Kalkriese

The Location of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
A Student Project
at the University of Osnabrueck

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Contents
1.	Introduction
2.	Maps
3.	Roman Politics in Germania during the Augustan and Early Tiberian Periods
4.	Chronology
5.	Sources on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
6.	The Roman Army during the Augustan Period
7.	The Excavation
7a. Military Equipment
7b. Coins found in Kalkriese
7c. Objects from Roman Daily Life
8.	The Reception of the “Battle of the Teutoburg Forest” from Early Modernity on
9.	List of Literature and Sources / Contacts

Introduction
This webpage is the result of a seminar on “History and Computers,” which took place during summer semester 1997 under the auspices of the Department of Ancient History at the University of Osnabrueck and was led by Karsten Bunz and Dr. Wolfgang Spickermann. The goal of this course was to collect texts and materials on “Rome and Germania,” digitize them, and then present them in the form of a webpage to an interested public. Thematic emphasis was placed thereby on the current excavations in Kalkriese, which are of particular interest to Osnabrueck. In order to situate the isolated event of the AD 9 “Battle of the Teutoburg Forest” in a historical context, the relevant sources and materials are presented below. They include, first of all, an introduction to Roman politics in Germania during the Augustan and the early Tiberian periods as well as the presentation of maps on military camps during these periods and the specific geographical conditions. This is followed by a bilingual compilation of the relevant reports by ancient authors about the “Battle of the Teutoburg Forest” and then by a presentation of the most significant military and civilian finds from the excavations in Kalkriese along with explications and reconstructions . Likewise, specimens of coins found there have also been treated, and a brief introduction to the Roman monetary system is provided. Several examples are given of the reception of the “Battle of the Teutoburg Forest” and the events in art, architecture, literature, and historiography connected with it from early modernity on. The conclusion consists of a list of selected literature on these topics. In keeping with our plan is to update and expand this webpage continually, this webpage has not only been revised and expanded in light of the most recent findings and discoveries, but also has been supplemented by a chronicle of the finds made in and around Kalkriese from 1987 to 1997, an account of the excavations undertaken between 1994 and 1998, and descriptions of preliminary investigations and exploratory excavations.
The participants in this project include:
Karsten Bunz
Thomas Franke
Antje Hartmann
Edward Menking
Durmis Özen Palma
Markus Schultz
Regine Selker
Dirk Sievertsen
Wolfgang Spickermann
Heinz-Hermann Steenken
Jakob Maria Storch
Sandra Surmann

We strongly emphasize that all illustrations and texts used here are copyrighted. Any use of them requires permission in every case. Violators will be prosecuted.
Survey of the Contents
Since 1987 archaeological analyses have been underway in the Kalkrieser-Niewedder Senke, a valley located on the northern edge of the Weihengebirge (Weihen Mountains), in order to investigate an ancient battlefield. Since 1989 the Lanschaftsverband Osnabrueck e.V. has sponsored this research project. The main site is located in a narrow pass that is approximately 6 km long and, at its narrowest point, merely 1 km wide. It lies between the Grosses Moor (Great Moor) in the north and the Kalkrieser Berg (Kalkriese Mountain) in the south.
Based on the results of archaeological research, the finds made in the Kalkriese region seem to be connected with the clades Variana, the defeat of Varus in the saltus Teutoburgiensis in AD 9. At least, the archaeologically documented results and finds hardly allow of being interpreted conclusively in any other way. Weighty and increasingly certain indices for the archaeological proof of extensive and central fighting in connection with the clades Variana are provided by: the enormously broad proliferation of finds made in preliminary investigations and in excavations in the narrow pass and the funnel-shaped territory to the east of the main battle line, a proliferation so extensive that it has thus far been impossible to fix the size—presently estimated to be 20 km—of the site at Kalkriese definitively; the concentration of finds made thus far; the predominance of coins and especially of military equipment in the spectrum of finds made in Kalkriese; the existence of a sod rampart contemporary with the finds which is asserted to be a Germanic fortification and interpreted as the originating point of Germanic attacks on the flanks of the marching Roman army; and, not least, the unequivocal fixing of terminus ante quem of the coins making up the complex of finds at the year AD 9. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the site at Kalkriese may well harbor several surprises yet and that the finds made there thus far may support alternative arguments. By the end of 1999, the number of finds made during the preliminary investigation and the excavations in the Kalkriese region, including the old finds (205 – all coins, with one exception), totaled 5465 objects, including 1,408 Roman coins (23 gold, 758 silver, 627 copper issues including at least 8 Celtic aduatuci).
The finds themselves only provide enough information to document an isolated ad hoc event; given the character of these sources, however, the finds are incapable of establishing a historical context in which the isolated event in AD 9 could be situated. For this reason, a proper assessment of the spectacular occurrence can be made only when one bears the framing historical circumstances in mind, that is, the Augustan-early Tiberian phases of Roman politics in Germania along with their aims, presuppositions, and conditions.
The uniqueness of Kalkriese, however, is documented especially by means of archaeological methods: the Kalkriese research project represents an unprecedented “archaeological experiment” in which the methodological bases for the scientific investigation of Kalkriese as a battlefield of a previously undreamt-of magnitude must be developed.
In order to grasp both its magnitude and significance fully, diverse research disciplines are working together in an interdisciplinary fashion to process the finds and results from Kalkriese. Furthermore, in the case of Kalkriese—much like in Pompeii in AD 79—a definitively dateable moment in ancient history becomes tangible which promises, for example, new knowledge about the chronological classification of finds or complexes of finds. Finally, the comparison and mutual scrutiny of literary-historiological sources and newly discovered archaeological remains provides an opportunity to gain greater knowledge, at the very least to place new emphasis on certain aspects within the wider archaeological, historical, and numismatic context of the clades Variana. This was clearly demonstrated by the international conference “Rome, Germania, and the Excavations in Kalkriese,” which took place in Osnabrueck on September 2-5, 1996 and the historic-numismatic colloquium “Coin Finds in Kalkriese and Minting in Early Roman Imperial Times”, which took place at the University of Osnabrueck on April 15-16, 1999.
1. Introduction
2. Maps
3. Politics in Germania
4. Chronology
5. Sources
6. Army
7. Excavation
7a. Military Equipment
7b. Coins found
7c. Objects for Daily Use
8. Reception
9. Literature/Sources

Most recent revision: this morning.
Questions concerning technical matters and content should be directed to the Department of Ancient History (Teilfachgebiet Alte Geschichte; e-mail: altgesch@rz.uni-osnabrueck.de, Attn: Edward Menking OR Karsten Bunz OR ???).