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Roman iron knife with bronze inlay found in Germany
A Roman iron knife and intaglio gemstone have been discovered under an outbuilding of an ancient farmstead in the town of Delbrück, northwestern Germany. The artifacts and farmstead date to the 1st century A.D., providing a unique opportunity for archaeologists to explore the relationship between the Roman army and local inhabitants fully 90 miles from the Limes Germanicus, the Roman frontier alone the Rhine that became the permanent boundary after Augustus’ attempt to conquer northern Germania failed.
The knife was found in the soil of an underground building, buried with the blade facing upward. It was so deep under the surface that it wouldn’t have harmed anyone walking above it, but the unusual position suggests the knife was deposited with purpose, perhaps as a sacrifice to protect the new building or to hide it.
It is single-edged with a triangular blade and a round-section handle that widens slightly at the end. It is 20 cm (7.9 inches) long and inlaid with three brass strips that encircle the handle, one under the bolster, one in the middle, and one at the end of the handle where it flares. There’s a tab jutting out of the end of the handle that suggests there was originally a decorative finial mounted to it.
The intaglio gemstone depicts Mercury, messenger of the gods, in the nude (except for his helmet), holding the herald’s staff, aka the caduceus, in one hand and a money purse in the other. It is ovoid in shape and was likely mounted in a ring bezel. The stone looks like nicolo to me, ie, onyx agate carved to create a thin top layer of bluish grey over the thick dark layer. The light top color then becomes the background of the carved figure through which the blank onyx shows as if it were a silhouette.
The first evidence of a settlement at the site was discovered in 2017 when archaeologists with the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) excavated the area before residential construction. They found the remains of a structure dated by coins and pottery fragments to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. They thought it was an isolated farmstead, however, and it wasn’t until archaeologists returned in 2024 that they found traces of more structures and artifacts including a counterfeit denarius circulated in the 1st century A.D. and a Roman shoe nail from a caliga, the hobnailed sandals worn by legionaries.
The ongoing excavation has revealed that the farmstead where the knife and intaglio were found was one of at least three at the site in the 1st century A.D. They were less than a mile from the Roman military camp at Anreppen, but not dependent on the camp for their survival as they long outlived it.
The Roman military camp of Anreppen was built in 4 A.D. by the future emperor Tiberius. Located on the south bank of the River Lippe, an important transport route for the Roman army during Augustus’ war to subjugate the Germanic tribes and create the Germania Magna (Greater Germany) province. It was a winter camp and was only in use for a few years. No coins found there date to later than 6 A.D., so it was likely abandoned before the defeat of Publius Quinctilius Varus at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D.
The circumstances surrounding the abandonment of the camp are unclear, but there is evidence that some of the buildings were burned and heavy lumps of iron nails were found in a well. Roman legions had blacksmiths to repair and recycle valuable iron, so for them to throw nails into a well suggests the army had to leave in haste traveling lightly. They destroyed the camp themselves on their way out and ensuring they left nothing for their enemies to use. Tiberius had to interrupt his campaign against the Marcomanni in 6 A.D. to quell an uprising in Pannonia, so this may spurred the rapid withdrawal from Anreppen.
The farmsteads were not abandoned when the Romans left. The knife and the gemstone were both of Roman origin, so they are evidence that the locals still traded with Imperial Rome after the troops left. Artifacts have been found covering a broad chronological range from the 1st century through the 11th, although archaeologists have not yet been able to establish whether occupation was intermittent or continuous.
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