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A series of signs at the end of the street are there to inform anyone interested about the Roman farmhouse that stood on the site more than 1,700 years ago. They were successful farmers who used expensive tiles or slates for roofs and owned amphoras -> a type of vase -> imported from what is today Spain, according to the signs.
In all, a series of 20 signs informs people about Romans who lived on the site of the housing area, as well as Celts who lived there 2,800 years ago and Bronze Age people who lived there 3,700 years ago, said Klaus Hahn, Newman Village project leader for the U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden Transformation Stationing Management Office.
The signs are located throughout the 326-unit housing area, Hahn said, and offer everyone in the Wiesbaden military community a great opportunity to learn about the area’s history. The housing area is open to identification card holders and their guests only.
The information from the signs came from an archaeological excavation that started in September 2009 and ended in July 2010, said Claus Bergmann, who led the excavation for Hessen Archäologie. Bergmann was on hand to talk to people about the excavation during the housing area’s opening June 14.
The excavation went right through the winter, and about 40 volunteers, both German and American, helped, Bergmann said. “It was a very good experience,” he said.
Hessen Archäologie put up signs everywhere archaeologists found artifacts, Bergmann said. With Bergmann at the opening was his father-in-law Lutz Groupe, who is enjoying his retirement as an English and Latin teacher by participating in Roman reenactment events. Groupe attended the housing opening dressed as a Roman Soldier.
Groupe said he made most of his outfit in 1995 to prepare for a long hike in Switzerland that recreated what it would have been like to be a Roman Soldier on the march. His outfit included chainmail, a helmet, a sword, sandals and a cape.
The group marched 170 miles, Groupe said, and although his ankles hurt at first because of the weight of the equipment, his body quickly got used to the marching. The group slept only six hours a night, Groupe said, and every fourth night everyone had to cook for the others.
“I wanted to know, ‘How could it feel?’” Groupe said. “How could it possibly feel?”
Although the housing area site was not a place where Roman Soldiers were stationed, there were many in the area, Bergmann said.
From the time Jesus was born until about 400 A.D., the area which now comprises Mainz and Wiesbaden was important to the Romans, Bergmann said. About 10 percent of the Roman army was stationed in the area, he said.
The U.S. Army called in archaeologists to investigate the site after aerial photographs showed the outline of the site, Bergmann said.
During the excavation, archaeologists discovered that people from a Germanic tribe came and destroyed the farmhouse, Bergmann said. This was apparent because archaeologists found parts of the burned roof in what would have been the basement of the house. The site of the housing area has been a popular site for farming throughout the ages because the soil is fertile, Bergmann said.
Although Bergmann had two glass cases full of artifacts during the housing area opening, Bergmann said the artifacts are not part of a museum collection. Bergmann said he would be open to working with garrison officials to create a small museum, however.