperor Trajan's decision to bolster defenses in the area following the Germanic conflict. Archeologists plan to further excavate the gravesite, as well as conduct DNA and isotopic analyses to better understand the warriors' living conditions. In time, the unique discovery may also expand and clarify what we know about Roman history during the first century. 'In Vienna, one is always prepared to encounter Roman traces as soon as one opens up a pavement or opens the earth,' said Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Vienna's Executive City Councillor for Culture and Science. 'After all, Vindobona laid the foundation stone of our city.'
CNN
04-04-2025
- CNN
Mass grave of Roman soldiers tells gruesome tale of military disaster
The renovation of a football pitch in Austria's capital has led to the discovery of a Roman mass grave housing the remains of more than a hundred soldiers who died in combat. The construction company working on the sports field in the district of Simmering in Vienna found a large number of human remains at the site in late October, according to the Vienna Department of Urban Archaeology, part of the Wien Museum. The remains of at least 129 individuals were uncovered during excavations by archaeologists and anthropologists from the museum and archaeological excavation company Novetus, the museum said in a press release Wednesday. However, the total number of individuals is estimated to be more than 150, as the earlier construction works had displaced a large number of dislocated bones in the 16-foot-long pit. The skeletal finds suggest 'a hasty covering of the dead with earth,' as the individuals were not buried in an orderly fashion, but with their limbs intertwined with each other's and with many lying on their stomachs or sides, the museum said. After the skeletons were cleaned up and examined, researchers found that they were all male, and most were more than 1.7 meters tall (more than 5 feet 7 inches) and between the ages of 20 and 30 when they died. Their dental health was generally good, with few signs of infection, but every individual analyzed bore injuries sustained at or near their time of death. The variety of wounds, which were mainly found in the skull, pelvis and torso, and made by weapons including spears, daggers, swords and iron bolts, suggests they were sustained during battle rather than the result of execution – the punishment for military cowardice, the museum said. 'As the remains are purely male, it can be ruled out that the site of discovery was not connected with a military hospital or similar or that an epidemic was the cause of death. The injuries to the bones are clearly the result of combat,' it added. The bones were dated to approximately 80 to 230 AD. The men were probably robbed of their weapons, since only a small number of objects were found alongside them, according to the release. Archaeologists uncovered two iron spearheads, one of which was found lodged in a hip bone. Numerous hobnails were discovered near the feet of one individual. These nails would have studded the underside of leather Roman military shoes, the museum said. An X-ray of the scabbard of a rusted and corroded iron dagger revealed typical Roman decorations of inlays of silver wire. This was dated to between the mid-1st century and early 2nd century AD. There were also several pieces of scale armor, which became customary around 100 AD, the museum said. However, they were unusual in having more square-shaped features than round, it added. A cheek piece from a Roman helmet was found to be from a type that became customary from the middle of the 1st century. 'We are blown away by this find. It is a genuine game-changer,' Kristina Adler-Wölfl, head of the Vienna Department of Urban Archaeology, told CNN Friday, adding that this is 'a once-in-a-lifetime discovery' for the museum's archaeologists. 'There is archaeological evidence of Roman battlefields in Europe, but none from the 1st/2nd century CE with fully preserved skeletons,' she said. Around 100 AD, ritualized cremation burials were common in the Roman-governed parts of Europe, with whole-body burials 'an absolute exception,' according to the museum. 'Finds of Roman skeletons from this period are therefore extremely rare,' it said. 'The undignified nature of the burial site along with the deadly wounds found on each individual suggests a catastrophic military confrontation, possibly followed by a hasty retreat,' Adler-Wölfl added. Historical records show that in the late 1st century, during the reign of the emperor Domitian, costly battles took place on the Roman Empire's northern Danube border between the Romans and Germanic tribes. 'This is the first time we have material evidence of the Germanic wars' fought by Domitian between 86 and 96 AD, Adler-Wölfl said. 'Before the find, we knew about these conflicts only through some written sources.' 'Our preliminary investigation suggests with near certainty that the mass grave is the result of such a Roman-Germanic battle, one that likely took place in or around 92 CE,' she added. The destruction of an entire legion is included in reports of disastrous defeats, which later led to the extension of the fortification line known as the Danube Limes under the emperor Trajan, according to the museum. The Roman expansion of the town of Vindobona, which later became Vienna, 'from a small military site to a full-scale legionary fortress occurred in that context,' said Adler-Wölfl. 'This would place the mass grave in immediate conjunction with the beginning of urban life in present-day Vienna,' she added. The initial investigation by the team in Vienna will form part of a larger international research project, the museum said. This will include DNA analysis, to shed light on the lives of the soldiers and their living conditions.
The Guardian
03-04-2025
- The Guardian
Roman-era battlefield mass grave discovered under Vienna football pitch
As construction crews churned up dirt to renovate a football pitch in Vienna last October, they happened upon an unprecedented find: a heap of intertwined skeletal remains in a mass grave dating to the 1st-century Roman empire, most likely the bodies of warriors killed in a battle involving Germanic tribes. This week, after archaeological analysis, experts at the Vienna Museum gave a first public presentation of the grave – linked to 'a catastrophic event in a military context' and evidence of the first known fighting in that region. The bodies of 129 people have been confirmed at the site in the Vienna neighbourhood of Simmering. The excavation teams also found many dislocated bones and believe the total number of bodies could exceed 150 – a discovery they said would be unprecedented in Central Europe. Michaela Binder, who led the archaeological dig, said: 'Within the context of Roman acts of war, there are no comparable finds of fighters. There are huge battlefields in Germany where weapons were found. But finding the dead, that is unique for the entire Roman history.' Soldiers in the Roman empire were typically cremated until the 3rd century. The pit where the bodies were deposited suggests a hasty or disorganised dumping of corpses. Every skeleton examined showed signs of injury – to the head, torso and pelvis in particular. Kristina Adler-Wölfl, the head of the Vienna city archaeological department, said: 'They have various different battle wounds, which rules out execution. It is truly a battlefield. There are wounds from swords, lances; wounds from blunt trauma.' The dead are all male. Most were aged 20 to 30 years old and generally showed signs of good dental health. Carbon-14 analysis helped date the bones to between AD80 and AD130. That was cross-checked against artefacts found in the grave – armour, helmet cheek protectors and nails used in distinctive Roman military shoes known as caligae. One of the biggest clues was the presence of a dagger of a type in use specifically between the middle of the 1st century and the start of the second. So far only one victim has been confirmed as a Roman legionary. Archaeologists hope DNA and strontium isotope analysis will help further identify the fighters, and whose side they were on. Adler-Wölfl said: 'The most likely theory at the moment is that this is connected to the Danube campaigns of Emperor Domitian – that's 86 to 96 AD.' The archaeologists said they had also found signs of the founding of the settlement that would become Vienna.
The Independent
03-04-2025
- The Independent
Discovery of mass grave under football pitch changes what we know about the Roman Empire
Construction workers renovating a Vienna football field stumbled upon a grim piece of history: a mass grave containing the skeletal remains of what are believed to be warriors from the 1st-century Roman Empire. Unearthed last October, the site has yielded evidence of a brutal battle, likely involving Germanic tribes, marking the first known conflict in the region. Following extensive analysis, experts at the Vienna Museum revealed their findings on Wednesday, describing the discovery as a "catastrophic event in a military context." Located in the Simmering district of Vienna, the mass grave holds the intertwined remains of at least 129 individuals. The excavation team also uncovered numerous dislocated bones, suggesting the final death toll could exceed 150, a finding unprecedented in Central Europe for this period. 'Within the context of Roman acts of war, there are no comparable finds of fighters," said Michaela Binder, who led the archaeological dig. "There are huge battlefields in Germany where weapons were found. But finding the dead, that is unique for the entire Roman history.' Soldiers in the Roman Empire were typically cremated until the 3rd century. The pit where the bodies were deposited suggests a hasty or disorganized dumping of corpses. Every skeleton examined showed signs of injury — to the head, torso and pelvis in particular. 'They have various different battle wounds, which rules out execution. It is truly a battlefield," said Kristina Adler-Wölfl, head of Vienna city archaeological department. 'There are wounds from swords, lances; wounds from blunt trauma.' The victims were all male. Most were aged 20 to 30 years old and generally showed signs of good dental health. Carbon-14 analysis helped date the bones to between 80 and 130 A.D. That was cross-checked against known history of relics found in the grave – armor, helmet cheek protectors, the nails used in distinctive Roman military shoes known as caligae. The most indicative clue came from a rusty dagger of a type in use specifically between the middle of the 1st century and the start of the second. The research continues: Only one victim has been confirmed as a Roman warrior. Archaeologists hope DNA and strontium isotope analysis will help further identify the fighters, and whose side they were on. 'The most likely theory at the moment is that this is connected to the Danube campaigns of Emperor Domitian — that's 86 to 96 A.D.," Adler-Wölfl said. City archaeologists said the discovery also reveals the early signs of the founding of a settlement that would become the Austrian capital of today.
