In Sargans, near the south-west part of Liechtenstein and a few kilometers to the west of the Rhine, various buildings of a villa were investigated at the localities Malerva and Retell. Baths were excavated by Paul Peter Immler in 1864-1865. In the 20th century the main building, secondary buildings and a kiln of a pottery were found. Recent investigations, in the years 2015-2020, focused on the baths and led to the identification of a few more buildings.
Plan of the villa. Blue-orange: main building; orange: baths: green, gray: secondary buildings. Oberhofer 2023, Abb. 1.
The villa was built on sloping terrain, in the first century. Three building phases have been recognized. The remains of the main house were much damaged, and not many objects were found. In the final phase it measured 68 x 28 m. It seems to have had two tower-like projections. A room in the back part had a hypocaust for heating, preserved in a protective building. The villa was destroyed during the Alemannic raids in the later third century, and then used rudimentarily until the middle of the fourth century.
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Plan of the baths. Immler 1866, Tafel at end.
Building phases of the baths, phase 3 with two variants. Oberhofer 2023, Abb. 9.
The protective building on the heated room of the main house. Photo: Google Maps.
Literature
Immler 1865; Immler 1866; Frei 1971; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 497-498; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 229-230; Oberhofer 2023.
Plus: Die Schweiz vom Paläolithikum bis zum frühen Mittelalter 5 (2002), 394-395; Neujahrsblatt Historischer Verein des Kantons St. Gallen 146 (2006), 197-208; Jahrbuch Archäologie Schweiz 99 (2016), 207-208; 102 (2019), 157; 103 (2020), 129; 104 (2021),190-192; Vorbericht der archäologischen Sondagen, St. Gallen 2022.
[19-Dec-2023]
