John Anthony Spencer Clunn

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(10 May 1946 – 3 August 2014) was a major in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, and an amateur archaeologist who discovered the main 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 ...

Kalkriese Kalkriese is a village now administratively part of the city of Bramsche in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is on the northern slope of the Wiehen Hills, a ridge-like range of hills, north of Osnabrück. The ''Kalkrieser Ber ...

Hill.

Army career

Born in Kent, Clunn served in the ranks of the Royal Tank Regiment, rising to the rank of

warrant officer class 1 Warrant may refer to: * Warrant (law), a form of specific authorization ** Arrest warrant, authorizing the arrest and detention of an individual ** Search warrant, a court order issued that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search for evide ...

. He was then commissioned into the administrative section of the Royal Army Medical Corps as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 2 January 1986. His commission was backdated, with seniority as a second lieutenant from 2 July 1981, and as lieutenant from 2 July 1983. He was promoted captain on 2 January 1988. He was promoted major on 30 September 1994, having previously held the rank on an acting basis. Appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the 1996

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

, he retired from the army on 4 April 1996.

Archaeology

Roemische Schleuderbleie Varus Kalkriese

Clunn searched for

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 lette ...

coins with a

metal detector A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. The unit itself, consist of a control box, and an adjustable shaft, ...

as a hobby. In 1987, when he was attached to the Royal Tank Regiment in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

, he asked Wolfgang Schlüter, at the time the archaeologist for the District of Osnabrück,Archäologie, Ausgrabung und Wissenschaft
Museum und Park Kalkriese, retrieved 7 September 2010. where he should look.Fergus M. Bordewich, "The Ambush that Changed History", '' Smithsonian'' September 2005, pp
3
�

He was advised to search 20 km north of the city, where Roman coins had previously been found,Peter S. Wells, ''The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest'', New York: Norton, 2003,
p. 46
though none for 18 years. Schlüter's recommendation was based upon a study of maps and the 19th-century historian

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centu ...

's proposal that the Kalkriese area was a likely location of the battle which took place in 9 C.E. On his first day, Clunn found several coins from the reign of

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 ...

, mostly in excellent condition. No coins found at the site post-date 9 C.E.David Crossland
"Battle of the Teutoburg Forest: Germany Recalls Myth That Created the Nation"
'' Der Spiegel'' 28 August 2009. He also discovered Roman sling shot in the vicinity of Kalkriese, the first indisputable evidence of military activity there. Previously there had been many conflicting theories about the location of the battle, and scholars had searched for it without success for 600 years. On the basis of Clunn's findings, Schlüter began a comprehensive excavation of the site in 1989, later directed by Susanne Wilbers-Rost. His finds are now displayed at the Varusschlacht (Varus Battle) Museum and Park Kalkriese, opened in 2002. In the following years, Clunn investigated the entire area around Kalkriese. The coins he discovered have made it possible to reconstruct the route taken by the Roman legionaries under Varus and to determine where they were ambushed and massacred. In Clunn's opinion, the march route corresponds exactly to the changing environment as described by Dio Cassius.

Retirement

Clunn returned to Osnabrück to live. He was awarded the Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany. He died on 3 August 2014 at his home in

Bissendorf Bissendorf (formerly Bissendorpe) is a municipality in the district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 9 km southeast of Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in ...

."Varusschlacht-Pionier Tony Clunn verstorben"
NDR, 7 August 2014

Publications

* Tony Clunn. Ed. Anna Cheeseman-Clunn and Ursula Cheeseman. ''In Quest of the Lost Legions: The Varusschlacht''. London: Minerva, 1999. * Tony Clunn. ''The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions''. Spellmount: Savas Beatie, 2005.

References

Sources

* ''The Lost Legions of Varus''. Television movie. Secret History Series 9. Granada Television, 2001
ImdB
* Wolfgang Schlüter. "Kalkriese: Ort der Varusschlacht. Die Ausgrabungen in der Kalkrieser-Niederwedder Senke". ''Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Nordwestdeutschland'' Beiheft 9 (1994). {{DEFAULTSORT:Clunn, Tony 1946 births 2014 deaths Members of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany English archaeologists Royal Tank Regiment soldiers Royal Army Medical Corps officers People from Kent Classical archaeologists Military personnel from Osnabrück