In Alpnach, a bit to the south of the Alpnachersee and Vierwaldstättersee, Roman remains were discovered in 1913, 800 meters to the south of the church, at the locality Uchtern. Four buildings were excavated by Emmanuel Scherer in 1914 and 1915, on an area measuring some 62 x 60 m. A main building consisted of a large hall behind a porticus flanked by tower-like projections (A; 31.00 x 29.50 m.). A second building seems to have been a cellar (B; 6.50 x 4.80 m.). Nearby were small baths with two heated rooms (C; 11.60 x 6.90 m.). A fourth building had a porticus and rooms next to a central corridor (D; 13.80 x 11.20 m.). The buildings were located in a stony area, close to a main road. This suggests that they formed a mutatio, a place for changing horses. The complex was built around the middle of the first century and given up in the late third century. The finds, including many bronze and iron objects, were taken to the Historisches Museum Obwalden in Sarnen.
Plan of the four buildings. Scherer 1916, Abb. 8.
Literature
Scherer 1916, 227-257; Della Casa 1988; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 320; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 231.
[14-Dec-2023]
