Roman battlefield found deep inside Germany

[Matthew Amt]

Is there *evidence* for the practice of Romans "policing" a battlefield for dropped items or spent weapons, or is that a modern assumption? I remember from several reenacting experiences how easy it is to lose a dropped item. It took half a dozen people more than 10 minutes to find a dropped MUSKET in knee-high grass in an area about 100 feet square. Smaller items will just disappear into dry leaves and such. Ballista bolts that have been shot into a hill side? Forget it!

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. We know from finds in Denmark and France that captured gear was often dumped in bogs and lakes. I'm not saying the Romans would leave obvious things like shields and armored men lying around, nor that the locals might not keep a few handy spears and swords if they had the chance, just that we shouldn't assume that metal objects were so valuable that an army would carefully comb the ground after a battle to make sure they'd gotten everything.

Somewhere in Britain there is a site which was apparently an artillery practice range. Presumably they found a ton of ballista bolt heads there, too. I agree that the other finds from this new site (and the apparent lack of earthworks) makes it more likely a battlefield, but there are many ways to lose small items in the woods!

And I don't want to sound TOO much like a wet blanket! It's a neat find.

Matthew