Large tracts of a villa were excavated to the south-east of Oberentfelden, a bit to the south of Aarau. The presence of Roman ruins was betrayed by the names of the locality: Maueräcker and Steini Mur. Rooftiles and marble fragments emerged during ploughing. The villa was excavated in 1936-1938, by Paul Ammann-Feer, and in 1951 and 1958, by Egon Gersbach. No remains related to livestock farming were found. Grain was probably grown here.
The site seen from the west. The area of the villa, with the main building at the back, is indicated by a black line. Photo: Laur-Belart 1952, Abb. 5.The main building was preceded by a large rectangular precinct surrounded by a wall. This precinct was 340 meters deep (480 including the main building) and 160 meters wide. In the centre of the west side was a tower-like gate (5.20 x 6.30 m., with gateways 2.50 m. wide). Along the side walls of the precinct were 2 times 8 rooms, regularly spaced and opposite each other. The smallest rooms measure 7.75 x 9.50 m., the largest 9 x 12 m. Numbers 3 and 11, opposite each other, had a narrow antechamber. Numbers 1 and 9, also opposite each other, had two square extensions, reminiscent of those in the main houses of villas. Many roof tiles were found. The floors were made of wood. Each room had a hearth. The rooms have been interpreted as little houses. They were all covered by a thick layer resulting from fire.
Plan of the villa. Gersbach 1958, Abb. 30.
From the gate a path of gravel led to building 19 (22.50 x 27 m.), with an internal wall with an apse and a porticus on the east side. The function is not clear. It has been suggested that it was a stable, a warehouse, a hall for meetings, a hall for ball games, or a nymphaeum. In the apse may have been a statue.
Building 18 seen from the north. Photo: Ammann-Feer 1939.Buildings 18 and 20 also seem to have been houses. In building 20 some bronze and iron objects were found that had been hidden: a cauldron, two plates, a bowl, two chisels, a drill, and scissors. One of the plates has the incised name of the owner, Bellinus, in cursive writing.
Objects found in building 20: tools, a cauldron, plates, and a bowl. The plate bottom right has the inscription bellini. Photo: Ammann-Feer 1939.
The main building, measuring 55 x 30 m., was located at the east end, eight meters higher up than the precinct. It was on a slightly turned axis. The two long facades consisted of porticus 20 and porticus or terrace 8, flanked by tower-like projections (19, 13 and 21, 11). Projections 21 and 11 contained a cellar and may have been stairwells. In a second phase rooms 18 and 19 were converted to bathing rooms, with a cold basin in room 18a and a raised floor in room 19b. Rooms 16 and 17 were heated as well, and in room 13 too a raised floor was installed. Many walls had marble revetment. A fragment of a smooth marble column was found. The facade was covered with red plaster. Traces of fire were not encountered in the main building.
Plan of the main building. Gersbach 1958, Abb. 31.
To the south of the main building a bath building was erected (19 x 20 m.). Corridors connected the two buildings. The main entrance was in the centre of the west side and led to apodyterium A. From here one could reach frigidarium F, tepidarium T (with a raised floor), caldarium C (also with a raised floor, and with heating pipes set against the walls). Room W may have been a sudatorium or a heated winter dressing room. From fragments can be deduced that the walls of the rooms had marble revetment and plaster, while the floors were covered with mosaics. The furnace was in praefurnium P. Room 28 has three buttresses set against an apse, an exceptionally wide wall. It may have been a small natatio (swimming pool) or cistern. Rooms 35-37 formed a latrine.
The buttresses of room 28. Photo: Gersbach 1958, Abb. 38.From coins and ceramics can be deduced that the villa was erected in the early first century. The bath building is an addition from the second century. The complex was partly destroyed by a fire in the second half of the third century (and the main building presumably plundered), but used to some extent until the middle of the fourth. The objects from the villa were taken to the Gemeindehaus in Oberentfelden and the Vindonissa Museum in Brugg. The ruins are today covered with earth. Near the site is the Schützenhaus Römergut Oberentfelden.
Reconstruction drawing of the main building. Gersbach 1958, Abb. 41.
Literature
Keller 1864(2), 152; Jahresbericht der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 8 (1915), 66; Ammann-Feer 1936; Jahresbericht der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 29 (1937), 91; Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 30 (1938), 36-41, Taf. V,2; Ammann-Feer 1938; Ammann-Feer 1939; Laur-Belart 1952; Gersbach 1958; Hartmann-Weber 1985, 188-190; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 457-459; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 194-195.
[23-Aug-2023]
