Cities, villages, fortresses - Thurgau - Eschenz / Schaffhausen - Stein am Rhein (Tasgetium) - The settlement

Introduction The settlement The baths Commerce

The writing tablets Religion The fortress Burials

The settlement covered an area of 800 x 350 m. With the exception of baths (described on a separate page) only small parts of buildings have been excavated. but this is more than compensated for by many exceptional finds, many of wood.

Plan of the settlement in Eschenz. Drack-Fellmann 1988, Abb. 481. 1: bridge; 2: bridge abutment; 3: harbour; 4: baths; 5: buildings; 6: pottery; 7: water channels, place of discovery of the wooden founder-statue; 8: burials.

The excavation of a wooden floor. Photo: Brem et al. 2014, Abb. 41.

The excavation of a water basin. Photo: Brem et al. 2014, Abb. 156.

Reconstruction of a house. Brem et al. 2014, Abb. 145.

The circumstances are such that wooden objects have been preserved quite well, such as floors, water basins, baskets, tools, parts of furniture, sandals, combs - too much to illustrate here. A few examples must suffice. In 1997 an almost complete lock with a bolt was discovered.

A wooden lock with a bolt. Photo: Brem et al. 2012, Abb. 125.

In 2004 a Pan flute (syrinx) was found. It was made of boxwood and had seven pipes. On the front and back are simple incised decorations. A hole was meant for a cord, so that the instrument could be worn around the neck. From the archaeological context could be deduced that the flute was made before 50-60 AD. A faithful copy of the flute was used by the group Musica Romana on their album Symphonica Panica. Some tracks can be heard on YouTube.

The Pan flute. W. 0.084, h. 0.111, d. 0.014. Photos: Brem-Leuzinger 2005, Abb. 1 and Brem et al. 2012, Abb. 183.

The remains of the settlement date from the first to the third century. The houses were built along a road on narrow plots that were 5.60-9.60 m. wide, sometimes up to 60 m. deep. The houses were initially made of wood and regularly destroyed by fire. From the end of the second century some were rebuilt in stone (at least the lower part). Activity in the settlement declined significantly around the middle of the third century.

Reconstruction of the settlement in Eschenz by Roland Gäfgen.

To the north of Eschenz are three islands. Werd Island was already inhabited in the prehistoric period. The Roman period is documented here only through scattered finds. Fragments of weapons and equipment suggest a military presence in the early first century. The island was also used for bridgeheads: for a bridge from Tasgetium to the island, and for a bridge from the island to the opposite side of the lake. Wooden supporting posts and remains of stone bridgeheads were seen in the 18th and 19th century. The bridges were 5-6 m. wide. Dendrochronology of remains found in 1986 points to a date of construction of 81-82 AD or shortly afterwards (but there may already have been a bridge in the early first century). The bridges were repaired in the second quarter of the third century.

Plan of the bridges to and from Werd Island. Rippmann 1900, Taf. VI.

Introduction The settlement The baths Commerce

The writing tablets Religion The fortress Burials

[16-Jan-2024]