1,700-year-old Roman fort discovered in Germany was built to keep out barbarians (www.livescience.com)
from throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to archaeology@mander.xyz on 04 Apr 2024 01:44
https://lemmy.nz/post/8846278

#archaeology

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someguy3@lemmy.ca on 04 Apr 2024 02:10 next collapse

Well yeah.

aeronmelon@lemmy.world on 04 Apr 2024 02:29 next collapse

Did it work?

AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world on 04 Apr 2024 02:40 next collapse

From the article:

But what we know is that it works. We have no indication of any big destruction after the castrum was built.

Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works on 04 Apr 2024 02:44 next collapse

Do they speak German in Germany?

[deleted] on 04 Apr 2024 02:52 next collapse

.

lvxferre@mander.xyz on 04 Apr 2024 03:09 collapse

Odds are that the fort worked rather well in the short term, and that Aquae Granni / Aachen fell for logistic reasons.

Context: the Roman Empire was a mess back then, being split twice (by Diocletan then Constantine), between the fort being built and the city falling for tribals. Couple that with Aquae Granni being mostly a vacation town in the middle of nowhere, and why it fell becomes clear - “too low priority, we aren’t sending supplies there, let the citizens fend off themselves against the bar-bar-bar”.

lvxferre@mander.xyz on 04 Apr 2024 02:44 next collapse

For reference: the baths in the city were destroyed exactly a hundred years later, in 375 CE. So odds are that the fort was mildly effective to keep the barbarians out.

And by “barbarians” I mean likely Franks. In the long term… well.
<img alt="" src="https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/0de4f307-46d6-4666-89d3-3f29e9fa5a69.png">

This is a map of the Franconian dialects. I edited it to show Aquae Granni / Aachen, right in the middle. “Franconian”, “Frankish”, you should get the picture.

DosDude@retrolemmy.com on 04 Apr 2024 08:13 collapse

If something works for more than a lifetime, I wouldn’t call it mildly effective.

AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world on 04 Apr 2024 02:47 collapse

In addition to the wall, archaeologists found shards of pottery and animal bones at the site

Clearly, the only conclusion accounting for all the evidence is that the wall was built to keep the animals from getting into the pottery.