During the first century B.C.E., Julius Caesar waged a war against the people of Gaul. One of the military techniques he used to deter enemies was to line the fences of his camps with small wooden stakes sharpened into points, similar to the barbed wire of today.
While the wooden spikes were documented in historical records, no evidence of them had ever been found until recently.
For the first time, experts from Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, have stumbled across remnants of the wooden spikes from the Roman era that were still intact. In addition, they debunked a long-held belief about the history of the area.
The spikes were located in the German town of Bad Ems. Since 2019, an archaeologist named Frederic Auth has been leading excavations there.
However, archaeological discoveries at the site go back much further. In 1897, processed silver and metal slag were unearthed, causing experts to think that a Roman smelting operation was once established at the site.
Built in 110 C.E., Limes was a fortification that was part of the northern border wall surrounding the Roman Empire. It sat nearby, further supporting the theory about the smelting operation.
Researchers had been under the impression that the two were connected. But in 2016, a local hunter noticed that a grain field in Bad Ems had strange variations in color, indicating that traces of structures might be found just beneath the ground.
A drone was used to capture photographs of the field, and the images revealed a long stretch of tracks that looked like they had been made by a tractor. It turned out to be a “double ditch that framed a Roman camp.”
After excavations were conducted, researchers uncovered two military camps. And most recently, they found wooden spikes in the second camp.
They also dug up a coin that was minted in 43 C.E., which proved that the site was older than the Limes.
Furthermore, the camp had never been completed, and scorch marks showed that after just a few years, the camp was burned down.
This raised questions regarding the destruction and purpose of the camp. Based on the writings of Tacitus, a Roman historian, the researchers came up with a new theory.
According to Tacitus, a Roman governor known as Curtius Rufus had been trying to mine for silver in the area around 47 C.E. A tunnel-like system related to mining was identified at the site, and it most likely had Roman origins. It is believed that the wooden spikes and the camp were ways to defend the operation.
However, the mining project was unsuccessful and ceased its activity a few years after it began, which could explain why the camp was never completed.
What’s ironic is that silver ore was actually in the area where the Romans were digging. They just fell short of it by a few meters.
More research is needed to confirm the theories. Currently, the wooden spikes are in the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz, Germany.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
