A traveler accidentally found a Roman sanctuary high in the Alps
(ORDO NEWS) — In Switzerland, the traveler accidentally made a real archaeological discovery.
During the ascent to the Ammertenhor peak, he came across an ancient site, which turned out to be a sacred place of the Roman period.
The History Blog talks about the discovery. It was committed in the Swiss canton of Bern.
Back in the summer of 2020, a traveler, while climbing the Ammertenhor peak, found a Roman bronze coin. Returning to the hotel, he reported his find to the Archaeological Survey of the Canton of Bern.
Since then, professional archaeologists have examined the site of the first find. The work was complicated by the fact that it is located at an altitude of 2590 meters above sea level.
Nevertheless, archaeologists managed to conduct a full-fledged excavation, which took two field seasons. During this time, they managed to collect a large and amazing collection of Roman artifacts.
So, during two seasons of excavations, archaeologists found about a hundred more Roman coins minted in the period from the 1st to the 5th century AD.
The oldest of these is a coin of Tiberius from 22-30 AD, and the youngest is a coin of Emperor Arcadius, who ruled 395-408 AD in the Eastern Roman Empire.
The team also found 27 rock crystal pebbles, 59 Roman shoe nails, a fibula from the 1st century BC, and a fragment of a leaf-shaped bronze votive plate.
The latter confirms the conjecture that a special platform for sacrifices was equipped in a remote high-mountainous place.
“From time to time we find individual Roman coins in the Alps, but this site stands out among all in terms of the number of coins and its location,” says Regula Gubler, head of the study.
“Coins are common finds, and brooches in mountain passes. However this place was very far from the nearest human habitation.
And today, and in the days of the Roman Empire, the parking lot at an altitude of 2590 meters above sea level was definitely not a mountain pass. ”
According to the expert, despite the past two field seasons, archaeologists are only at the beginning of deep research.
Other material evidence has yet to be found that the found site could be a sacred, holy place where people deliberately went to leave offerings to the gods.
Given the height and difficulty of the ascent, it can be assumed that this place was considered special and highly revered by pilgrims. Noteworthy is the presence of a large number of rock crystal offerings.
Pliny the Elder wrote in his writings that rock crystal is ice frozen in the most severe frost. Alpine rock crystal was most valued in the Roman world.
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