Early skeletal finds from the Roman Empire are extremely rare. This is because the Romans practiced cremation in Europe until the 3rd century AD. This makes the discovery of a Roman mass grave from the end of the 1st century AD all the more dramatic.. The unceremonial burial of over 150 individuals points to a catastrophic event in a military context. It could be evidence from the immediate history of the founding of Vienna.
Discovery
In the course of the renovation of a sports field in Simmering, near Vienna, Austria, a construction company uncovered human remains at the end of October 2024. The Federal Monuments Office was called, and an initial scientific investigation was carried out under the direction of Stadtarchäologie Wien in collaboration with the archaeological excavation company Novetus. They provided two experts in archaeology and anthropology to assist with investigating and documenting the already displaced bones from the initial construction works. There was a larger extension of the area to allow for the lifting and recording the full extent of the distribution of the human remains. What they found was remarkable.
At least 129 complete individuals were documented during the excavations. Due to the large number of dislocated bones, which were torn from their original position by the previous renovation work, the total number of individuals is estimated at over 150 crammed into an area 5m x 5m.
Pathology
The individuals were buried without any recognizable order or orientation. Many lay on their stomachs or sides or bent into the shallow pit. Their limbs were intertwined and there was no attempt to organise the burial, not dig a deep pit, this all indicates a hasty burial of the dead in a shallow grave.
All the remains are male, aged between 20-30 years, with perimortem injuries noted on every individual examined, particularly to the skull, torso and pelvis. The injuries to the bones are clearly the result of combat and the haste of burial suggests an active military operation. Injuries from blunt and sharp weapons, including spears, daggers, swords and iron bolts from ranged weapons. The variety of injuries indicates a fierce battle. The dating of the bones using C14 analysis revealed a date of c. 80 to 230 A.D. The grave goods found in the grave made it possible to specify the period more precisely.
Artefacts
The small number of objects found within the skeletons indicates that the dead were robbed of their weapons and equipment. However, the few finds that were recovered are remarkable and allow a chronological and cultural-historical classification:
- Dagger. The iron dagger is the key find for dating the mass grave. Its fragments look inconspicuous when found due to rusting and corrosion. However, an X-ray image of the dagger scabbard immediately reveals characteristic Roman decorations. These are inlays made of silver wire, which allow the dagger to be dated to between the middle of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd century AD.
- Scale armour. Several scales of scale armour/lorica squamata were found, made of non-ferrous metal alloy and connected to each other by wire. In contrast to the segmented armour that was also used, scale armour was more complex to manufacture and allowed its wearers greater manoeuvrability. Scale armour became established around 100 AD under the influence of cavalry soldiers from the eastern half of the Roman Empire. However, the specimens found are strikingly different from most of those known from the research literature. Instead of the usual round perforations, they have square recesses on the upper side for fastening to the carrier material. What may appear to be a small detail is, due to its rarity in our area, a production feature that must be investigated.
- Cheek piece of a helmet. A cheek piece is a sheet of metal that was attached to the helmet to protect the cheeks. The recess for the ear allows it to be assigned to a Roman helmet type that became established from the middle of the 1st century AD.
- Lance points. Two iron spearheads were found, one of which was embedded in a pelvis.
- Shoe nails. Numerous hobnails were found in the foot area of one individual. They came from so-called caligae, Roman military shoes. These were made of leather and studded with nails on the underside. This type of footwear identifies the individual with great certainty as a Roman soldier.
Initial Conclusions
Dating of the mass grave is possible by both the broad C14 dates and importantly by the artefacts. The decoration of the dagger sheath is particularly significant. Daggers of this type were in use from the middle of the 1st to the beginning of the 2nd century AD.
The question of the cause of the mass grave can be explained by knowledge of the burial rites in the Roman Empire: In the Roman Empire, there were elaborate burial rituals and set rules; precise rules also had to be followed for the time after death. As cremation burials were common in the European parts of the Roman Empire around 100 AD, burial of the whole body were an absolute exception and more so given the numbers thrown haphazardly into a shallow pit.
The creation of a mass grave without cremation of the dead suggests a large number of casualties in combination with a lack of time and resources. The unhealed battle wounds, rule out the possibility of executions, such as a punishment for military cowardice. Instead, everything points to the catastrophic end of a military operation.
Historical sources report that there were repeated battles with Germanic tribes on the Danube border of the Roman Empire under Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD) at the end of the 1st century (Danube Wars 86 to 96 AD). These were extremely costly for the Romans – there are reports of the destruction of an entire legion. A few years later, under Emperor Trajan (98-117), the massive fortification line, the Danube Limes, was extended.
The mass grave in Simmering is the first physical evidence of brutal fighting from this period and indicates the location of a battle in the area of present-day Vienna. The defeat here could therefore have been the immediate reason for the expansion of the formerly small military base into the legionary camp of Vindobona – less than seven kilometres from the site of the find. This battle may therefore mark the beginning of Vienna’s urban history!
Future works
The Vienna team is still at the very beginning of its research. Further investigations into the human remains and the objects found will be carried out as part of an international, interdisciplinary research project. DNA and isotope analyses in particular will provide exciting results on the origin and conditions of the soldiers buried in Simmering.
Furthermore, experts from Austria and abroad will further examine the following topics:
- Geophysical investigations of the subsoil in the wider vicinity of the excavation site
- Pollen analyses to investigate the vegetation in Roman times
- River morphological investigations to reconstruct the course of the Danube around 100
- Political and military-historical classification of the grave find
- Research into the objects recovered from the grave
- Religious-historical research on this form of special burial
- Legal-historical prerequisites for burials in the event of war
