Archaeologists have excavated an ancient bath complex in Switzerland. It once belonged to a Roman estate, was equipped with underfloor heating and was supplied with running water from the Rhine. The bath and the manor were probably inhabited throughout the entire period of Roman rule on the High Rhine, from the first to the fourth century. At that time, the farmstead and villa were connected to the empire via both water and country roads.
On a small hill in the town of Wallbach on the High Rhine, near the German border, Swiss researchers from the cantonal archeology of Aargau uncovered a complex from Roman times in advance of construction work. Due to earlier excavation work in 1911 and 1912, it was already known that today’s residential area was in the area of a Roman estate including a villa. In fact, archaeologists found ancient stones and lime mortar during the current excavation. These traces confirm that a Roman building once stood at the site.
Private bathroom with fresh water pipes
The remains of the wall show that there were once several small rooms in an area of around eight by twelve meters. Some of the walls were statically reinforced with struts and therefore carried the weight of loads such as a roof. The archaeologists also found remains of brick slabs that were part of an ancient underfloor heating system, as well as fragments of shot brick mortar. Taken together, the finds indicate that the building was a private bathing wing.
The exposed part of the estate was therefore used as a private bathhouse. The fresh water for this probably came from the Rhine, which was only around 100 meters away, and was brought into the house via pressurized water pipes from hollowed-out tree trunks. This is evidenced by the discovery of an iron ring (Teuchel ring) that connected the tree trunks, as cantonal archeology reports.
Roman complex with long-term habitation
Exactly how old the building is cannot be dated based on the finds. However, the Romans advancing from the Alps only reached the Swiss area south of the High Rhine towards the end of the first century BC and drove out the Celts who had previously settled there. Therefore the house was built at this time at the earliest. Finds from the investigations in 1911 and 1912 also suggest that the estate was already in use in the first and second centuries AD and was inhabited until the fourth century.
During the Roman rule in the province of Germania Superior, the residents of the estate probably used the Rhine as a waterway for the transport of people and goods. In addition, according to archaeologists, the agricultural property was probably connected to a Roman overland road, which connected the towns of Stein, Mumpf, Möhlin and Augusta Raurica from east to west and shortened the route over the Rhine loop.
Around 260 AD, the Germanic tribes advanced from the north and pushed the border of the Roman Empire back to the Rhine. From then on, the estate was located directly in the border area of the empire and was still inhabited when ever larger border fortifications were built there for defense. In the middle of the fourth century, around 50 watchtowers were built along the so-called High Rhine Limes between Lake Constance and Basel, including three towers in Wallbach-Stelli, Wallbach-Unter der Halde and Wallbach-Dorf. These served to monitor the Rhine border, but could not prevent the fall of the Roman Empire and the later decline of the estate.
Source: Archaeological Investigations Department, Canton of Aargau