Kalkriese is a village now administratively part of the city of

Bramsche Bramsche is a town in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about north of Osnabrück, at . Population is 30,952 (2018). Subdivisions In 1971/72 12 previously independent municipalities were included into the town. *Achmer *B ...

in the district of Osnabrück,

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is on the northern slope of the

Wiehen Hills The Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long finger away from the main upland area of the Lower Saxon ...

, a ridge-like range of hills, north of Osnabrück. The ''

Kalkrieser Berg The Kalkrieser Berg (also called the ''Schmittenhöhe'') is a hill, 157 m, between the villages of Venne and Engter, in the district of Osnabrück. The Kalkrieser Berg is a northern bulge of the Wiehen Hills. To the north is the great bog ...

'' or ''Schmittenhöhe'', a hill with a height of , is considered by archaeologists to be the likely site of the

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster () by Roman historians, took place at modern Kalkriese in AD 9, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius ...

. The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (german: Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald, ''Hermannsschlacht'' or ''Varusschlacht''), described as ''clades Variana'' (the "Varian disaster") by

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

historians, took place in what the Romans called the and has since been identified as Kalkriese in 9 AD, when an alliance of

Germanic tribes The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...

ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by

Publius Quinctilius Varus Publius Quinctilius Varus ( Cremona, 46 BC – Teutoburg Forest, AD 9) was a Roman general and politician under the first Roman emperor Augustus. Varus is generally remembered for having lost three Roman legions when ambushed by Germanic tribe ...

. The anti-Roman alliance was led by

Arminius Arminius ( 18/17 BC – 21 AD) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of ge ...

, an officer of Varus' auxiliary forces who had acquired Roman citizenship and received a Roman military education. The Romans' ''saltus Teutoburgiensis'' (Teutoburg Pass) is taken to refer to the strip of cultivated land with a width of which lies between the

and a large area of wetland to its north, the great bog of Großes Moor. The passage along the northern slope of the Kalkrieser Berg is a difficult one because of the need to cross many deep

brooks Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States * Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas *Brooks, California *Brooks, Georgia * Brooks, Iowa * Brooks, Kentucky * Brooks, Maine * Brooks Township, Michigan ...

and rivulets. Since the start of official explorations in 1988 more than 5,500

objects, mainly pieces of military equipment, have been found in an area covering : The objects include Roman swords and daggers, parts of

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with the ...

s and spears, arrowheads, sling stones, fragments of helmets, soldiers' boot nails, belts,

chainmail Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

hooks, and fragments of armor. Among the most significant items is the earliest known

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

face-mask. Other items include locks, keys, razors, a scale, weights, chisels, hammers, pickaxes, buckets, finger rings, surgical instruments, seal boxes, a stylus, cauldrons, casseroles, spoons, and amphorae. Jewelry, hairpins, and a disk brooch suggest the presence of women. One of the inscribed objects is a

plumb bob A plumb bob, plumb bob level, or plummet, is a weight, usually with a pointed tip on the bottom, suspended from a string and used as a vertical reference line, or plumb-line. It is a precursor to the spirit level and used to establish a verti ...

with "CHOI", or "C(o)HO(rtis) I", i.e. "property of the first cohort". The other one is a chainmail fastener with the inscription: "M AIUS (cohortis) I (centuriae) FABRICI(i) M AII (cohortis) I (centuriae) FAB(ricii)" ("Marcus Aius of

cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit) ...

centuria ''Centuria'' (, plural ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the century changed over time, and from the first century BC through most ...

of fabricii; property of Marcus Aius of cohort I, centuria of fabricii"). A coin struck to commemorate

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

's adoption of his grandsons Lucius and Gaius in 2 BC has also been found at Kalkriese. In 2016, an archaeological investigation found eight

aurei The ''aureus'' ( ''aurei'', 'golden', used as a noun) was a gold coin of ancient Rome originally valued at 25 pure silver ''denarii'' (sin. denarius). The ''aureus'' was regularly issued from the 1st century BC to the beginning of the 4th cen ...

close together at the site, adding to the seven Roman gold coins previously found and tending to corroborate the identification of Kalkriese as the site of the battle.

Notes

External links

Kalkriese Museum
{{Authority control Roman sites in Germany Archaeological sites in Germany Geography of Lower Saxony Hills of Lower Saxony Germania

See also

Notes

External links