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Miami Herald

Ruins of ancient Roman camp seemed typical — then a very rare artifact emerged

Digging into the chalky orange-brown soil of western Germany, archaeologists exposed the ruins of an ancient Roman military camp. Their finds were plentiful but typical — until they uncovered a very rare item. A team of archaeologists started excavating a massive plot of land in Haltern am See ahead of the construction of a community and senior citizens' center, the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association said in a June 24 news release. Because the site sat near a known ancient Roman military camp, the team expected to find at least something. The work area spanned about one and a half football fields, but almost every square yard showed traces of ancient Roman activity, the excavation director Martha Zur-Schaepers said in the release. Archaeologists found storage trenches, part of a defensive wall, sections of a key road, the outlines of soldiers' homes and numerous pits, officials said. They also uncovered military-related items, like the shoe nails of soldiers' boots, and everyday items, such as pottery, cooking utensils and coins. But one artifact stood out to archaeologists: a broken pot. A photo shows the ancient brownish-black pot, which looks relatively mundane to the untrained eye. Archaeologists recognized it as something unique and identified it as part of a Terra Rubra pot. The pot belongs to a pottery style known as Belgic Ware, Bettina Tremmel, the department's Roman expert, said in the release. Belgic Ware, also referred to as Gallo-Belgic Ware, was made during the Roman era in northern Gaul. The region of Gaul included modern-day France and parts of Belgium, Germany and Italy, according to Britannica. The bowl fragment found in Haltern am See is a very rare type of Belgic Ware, Tremmel said. Excavations at the site in Haltern am See are ongoing and expected to end in August, officials said. Archaeologists plan to continue analyzing their finds to learn more about life at the ancient Roman camp. Haltern am See is a town in western Germany, a roughly 320-mile drive west of Berlin and near the border with the Netherlands. Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL).