In Neftenbach, a few kilometers to the north-west of Winterthur, a villa was identified at the locality Steinmöri. Extensive excavations took place as early as 1780 by the master mason David Vogel. Amongst the finds were coins (the latest dated to 270 AD), a solid gold ring with a carnelian intaglio of a male head, a small bronze mask of a Satyr, marbe slabs, fragments of mosaics, and fragments of paintings with white and yellow backgrounds, decorated with red and green bands and flowers, and a male figure. More investigations took place in the years 1986-1994. It could then be established that a wooden building had been erected around 30 AD, to be replaced a few decades later by another wooden building, after a fire. A stone building was erected at the end of the first century. An area with subsidiary buildings and an area with the main house each had its own enclosing wall, and the two areas were separated by a wall. The villa was used until the beginning of the fourth century.
Plan of the villa. JbSGUF 74 (1991), Abb. 27.
20: main house; 21: baths; 22: exedra; 24: baths; 26: gate of main area; 41: entrance of enclosed economy area;
55: building or enclosure; 42-48, 60-63: subsidiary buildings. ER = "Eckrisaliten" (tower-like projections).A total of fourteen skeletons of newborn children was found in both areas. Burials of newborn children in similar areas have been found thorughout Switzerland. The custom is documented already in the Iron Age, but was also expressed by Pliny the Elder: Hominem prius quam genito dente cremari mos gentium non est, "It is not the custom of any people to cremate a human being before a tooth has developed" (Naturalis Historia VII,15,72).
Plan with the location of the fourteen skeletons. Langenegger 1996, Abb. 1.
In 1986 a coin hoard was found in one of the subsidiary buildings (42-43). A bronze vessel had been buried containing 1243 coins, from the reign of Septimius Severus to that of Postumus (260-269 AD). It was found under a layer resulting from a fire, which, however, only occurred somewhat later.
The bronze vessel with the coins. Photo: Wikimedia, Heinz Schmitz.
Literature
Keller 1864(2), 105-108; Von Gonzenbach 1961, 149; Zürcher 1987; Brem-Hedinger 1988; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 451; Rychener 1990; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 186-187; Hedinger-Leuthard 1992; Von Kaenel et al. 1993; Ebnöther-Rychener 1996; Langenegger 1996; Rychener et al. 1999; Ebnöther 2019. Plus: Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte 71 (1988), 270-271; 72 (1989), 330-331; 73 (1990), 215-217; 74 (1991), 270-271; 78 (1995), 220. Some of the recent literature is not readily available.
[8-Apr-2024]
