Anyone visiting the Roman Museum in recent weeks could not fail to notice the white pavilions on the museum grounds, which meant that it was excavation time again. After a successful start in summer 2023, the German-Polish research project has now continued its work on site. Twelve archaeology students from the universities of Warsaw and Mainz spent three weeks excavating in the Roman town of Homburg-Schwarzenacker under the supervision of the two provincial Roman archaeologists Prof Dr Agnieszka Tomas (Warsaw) and Prof Dr Peter Haupt (Mainz). Following last year's excavation campaign with the same team, which focused on the course of the ancient road, this time the scientific interest centred on a Roman sanctuary, parts of which had already been investigated in 2004 and which lies hidden beneath the present-day baroque garden at the Edelhaus.
The research was significantly supported by the Saarpfalz district, the city of Homburg and the Schwarzenacker Roman Museum as well as the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments. District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo, Chairman of the German-Polish Society Saar e. V., took the opportunity to pay a visit to the excavation team to enquire about the progress.
"Several decades after Alfons Kolling's major excavations - Kolling (1922-2003) was the state archaeologist of Saarland and director of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Saarbrücken - it is certainly worthwhile to now approach one of Germany's most important Roman monuments with modern methods, a better state of research and new questions," stated Prof Peter Haupt.
Even if the oldest layers were not reached during this year's campaign, the finds can at least prove that the sanctuary was used from the 2nd century AD to the 4th century AD. "The preparation and communal consumption of meals played an important role in the cult, and waste was buried directly at the temples. Offerings deposited in the earth have also been found. However, it is still unclear which gods were worshipped here. The sacred area was home to temples just like the Temple of Mercury, which is only a few metres away and was reconstructed based on a model near Bierbach," continued Professor Haupt.
District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo: "It is incredibly exciting to see how history is being brought out of the present here. I am delighted that this is not just about archaeology, but also about encounters between nations and learning from each other. In the further development of our Saar Palatinate museum and research locations, we benefit enormously from the cooperation with the two universities and I would like to thank everyone behind this cross-national project. I hope that we will also be able to involve students from the University of Rzeszow in the near future, which would be in the spirit of the partnership between Saarland and the Podkarpackie Voivodeship."
Once again, everyone involved remembered the great public interest: in addition to numerous individual tourists, a number of school classes from the Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and even Bavaria combined their visit to the Roman Museum with a trip to the excavation, where they were able to watch the archaeologists at work and ask questions.
For further information, please contact Dr Andreas Stinsky, Cultural Manager of the Saarpfalz district, [email protected].