A Roman charred loaf of bread, preserved for 2,000 years thanks to carbonization, has been discovered in the remains of the ancient military camp of Vindonissa in Windisch, Switzerland. It is the first Roman bread ever discovered in Switzerland.
The site is being excavated prior to construction of a large housing development. Because the location is directly across from the southwestern side of the ancient legionary camp, Canton Argau initiated a rescue archaeology operation to document and recover any archaeological materials. The excavation began in August of last year and is scheduled to continue for 11 months.
Evidence of fortifications that are older than the well-established defenses of the permanent 1st century camp were discovered in two places. Two parallel ditches with post holes at regular intervals between them mark the location of a timber and earth wall. A V-shaped ditch was discovered south of the wall remains. This is the same kind of ditch found almost a century ago that marked the larger permanent fort, and it gives archaeologists the ability to estimate the dimensions of the previous temporary fort: it extended 400 meters (a quarter mile) from north to south.
The remains of a building from the interior of the older camp, preserved by a Roman road that was later built over it, have also been unearthed. It contained two groups of rooms, each consisting of two small rooms next to a larger room with a hearth. Other finds made in the interior include metal tools, blacksmith’s waste, spearheads and projectile points. A clay oven carefully constructed and very large suggests commercial food production took place at the camp.
A black, charred, round object caught the attention of the excavation team during the dig. The object was recovered as a block along with the surrounding soil and immediately transported to the restoration laboratory of the cantonal archaeology department. There, it was carefully unearthed. An initial examination by an archaeobotanist from the Integrative and Natural Science Prehistoric Archaeology department at the University of Basel indicated that it is very likely a charred Roman loaf of bread. The presumed bread has a diameter of ten centimeters and is about three centimeters thick – it looks like a small flatbread.
The bread will now undergo scientific analysis at a specialized laboratory in Vienna. Archaeologists hope to find out more about it, its composition, how it was cooked, its date range, etc.
* This article was originally published here
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