New evidence for a Roman military camp at Virunum (Noricum): The garrison of the governor's guard (singulares)?
New evidence for a Roman military camp at Virunum (Noricum): The garrison of the governor's guard (singulares)?

Summary/Abstract: Since the year 2001, aerial photographs have indicated a densely built-up zone to the east of the Roman town of Virunum (near Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria), the capital of the province of Noricum. The visible crop marks have been interpreted as a Roman military camp. The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro) conducted an initial ground penetrating radar survey on November 19, 2013, in order to gather further information regarding the close proximity of a military installation to the civilian town. An area of 2.56 ha was surveyed using a motorized high resolution MIRA ground penetrating radar array from Malå Geoscience. In the northern part of the plot, numerous building structures are visible, obviously from Roman times, which were situated within a walled-in area. A gateway was located on the south side of this enclosed zone. The forested western and northern sides of this enclosure seem to coincide with the modern land division. Three long rectangular structures, which appear to be Roman military barracks with double chambers and so-called “Kopfbauten” (habitation area for the officers), are a key for the interpretation of the entire complex. Another densely occupied area is located to the south of the enclosure and was probably inhabited by civilians. These new GPR data clearly provides novel insights in the manner Roman troops were housed at the governor’s seat of Noricum.

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