Archaeologists in Stuttgart have unearthed over 100 horse skeletons dating back to Roman times at an excavation site near the former Roman fort, potentially revealing the largest ancient horse cemetery in southern Germany. According to Die Welt, this discovery could provide new insights into the use of horses in the Roman army, as stated by the Stuttgart Regional Council.
In the first half of the second century, the site was one of the most important locations of the Roman army. Sarah Roth, the archaeologist responsible at the State Office for Monument Preservation, explained that the horses can be assigned to the cavalry unit called the Ala, which was stationed at Hallschlag from around 100 to 150 CE. "The troop with nearly 500 riders probably had a total horse stock of at least 700 animals; losses had to be constantly replaced," she said, according to Die Welt.
The horses were buried at a distance of 200 meters from the nearest settlement and about 400 meters from the cavalry fort in shallow pits. At the grave of one horse, two jugs and a small oil lamp were found as grave goods. "Here we see a particularly close bond of the owner to his horse. Even after around 1800 years, the mourning over the death of this one animal is still evident," Roth noted.
Roth reported, "The horses do not seem to have all died at the same time due to a large event like a battle or plague. Rather, the horses that died during the presence of the Ala due to illness, injuries, or other reasons, or could no longer fulfill their duty as military horses, are lying there." She added, "If the horse could still walk, it was probably brought to the horse cemetery and killed on site to avoid having to transport the heavy carcass."
However, most horses were disposed of rather than buried, and the exact extent of the horse cemetery in Stuttgart is still unknown. Horse remains were first discovered in the area in the 1920s, when it was already interpreted as a Roman-period horse cemetery or Schindanger. The recent finds, dated to the second century CE, and archaeological construction monitoring on Düsseldorfer Straße, along with the rescue excavation conducted in the autumn, confirm this interpretation. According to the Baden-Württemberg State Office for Monument Preservation, the discoveries at the site could provide new insights into horse usage in antiquity.
Archaeozoological investigations are to provide information on the sex, age at death, and size of the horses, as well as their use as riding animals, possible diseases, and the cause of death. "These investigations will answer questions that are relevant not only for a state capital named after its Stutengarten," stated the Baden-Württemberg State Office for Monument Preservation in a communication.
The investigations were carried out as part of a new construction project in the district of Bad Cannstatt, known for mineral baths and the folk festival Cannstatter Wasen, according to the Regional Council of Stuttgart.
Among the horse graves, the skeleton of a man was found lying on his stomach and without any grave goods, far from the regular burial place of the Roman settlement. He was probably an outsider of ancient society who was buried there without respect. Possibly, more will be learned about the apparently little-valued man whose bones were also excavated.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system
