Nachts vor dem Lager? Ein außergewöhnlicher Depotfund aus Vindonissa (Kt. Aargau / CH)

Abstract

At Night in Front of the Fortress? An Extraordinary Hoard Find from Vindonissa (Kt. Aargau / CH)

A pit with mysterious contents was recovered in 2016 in front of the south-western fortification of the legionary fortress Vindonissa. A complete pottery bowl and three more vessels aside, the pit yielded 22 complete oil lamps, 21 bronze coins and fire debris with burnt bones from 22 thighs of sheep or goats. One of the coins, in their majority struck under Nero, displays a countermark from the Year of the Four Emperors in AD 68/69. The digging of the pit and the deposition of its unusual contents must therefore have taken place in the transition period between legio XXI Rapax and legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis. At a first glance, the find context does not show any clear architectonic or topographic reference to a sacral site. This find complex bears no parallels thus far, and enhances our idea of Vindonissa’s sacral topography by an extraordinary component.