Roman Bath Walldürn

The northeast-oriented complex was built on a flat hill with a wide view of the land. This section of the area is not furrowed by deep incisions, as is the case further north and south. The Limes, coming almost straight from the northwest, bends sharply to the south about 300 meters east of the fort at watchtower Wp 7/39, only to change direction again to the southeast south of the Hohe Straße at Wp 7/46. From the praetorial front, the narrow side of the fortification facing the enemy, the soldiers looked almost directly at the Limes bend in front of them; the decuman side, the rear side of the camp, was only a few steps away from the Marsbach, which flowed slightly below to the northwest. The source of this stream, located slightly southeast of the fort, was already in Barbaricum.

The fort has also been known as Alteburg since ancient times. In 1766, the Palatine court councilor, publicist, and historian Andreas Lamey (1726–1802) published the inscription of a votive altar for the god of war Mars and the goddess of victory Victoria, which originated from this site. Since the stone, repeatedly highlighted in scientific literature, was found by the Marsbach, the watercourse was promptly named after the god. In 1768 and 1773, Walldürn was also mentioned by the early provincial Roman researcher Christian Ernst Hanßelmann (1699–1776). The writings of the Mainz Benedictine father and historian Joseph Fuchs (1732–1782), recorded at the same time (1772), show that at that time, remains of both the Limes and the fort were still visible above ground. Subsequently, smaller soundings took place in the early 19th century, followed by a cursory examination of the enclosure wall in 1881 and the discovery of a double ditch in 1882. In April and October 1896, and again in 1897, extensive excavations were carried out at the fort and its bath under the direction of Wilhelm Conrady (1829–1903) and with funds from the Imperial Limes Commission (RLK). It was not until 1972/1973 that scientists again put spades to earth in Walldürn. At that time, the fort's thermal bath was systematically re-examined by archaeologist Dietwulf Baatz with funds from the State Monuments Office and subsequently conserved for the public. In the same decade, the city of Walldürn, in cooperation with the State Monuments Office, arranged for the purchase of the fort area, which could thus be saved for posterity and was handed over to public ownership as one of the first archaeological monuments in Baden-Württemberg. After the northwestern area between the bath and the fort, once belonging to the vicus, was also threatened with complete destruction by intensive agricultural use, a larger continuous excavation took place in this area for the first time in 1982 and 1983, under the direction of archaeologist Egon Schallmayer and with funds from the State Monuments Office Karlsruhe. With the exception of the bath complex, nothing of the ancient buildings is visible today.

Older research – including the ancient historian Géza Alföldy – speculated that the construction of the Vorderer Limes took place "around 155 AD". More recent finds and methods could potentially refine and correct this assumption chronologically. Dendrochronological investigations support the idea that the Vorderer Limes, along with the Rhaetian Limes, from which chronologically matching dates originate, was built in a cross-provincial expansion measure shortly after the death of Emperor Antoninus Pius (January 161).

The garrison may have possessed – as has been proven in many fort sites in the Limes area – a predecessor complex built in wood-and-earth construction from the early phase of the Vorderer Limes. The remains of a ditch found under the younger stone defensive wall could serve as evidence for the older fort.

The 84.3 × 96.5 meter (= 0.8 hectare) rectangular fortification was built according to the typical construction scheme for forts developed during the Principate, which could be adapted to the size of the complexes. Thus, the Alteburg had a gate on all four sides of the stone-built defensive wall, each probably flanked by two gate towers. During the excavations in 1881, only one of these gate towers on the east side of the Porta principalis dextra – the southeast gate – was identified, but the other towers, which Conrady searched for in April 1896, may have been overlooked. This question could only be clarified by a new excavation at the fort, which is still pending. The gate tower, measuring 5.50 × 5.10 meters, was re-examined from October 1896. The core cast masonry had been faced with roughly hewn outer walls.

At this gate, a large number of massive beam nails were found during the first excavation, which obviously came from the wooden gate leaves. A part of a threshold plate with a groove for the gate leaves was also observed transverse to the access road. As Conrady was able to ascertain after consulting with the property owner, the latter had already excavated and removed a 4 × 4 meter floor slab years earlier, which lay between the gate opening.

Nothing is yet known about the interior buildings, apart from isolated post holes. During the excavations in the spring of 1896, the headquarters building (Principia), which was not discovered, was searched for in the center of the complex. Instead, only confused fire debris "interspersed with brick fragments, pottery shards, and stones," or "a continuous layer of fire" that was "here and there interspersed with larger remains of charred timber and with fragments of red-fired clay or accompanied by a thin layer of such" was found. These remains came from the wooden interior buildings, whose half-timbered walls had a clay plaster. Some clay fragments still showed traces of the wattle used to close the compartments before the clay plaster. The mortarless stone angles also observed by Conrady, which lay without foundations on a blackish ground, indicated the positions of the barracks. The roof covering must have consisted of fired bricks, based on the tegula (flanged tiles) found.

As an obstacle to approach, behind a 0.45 to 0.50 meter wide berm in front of the enclosure wall, there was a double pointed ditch, a total of 11.25 meters wide, which was still 1.10 to 1.20 meters deep during the excavation in April 1896.

As Baatz determined, the 0.8-hectare fort could only accommodate one military unit. However, from the inscription of the votive stone recovered in the bath from August 232, at least two troop bodies can be deciphered, with the scholar assuming that only the first-mentioned, the Exploratores Stu(...) ("Scout unit Stu...") could have been stationed here. Unfortunately, the complete name of this troop has not been preserved. Of the second unit mentioned in the inscription, the Dediticii Brittones, according to Baatz, only their non-commissioned officers appear as dedicants. Therefore, he speculated that this Briton troop was not located in Walldürn, but possibly in one or split into several of the surrounding small forts.

The camp village of Alteburg was investigated in 1982/1983 over an area of 3,500 square meters between the fort and the thermal bath. As feared before the excavations began, many important findings had already fallen victim to the plow. The repeated field surveys of the camp village area, carried out long before these excavations, were summarized by Schallmayer in 1985. At that time, it was possible for the first time to make statements about the extent of the civilian settlement. It became clear that the settlement extended not only northwest, but also north, south, and west of the fort. Based on the collected sigillata, the end of Roman life could be fixed to the second third of the 3rd century AD.

As the excavations showed, stone and wood-lined cellars, drainage ditches, post holes, wells, and pits could still be identified. Probably, so-called strip houses were located along the road that came from the Porta principalis sinistra, the northwest gate of the fort. These buildings, typical for many camp villages, had an elongated rectangular plan and were oriented with their front side towards the street. In Walldürn, the building structures excavated in 1982/1983, which were particularly characterized by numerous individual finds such as eaves and foundation ditches, were oriented in a north-south direction. In some places, Schallmayer succeeded in proving the two-periodicity of the settlement.

Phase 1

The balineum (bath) of the row type, excavated in autumn 1896 and late August 1897, oriented precisely in a north-south direction, was professionally conserved after careful investigations by Baatz. The bricks used for the construction of the first bath complex came from the legionary brickworks located near the Höchst fort (Frankfurt am Main). This is evidenced by the brick stamps of Legio XXII Primigenia pia fidelis found. The stamps enabled Baatz to date the construction period to the middle of the 2nd century, when the Vorderer Limes was built. The wooden portico in the south of the bath is now indicated by short wooden posts, which are placed at the locations of the found post holes. At this point, during the first construction phase, there was a large, almost square apodyterium (changing room; A), with an ambulatory. The massive masonry of the first bath, which visitors now entered, was very carefully executed. Here, there was initially a rectangular frigidarium (cold bath; F) to which a small, rectangular annex was connected to the west, providing space for a cold water basin (piscina; P). This was followed by the heated tepidarium (warm bath; T) as the next room north of the frigidarium. Between the cold bath and the warm bath, an almost square sudatorium (sweat bath; S) had been built on the eastern outer wall. The caldarium (hot bath; C) was connected north of the tepidarium, which had a semicircular apse to the west, containing a hot bath tub. The building was completed with a small, rectangular basin in the north, also attached to the caldarium, which also belonged to the hot bath area. Both in the outer area north of this basin and in the eastern outer wall niche between the sweat bath and the large hot bath, there was a praefurnium (heating room; H). Around 185 AD, the first repairs to the balineum had to be carried out. After that, it remained in use until after 200 AD. This date can be concluded from the final coin, a denarius of Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), minted in Rome in 199/200, which is considered the last testimony of the older bath. As Conrady already determined, the building probably perished in a fire.

Phase 2a

To enable the new construction, all walls of the older bath were demolished below the then current ground level. This successor was also solidly built. However, the new Bunter sandstone pillars of the hypocaust heating system later proved to be a weak point – the predecessor building had still had proven brick pillars. While the now rectangular wooden changing room was reduced to the bare minimum, the actual bath, built in stone, had been significantly expanded and enlarged. The basic room scheme with the known sequence of frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium was retained. Significant changes occurred in the smaller annexes. Thus, the piscina on the west wall of the cold bath had shrunk somewhat, and neither the semicircular apse nor the northern annex to the hot bath existed anymore. In contrast, two small rectangular heated tubs had been added to the enlarged swimming pool to the east and west, and another larger, rectangular, and heated room was attached to the east wall of the tepidarium, while on the east wall of the frigidarium – in line with the tepidarium annex – there was an almost equally large, unheated room, which was supposed to have been used as a sweat bath. Due to the lack of heating options, however, this sudatorium could only have fulfilled its purpose to a limited extent. The building was inaugurated on August 13, 232. This date is indicated by a sandstone altar dedicated to the goddess of fortune Fortuna, found in the changing room in 1897, which states the age-related decay of the predecessor complex as the reason for the new construction.

Phase 2b

The last construction phase is characterized by deficiencies, makeshift solutions, and temporary arrangements. The responsible parties evidently did not want to forgo bathing comfort even in the crisis-ridden late period of the Limes. The hypocaust pillars almost consistently used for the new building had been constructed from unsuitable Bunter sandstone, which cracked and disintegrated due to the intense heat development. This led to structural damage in the caldarium near the heating room, necessitating an elaborate and fundamental repair that could no longer be carried out at that time. Thus, the responsible parties decided to completely abandon the caldarium with its annexes and continue to use it as a heating room for the remaining spaces. The undamaged hypocaust pillars, which were not in the area of the newly erected firing point, remained untouched. In the course of the reconstruction, the former tepidarium was converted into a warm bath, and the heated annex next to it took over the function of the tepidarium. As investigations showed, the bath ultimately perished during a fire catastrophe. This was evidenced by numerous layers of fire, charred wood, and nails with fire patina, as well as melted and broken glass below the windows belonging to the tepidarium and caldarium.

The building inscription of August 13, 232, found four meters in front of the sandstone threshold to the actual bathing area, which Conrady already described as an "epoch-making find," mentions the names of various military units, of which at least one could have been stationed here. The Latin text, most frequently cited to this day, was prepared by the ancient historian and epigrapher Hermann Dessau (1856–1931). In connection with the Constitutio Antoniniana issued by Emperor Caracalla (211–217), however, the problem of the correct reading and understanding of this text persists to this day, especially regarding the definition of the group of people referred to as dediticii. Thus, this inscription is one of the most discussed on the Upper Germanic Limes.

Deae Fortuna[e] sanctae balineu[m] vetustate conlap- sum expl(oratores) Stu... et Brit(tones) gentiles, officiales Bri(ttonum) deditic(iorum) Alexan- drianorum de suo restituer(unt) cu- ra(m) agente T(ito) Fl(avio) Ro- mano |(centurione) leg(ionis) XXII P(rimigeniae) P(iae) F(idelis) Id(ibus) Aug(ustis) Lupo et Maximo co(n)s(ulibus)

Latin text resolution and translation according to the proposals of the classical philologist Henry Thompson Rowell (1904–1974): To the holy goddess Fortuna. The bath, which had collapsed from old age, was restored at their own expense by the scout unit Stu... and the voluntary Briton non-commissioned officers of the (numerus) of the dedicated Britons (with the honorary name) the Alexandrians, under the direction of Titus Flavius Romanus, centurion of the 22nd Legion Primigenia, the pious and faithful, on the Ides of August, when Lupus and Maximus were consuls.

Rowell criticized Dessau's proposed reading, according to which three troop bodies are mentioned in the inscription. He assumed only two units mentioned in the inscription. His considerations on the text were also found most convincing by Baatz and Schallmayer. According to Rowell, the Brittones gentiles are to be regarded as Briton volunteers who had joined the Roman army and, as non-commissioned officers, led their countrymen subjugated by Rome. The ancient historian Hartmut Wolff, who had written his dissertation on the Constitutio Antoniniana, opposed this view. His translation draft assumed that one of the mentioned units must have borne the name beginning Britl(...), Brit(...)l(...) or Brilt(...). Baatz contradicted this, as such a troop name was completely unknown. Baatz diagnosed that the inscription had already been incorrectly made by a notoriously unreliable craftsman, and added that the errors recognizable today might have been filled in with plaster in antiquity before the colored rendering and thus possibly went unnoticed by contemporary readers.

The emperor reigning during the erection of the stone, Severus Alexander (222–235), had bestowed the honorary name "the Alexandrian" on one of the mentioned units. After the regent's death, this honorary name fell victim to damnatio memoriae and was chiseled out on the altar stone. Dedications to Fortuna on the building inscriptions of military baths are frequently found, for example on the Vorderer Limes also on the building inscription of the year 248, which was found at the Jagsthausen fort in the small balineum.

The end of Roman life is evidenced by the most recent coin find from Walldürn: an Antoninian from the reign of Emperor Gallienus (253–260). Its exact find spot is unknown, however. The hitherto fairly constant coin series had already almost completely ceased after the mintings from the reign of Emperor Severus Alexander. In the course of the Limes fall, which culminated in the abandonment of the Agri decumates (Decumate Lands) in 259/260 AD, the remaining Roman border fortifications on the Vorderer Limes were evacuated by the troops, if they had not already been violently destroyed. It is possible that forts were also deliberately burned down by the retreating units to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. As Conrady had already determined inside the fortification, Walldürn certainly fell victim to the flames.

Fort Finds

During the excavations in 1896/1897, "minor bronze items and ironwork, brick remains, various pottery shards, including good terra sigillata and predominantly rim forms" were found. In some cases, potter's stamps could still be read. In addition, a "ballista ball of limestone" and the fragment of the fertility and horse goddess Epona carved in sandstone were found.

Vicus Finds

In the vicus, during Schallmayer's excavation, two hoards came to light, which were lost during the politically difficult 3rd century. The unstable conditions at the time accompanied the process of the Limes fall until the final abandonment of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian imperial border in the years 259/260 AD. In addition to two galvanized bronze bowls and four bronze vessels, a completely crushed but almost complete bronze cauldron and fragments of another bronze cauldron were recovered from the ground. On the bronze cauldron, which was later completely restored, ten larger and eleven smaller repairs by a tinker were found. Nearby, a second hoard of metal objects was recovered, consisting of 13 iron tools and implements. At this point, the excavators were able to distinguish two superimposed settlement horizons, each with a final destruction layer. The older layer showed three pits, which were filled with fire debris at their bottom, but their simultaneous origin is not certain. On the overlying younger layer, a room was created, which showed a collapse horizon inside when it was destroyed. The iron hoard was found in the debris layer of a pit located in the middle of this room. It could not be clearly determined whether the hoard entered the pit before or with the fire debris, but archaeologists assume that the room still existed when the objects were hidden. Since the composition could be household inventory, residents may have wanted to save their valuables here. The bronze vessels of the second hoard were recovered from the collapse of the room's wall. Here, researchers assume a deposition that occurred only after the destruction, collected by plundering Germanic metal seekers. Associated finds and vessels allow a dating to the 3rd century. The attempt to connect the two destruction horizons with the attack waves of 233 and 259/260 lacked any scientific basis.

Cultivated Plants

During his excavations in the camp village, Schallmayer had ten archaeobotanical samples taken, which were examined by archaeobotanist Hans-Peter Stika from the University of Hohenheim. Most samples showed clay with brick fragments, weakly fired rammed earth, and very small amounts of admixed charcoal pieces. Only from three of these samples could subfossil seeds and fruits be identified. During the examination of these three soil samples, which came from the moist foundation area of a cellar south of well 3 and from the bottom of a drainage ditch draining this cellar near the Marsbach floodplain, fruit remains of thousands of garden orach (Artiplex hortensis), a cultivated plant imported by the Romans, were found, among other things, in almost pure seed samples. The mass find was unusual, as garden orach is normally used as a leafy vegetable and its seeds, in the quantity and purity found, are normally exclusively obtained for seed production. With minor exceptions, the cultivated and useful plant remains in the samples consisted of almost 100% garden orach. In addition to its use as a vegetable, the plant was used for medicinal purposes and could be used for blue dyeing. Therefore, it is assumed that seeds were stored or transferred in the cellar for sowing or direct use. In the sample from the drainage ditch, a few remains of spelt wheat straw, indefinable cereal grains, and hazelnut shell fragments were also found. A wood-lined cellar adjacent to the sampled cellar still contained several amphorae in situ. The examination of the contents revealed with high probability wheat components.

Wild Plants

Only a very small part of the verifiable plant remains consisted of wild plants. Of these, 99% were field weeds, with bindweed (Bilderdykia convolvulus) predominating, followed by white goosefoot (Chenopodium album). The detection of summer adonis (Adonis aestivalis), a rare, poisonous plant that prefers calcareous soils, was interesting. Overall, the identifiable plants partly indicate nutrient-rich, fertile soils. Grassland could only be evidenced by small remains in Walldürn.

Important parts of the 1972/73 excavations can be viewed in the Roman section of the City and Pilgrimage Museum of Walldürn. Further finds were transferred to the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe.