Ancient dagger reveals Roman Empire battle site

Weapons made of silver and brass helped make many archaeological discoveries

A 2,000-year-old dagger reveals the site of a long-forgotten battle between the Roman Empire and tribal warriors in what is now Switzerland.

In Switzerland, volunteer archaeologist and dental student Lukas Schmid discovered a 2,000-year-old silver and brass dagger in 2019. It was a vital clue to the story of a long-forgotten battle between the Roman Empire and tribal warriors, notes arkeonews.net.

Lukas Schmid unearthed the dagger in the mountainous region of Graubünden in Switzerland, an area believed to be the site of a lost battlefield where soldiers of the Roman Empire fought Rhaetian warriors around 15 BC.

Its discovery prompted excavations in the area, which uncovered a treasure trove of ancient military artifacts.

Now a team of scientists and students has mapped a 2,000-year-old Roman battlefield that represents the last battle of the Souanet tribe and the region’s collapse within the Roman Empire.

Students and researchers from the universities of Basel and Zurich, together with volunteer searchers, are exploring the site of a Roman battle near the Schrep-Sees gorge in the canton of Grisons. Over the past two years, experts have unearthed thousands of Roman military artifacts scattered across a hillside in southeastern Switzerland.

Elegant columns, villas, amphitheaters and other remains of ancient settlements can be found throughout Switzerland, testifying to life under the Romans. But so far not a single battle site has been identified or explored in Switzerland.

Swiss researchers believe that a group of 2,000 Romans from the third, tenth and twelfth Roman legions faced 500-1,000 local fighters on the top of a hill, which is located near the Dermes gorge between the cities of Tiefencastel and Kunter.

Schmid’s discovery led to the discovery of hundreds of other ancient artifacts. A new study of the site by a team from the Grisons archaeological service at the University of Basel (Switzerland) revealed spear points, lead slingshots, brooches, parts of shields, coins and shoe nails from Roman soldiers, Live Science reports.

This fall alone, during a three-week excavation, about 250-300 objects were recovered per day, reports arkeonews.net.

Speaking to Live Science, Peter-Andrew Schwartz, an archaeologist at the University of Basel, said excavations at the site also recently uncovered a Roman coin minted between 29 and 26 BC during the reign of Emperor Augustus.

The Romans conquered what is now southern Ticino in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland in the early 3rd century BC. Some seventy-five years later they captured the Rhône Valley, which included Geneva, southern France, and the route connecting Italy and Spain.

Thanks to the creation of colonies, mainly in western Switzerland, Roman rule gradually strengthened. But their dominance in the Alps was long-lasting. Throughout the first century BC, Roman troops repeatedly advanced into the mountains. Roman historians offer several justifications for these campaigns, including the need to create a transit route to Germany, increase additional tax revenue, and stop unrest, attacks on travelers, and raids.