The Unknown Warrior (10 page)

A further intriguing case is found at Dura Europos in Syria, where excavations revealed artefacts relating to a particular action during a siege. Some of the Roman defenders at ‘Tower 19' had sunk a countermine beneath one of the siege-works of the attackers when it collapsed, killing attackers and the defenders. Sadly the bones that were found were not kept and it is impossible to reconstruct the associated artefact group with any confidence, although some sketch plans exist (James, 2004: 34–5). The deposits from this collapsed tower of the
AD
250s included the skeleton of a man in a mail shirt (
ibid.
: fig. 52), a helmet, sword and shield umbo. The idea of mining beneath enemy defences and of the defenders countermining to prevent the assault would persist right up to the First World War.

In terms of formal depositions, burial with one's weapons was not the Roman way. There are burials that include Roman military equipment, which are generally interpreted as being of auxiliary troops. Feugère (2002: 32) highlighted a number of Gallic examples: at Berry-Boux, in the Cher department in France, a burial of
c.
20
BC
included a sword, lance and shield (although the author did not feel that this was enough to denote a soldier's grave), while a grave at Neuvy-Pailloux (
c.
AD
40–50 ) included a lance-head and two bronze face helmets – perhaps the interment of a cavalry auxiliary; an infantry example, albeit of an officer, was found in a burial of
c.
AD
40 at Chassenard and here the body was accompanied with a jug, cup and razors, four dies for striking coins, a sword, military belt, mail coat, a face helmet and torque – all possessions of a soldier, possibly a
decurion
. Our study is concerned with the infantryman and not his commanders. Although not conclusively legionaries, the remains of the ‘unknown warriors', below, come from contexts with established Roman martial elements: from the disaster that befell the legions in the Teutoburg Forest, and from the Roman fort at Velsen in the Netherlands. Both individuals played their part in major engagements of the Roman legions and neither were placed in what one would call formal burials, although it is possible that both were interred within a formalised context.

UNKNOWN WARRIOR 3

An army unexcelled in bravery, the first of the Roman armies in discipline, energy and experience in the field, through negligence of its general, the treachery of the enemy and the unkindness of Fortune was surrounded, nor was as much opportunity as they had wished given to the soldiers either of fighting or of extricating themselves, except against heavy odds; indeed some were even chastised for using their weapon and showing the spirit of the Romans. Hemmed in by forest, marshes and ambuscade, it was destroyed almost to a man by the very enemy it has always slaughtered like cattle …

(
Velleius Paterculus
, 2/119; Cowan, 2003a: 14–15)

In the Teutoburg Forest in
AD
9, one of the greatest reverses was suffered by the Roman Army: the defeat of three legions, the XVII, XVIII and XIX, under the command of Publius Quinctilius Varus. The legions were lured into an ambush by Arminius – a member of the Cherusci tribe and someone who had served with the legions – and, trapped between wooded forest, a turf wall and a marsh, were annihilated. Perhaps 20,000 soldiers were killed, along with camp followers and Varus himself. There were very few survivors.

As we have seen above, a contemporary legionary legate, Velleius Paterculus, gave a written account of elements of the battle (see page 48). Archaeologically, very little relating to this astonishing battle had been found until recently, a cenotaph commemorating one of the dead being a notable exception. This memorial to an officer, a centurion named Marcus Caelius, of the First Cohort of the XVIII Legion, shows a man decorated with phalerae and torcs for valour in battle and with a civic crown of oak leaves awarded for saving a fellow citizen's life. The monument was uncovered close to the legionary base at Xanten, Holland (Cowan, 2003a: 15). Caelius' body and those of the men who died alongside him were never recovered, although the subsequent campaigns of Germanicus (
AD
14–16) visited the site of the Roman humiliation and found the bones of many of the slaughtered in groves in the forest; they buried as many as possible in pits on the site.

The site of Kalkriese, near Osnabrück, Germany, was initially discovered by a British army officer, Major Tony Clunn, with a detailed metal-detector survey (Clunn, 1999) and subsequently extensively excavated under the direction of Wolfgang Schlüter. As we have already seen, artefacts from the site included large quantities of Roman military material and of the paraphernalia associated with the movement of an army; its support teams, baggage and supplies. Some of the many coins that have been found were stamped with the letters
var
, interpreted, perhaps not unreasonably, as standing for ‘Varus'. The excavations at Kalkriese revealed not only finds associated with the Roman legions, but also some important structural elements, in particular the remains of a turf wall
c.
4.5m wide, on which sat a wooden fence (Schlüter, 1999: 130–1). This fortification helped to ensure that the Roman troops continued into the bottleneck and afforded some cover to the attacking tribes people; its construction also indicated that a large degree of planning had gone into the attack. The remains at Kalkriese have led most authorities, though not all, to believe that this was almost certainly the site of the
Varusschlacht
, the destruction of the three legions.

Over the course of the excavations, despite the sandy soils which are not conducive to the preservation of skeletal remains, large numbers of bones have also been recovered. Among them, beneath a collapsed section of the turf wall, was found the articulated body of a mule complete with a bell that had been stuffed with straw to prevent it ringing. In other areas, human and animal bones were jumbled up and displayed signs of weathering, having been left open to the elements prior to their deposition (Zylla and Tolksdorf-Lienemann, 2000).

Since 1994, five pits have been found in front of the turf wall on the Oberesch at Kalkriese (Wilbers-Rost, 2003b: 138). In 1994 a pit was uncovered which was half filled with bones. These, too, were weathered and non-articulated with several human skull fragments, representing a number of individuals. This picture might fit reports of Germanicus' men interring the remains of the dead legionaries in pits, years after their death. Some of the bones displayed cut-marks to suggest violence.

A further pit, excavated in 1999, was lined with limestone slabs and was packed with bones. Again the assemblage was composed both of human and animal bones with a human skull in the middle. On the base of the pit was a further skull, which displayed a sword cut. Apart from one isolated bone, it appears that the bones in this pit represented the remains of two individuals. Both were male, one around 30 and the other around 35 years of age, and
c.
1.63m and 1.65–1.71m tall respectively (Wilbers-Rost 2003a: 34). Although the palaeopathological analysis of the site at Kalkriese is still under way, initial examinations suggest that ‘the human skeletal remains must be classified exclusively as those of young or elderly adult males. Bones of female or sub-adult individuals are not present. Both the individual teeth found and sets of teeth verify that the humans were in good health. Two
calvae
(skull caps) give clear indications of fatal injuries inflicted by sharp or semi-sharp weapons. Various indications suggest that the human and animal bones lay for a time on the surface' (Schlüter, 1999: 135–6). What is certain is that the site at Kalkriese was the location of a fairly important military engagement involving the Roman army – there are sufficient finds of Roman militaria and of human remains to demonstrate this. The majority of those who have examined the material are also firmly of the belief that all the evidence points to this being the major site of the
Varusschlacht
.

UNKNOWN WARRIOR 4

That same year the Frisii, a nation beyond the Rhine, cast off peace, more because of our rapacity than from their impatience of subjection … The soldiers appointed to collect the tribute were seized and gibbeted. Olennius anticipated their fury by flight, and found refuge in a fortress, named Flevum, where a by no means contemptible force of Romans and allies kept guard over the shores of the ocean …

(Tacitus,
Annals
,
iv
, 72)

The fort at Velsen I (
Flevum
) was the only one downstream from the Roman base at Vechten in the Netherlands and was thus of considerable strategic importance. In
AD
28 it was attacked by the Frisians. It was held with some difficulty – detritus on the site, including a series of lead slingshots, attests to this. Excavations revealed a series of wells within the fortifications, several of which were found to contain human remains. One, in particular, was of interest, given that it held a virtually complete skeleton of a robust
c.
25-year-old man,
c.
1.90m in height, and with a dagger and sheath (Morel and Bosman, 1989: 167). The articulated body was supposedly found in a supine position (Constandse-Westermann, 1982: 139). Constandse-Westermann (
ibid.
: 158) examined the possibility that this man was of Mediterranean or more local origin – something to which his equipment did not give any enlightenment, and concluded that he was probably the body of a ‘native, serving in the Roman army' mainly from an examination of comparative statures of known contemporary Roman skeletal assemblages.

The man's skull had a crack in the right frontal/parietal area and some chipped-off bone splinters, which might have been caused by a blow of ante-or post-mortal origin (Constandse-Westermann, 1982: 141, 146–7). This ‘wound' might have rendered the victim unconscious – leading to subsequent drowning in the well – had it occurred prior to death and if it was not fatal. The pathology is certainly not enough for us to state whether the man had been killed in combat or in an accident, murdered, or simply expired from disease or illness – the ‘wound' being a post-mortem event.

The well shaft in which the body was found was lined with a series of barrels with staves of spruce and silver fir. These might perhaps have held wine. Below the body, and present in the well prior to its decommissioning, were possible parts of the well-head equipment and bucket (Morel and Bosman, 1989: 168). The body and his accoutrements were then cast or placed in the well along with fragments of quernstone, a lamp, various amphorae and pot shards, a ‘ballista ball', animal bones, shellfish and even a wooden tent peg. Following this, the well was filled with huge quantities of stone and refuse from the fort (
ibid.
: 168–70). The filling of this well in one quick phase was a deliberate act.

It is not known whether the placing of the body was a votive act to commemorate the abandonment of the fort or simply a convenient location to inter a body, almost in a way in which one would tidy up rubbish. The discovery of a complete pot with the body might perhaps indicate a provision of ‘grave goods' for the afterlife and thus lessen the likelihood of the latter theory. It might also be taken to reveal that, if this man had died a violent death, he was probably buried by comrades rather than an enemy, who would have been more likely to loot the dagger had it been visible (
ibid.
: 168, 170). What is certain is that a body would not have been deposited in a well that was still in use and so this event has been taken to date to the abandonment of Velsen I in
AD
28, the date of the Frisian rebellion.

As mentioned, the body was found to have several items about his person or in a stratigraphic sequence, which would suggest former association. An iron dagger (
pugio
) that was excavated survived to a length of 23.05cm and the bone or antler grip of the knife, still retaining three rivets, was also recovered (
ibid.
: 177). The sheath of this weapon was of fine craftsmanship with an iron plate decorated with silver, red, and yellow enamel and with designs of triangles, a temple, oak leaves and geometric motifs (
ibid.
: 177–86). Its very presence with the body would tend to suggest that, if the man was killed before being thrown into the well, then the motif would not be robbery.

While the sheath was a fine piece of equipment, other items were altogether more utilitarian. Eight belt-plates and a buckle of a military-style belt were located and these were essential for the attachment of the sheath and the dagger. The belt-plates were of worn copper alloy, which, along with the buckle, had once been silver-plated (
ibid.
: 180). The authors of the report on the burial thought that, together, these finds illustrated the fact that the soldier's equipment was far from standardised and that the quality of the belt would, perhaps, indicate that this was the body of a low-ranking soldier (
ibid.
: 187). The fact that other equipment of martial character was not present need not preclude this interpretation – it means simply that he was not in full battle apparel when deposited, the full panoply of armour and weaponry perhaps having been taken from the body (Constandse-Westermann, 1982: 139).