Origin of the limes

[jho]

I am not an expert on this but there has recently been much discussion on the group of watchtowers in Switzerland called the Walenseetürme which date to the earlier parts of Augustus' reign (approx. 15 BC) and appear to be related to the fortification in Dangstetten. They appear to guard a strategically important route rather than a "frontier" but the concept appears to be very similar to later "frontier" towers. An English abstract of a recent publication can be found here:

[url:k1zlcs1g]http://www.dainst.org/medien/de/Germania_83_1.pdf[/url]

and a German summary here:

[url:k1zlcs1g]http://www.hvg.ch/hvg_pdf/ruth_schindler.pdf[/url].