Roman walls have been recognized in a few houses of the small village of Bennwil. To the north-west of the town centre a villa was excavated in 1935-1937. The excavated part measures 31 x 19.40 m.
Plan of the remains of the villa. La Roche-Gauss 1972, Bild 2.
The central area was interpreted by the excavator as a courtyard with an ambulatory, based on the discovery of seven bases for columns, made of rammed clay, stones and pieces of brick. One of the bases contained a reused fragment of a capital, made of limestone (diam. 0.20 m.). Another, badly damaged capital and part of a column shaft, also of limestone, were found nearby. It has also been suggested that the columns supported the roof of a hall.
Reconstruction of the villa. La Roche-Gauss 1938, Fig. 7.The central area was flanked by rooms that were some seven meters wide. In the east part was a cellar, in the south-west part a small bath was installed. One of the bathing rooms had a hypocaust, and was decorated with a simple black-and-white mosaic and paintings with panels created by black and green bands.
The hypocaust in the south-west part. La Roche-Gauss 1938, Fig. 5.The walls seen in the village will have belonged to secondary buildings and an enclosure. The villa has been dated to the second half of the first century, replacing a building that had been erected around 20 AD.
Plan of the centre of Bennwil with the location of the villa (A) and of Roman walls (B-F).
La Roche-Gauss 1972, Bild 1.
Literature
La Roche-Gauss 1938; Ettlinger 1946; Drack 1950, 59; La Roche-Gauss 1972; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 361-362; Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 27 (1935), 48; 29 (1937), 85; 32 (1940-1941), 128-130.
[17-Oct-2023]
