I've been loosely following the recent news (mostly in German) that an ancient battlefield has been discovered at Kalefeld in the administrative district of Northeim in the state of Lower Saxony. This is close to Göttingen, in the foothills of the Harz Mountains. (I used to live in Northeim when a young child.) Findings indicate that the battle took place in the early 3rd century CE, at a time when it has been generally assumed that no Roman forces went that far east of the Rhine river into that particular section of Germania.
(Photo Credit: C. S. Fuchs, Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalspflege)
It's too bad that the main press release and a news video are in German only, but rogueclassicist David Meadows has an extensive round-up of the news, and both Adrian Murdoch of Bread and Circuses and Gabriele Campbell of Lost Fort cover the issue and speculation at length.
According to David Meadows, Ancient Battlefield Hints at Roman Persistence (Science Now) is the best English coverage so far.
The map below of Lower Saxony ("Niedersachsen") gives a good idea of the distance of the site location from the Rhein, which is to the left of the actual map and can be seen here in relation to Osnabrück, where the Varus battle took place about 200 years earlier. Northeim is in the southernmost part of of Lower Saxony.
Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia
Naturally, the discovery has generated considerable excitement. Tentative links have been made to the emperor Maximinus Thrax, but caution is advised, much more archaeological and historical sleuthing needs to be done before it can be made certain that the Roman weapons and other artifacts found were actually used by Roman soldiers and not by "German" tribes who might have acquired them. Count me among the skeptics at this stage of the game.
