In Ütendorf, to the north-west of Thun, three sections of a villa were excavated at the locality Heidenbühl: part of the main house (1901), baths, and a secondary building (1929-1930). The remains were investigated once more in 1971.
Map of the area with the three excavated parts. Left: main house. Centre: baths. Right: secondary building. Drack-Fellmann 1988, Abb. 493.
Of the main house a porticus, 4.50 m. wide, was excavated over a length of 36 m. The walls were painted. A room to the north-west had a raised floor for heating. The baths were 30 m. to the east (32 x 10 m.). Of the 10 rooms two had a hypocaust, a round room, perhaps a sweating room (laconicum; diam. 6.40 m.) and a room with an apse (2.40 x 7.20 m.). The secondary building, further to the east, may also have been a house. The buildings were in use from the late first until the end of the third century.
Plan of the baths. JbSGU 22 (1930), 88.
Literature
Hofer 1915; Jahresbericht der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 21 (1929), 98-99, 22 (1930), 86-89; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 529-530.
[8-Nov-2023]
