A 19-Year-Old Intern Unearthed a Rare, 2,000-Year-Old Roman Dagger in a Tiny German Town

An intern working for the
Westphalie Department for the Preservation and Care of Field
Monuments in Germany shocked his employers when he uncovered a rare
Roman dagger at an archaeological site.  

Likely used in battles against
the Germanic tribes in the first century AD, the 2,000-year-old
object was unearthed last April at Haltern am See, a small town in
the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was an extremely
rare find for the team of archaeologists, and one made even more
special for the well-preserved state in which the dagger was
found.

“The discovery of the dagger was
emotional. We were lost for words,” Bettina Tremmel, an
archaeologist working for the Westphalie Department told
Live
Science. “Imagine:
Though thousands of Roman soldiers were stationed in Haltern over
almost 15 years or more, there are only a few finds of weapons,
especially complete and intact ones.”

The dagger was corroded to the
point of being unrecognizable when Nico Calman, the 19-year-old man
on work-study unearthed it and the remains of a decorated leather belt from the grave of a soldier. But after a
rigorous restoration effort that lasted nine months, conservators
in Germany unveiled the ornate 13-inch-long weapon and its
bejeweled sheath underneath the grime this week.

Silver and brass adorn the
dagger’s handle, while its iron scabbard features inlaid wood,
glass, and red enamel. The weapon likely belonged to a legionary or
auxiliary infantryman or a centurion officer in the Roman army,
Tremmel says. But why the weapon was buried with its owner remains
a mystery, she says, explaining that “it was not the normal
practice for Roman soldiers to be buried with their military
equipment.” 

Located at the edge of the Roman
empire, Haltern am See was home to a large military camp during the
Augustan period (27 BC to AD 14), where three legions of soldiers,
each consisting of some 5,000 men, were slain by Germanic tribes.
Roman fighters killed during the battles were buried at a cemetery
nearby.

Despite archaeological digs
taking place at the site for nearly 200 years, a weapon as
sophisticated and well-preserved as the dagger has never before
been found.

The newly restored dagger will
go on view in Haltern’s Roman history museum beginning in
2022.

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2,000-Year-Old Roman Dagger in a Tiny German Town appeared
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