Roman battlefield found deep inside Germany

[Matthew Amt]

The Germans seem to have been very unconcerned about collecting weapons for re-use or recycling. After Teutoberg Forest, they gathered up all the Roman gear and left it in piles in their sacred groves.

The key word here is "sacred" -- it wasn't that the Germans were "unconcerned", but that they were indeed "re-using" weaponry as dedications to their gods.

We know from finds in Denmark and France that captured gear was often dumped in bogs and lakes.

Again, in case anyone gets the wrong idea, "dumped" is a terribly loaded term. The captured gear was probably dedicated to the watery gods.

Mea maxima culpa, you are absolutely right! I worded that all wrong. What I meant was that the stuff was not necessarily collected for re-use as weapons or for the metal content. Sacrificial use was clearly a high priority, which had a very long tradition by that point.

Somewhere in Britain there is a site which was apparently an artillery practice range.

You're probably thinking of Burnswark, which I have argued was actually under siege. (The older theory, that it was an artillery range, seems very unlikely to me, but still pops up from time to time.)[/quote]

Yeah, Burnswark is the place, and yeah, I don't recall which old book I saw that in. The practice range is a neat idea, but I'm happy with an actual seige!

Valete,

Matthew