Kalkriese is not the Varus battle site ?

[Tiberius Clodius Corvinus]

Carsten, This was a bit of a trick question, even my colleagues (archaeologists) with years of experience wouldn't be able to see the difference without knowing the context.

Ok, the shame's taken away from me.

Course, perhaps the civilians somehow got this far with these items and were just plain cut down at this point?

I would doubt they took the civilian stuff that far, because the un-necessary baggage was left/destroyed in the first camp of Varus. and for a place anywhere close to the camp speaks in my opinion the very burial places. the camp where the last stand possibly took place must be someone elsewhere. My thinking is that the Varus battle was fought over an immense area with single Roman units trying to extricate, but a substantial part being finished in the camp. here were possibly the most soldiers burried in massgraves when Germanicus went to the scene. far more massgraves and bigger ones than those found in Kalkriese. My point here is, that when they burried the dead and we suppose Kalkriese was connected to Varus, the place of the first camp of Varus was so far away, that it was not reasonable or impossible to carry the dead a long distance to the "official" burial place.

Or could it be a POW retaining place, combined with a field hospital?

AFAIK, the findings that have been made evidence the presence of legionary infantry, signifer (responsible for the moneybags?), medical personnel, military surveyors, auxillia, craftsmen and slaves. So it could be so or anything else.

Meanwhile I doubt Caecina even, as he had no civilians with him, IIRC. Anyone knows? I would be really interested in an inventory of the findings.

Another point, that came just to my mind, is the way the dead were killed. I can't tell at all, but the dead found in Kalkriese were killed by sword / club blows AFAIK ... as Tacitus reports of (mass?) hangings I would expect a reasonable number of dead with no signs of word / club strikes. :?

Do you know if there is a publication series of these finds like the Augst series ?

No idea.

[L C Cinna]

@L L Cinna: Hi Micha, just saw you're from Berlin. At which University are you? I'm at the TU.

Hi. I'm at the HU