29 March 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

2,000-year-old unique luxury Roman villa with “underfloor heating” found in Germany

A luxury Roman villa with a thermal bath and underfloor heating has been unearthed in Kempten, Bavaria, one of the oldest settlements in Germany.

Ancient Romans lived in homes with thermal baths and underfloor heating, as evidenced by an excavation in the Bavarian town of Kempten. The uncovered house is one of the oldest in Germany.

The Domus was large, at least 800 square meters over two stories, and was situated close to the temple district, the most coveted area of the ancient city, on the western edge. It had screed floors, frescoed walls, and private hot baths with hypocaust heating under the floor.

When presenting the excavation, the city reported that the remains that had come to light were among the oldest in Germany. Due to its Roman past, Kempten is more than 2000 years old, making it one of the oldest cities in Germany.

The Domus was large, at least 800 square meters over two stories, and was screed floors, frescoed walls, and private hot baths with hypocaust heating under the floor. Photo: Michael Frick

The most exciting thing about the finds for the archaeologists: They belonged to private stone houses. “You won’t find such private buildings in stone anywhere in southern Germany at this early time – at the beginning of the first century,” says Johannes Schiessl from the city archeology department of Kempten. That means: while elsewhere the Roman settlers still lived in wooden and clay buildings, the high society in Cambodunum apparently already resided in chic brick townhouses.

Cambodunum is the oldest German city mentioned in writing. In 15 B.C., Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, the father of the Germanicus typically associated with that cognomen, and his brother Tiberius razed a Celtic settlement on the site of what would later become Kempten, founded Cambodunum.

Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa

The city of Cambodunum was built in the first decade of the new millennium on a typical Roman grid plan, with major public buildings such as baths, temples, and a forum. It served as the region’s administrative center and the residence of the Roman governor of the Roman province of Raetia. Cambodunum remained the province’s capital until 120 A.D., when it was replaced by Augsburg, aka the Roman colony of Augusta Vindelicum.

The discovery of the luxury private Domus underscores that the Romanization of Bavaria, the development of an urban culture mirroring Rome’s, began in Kempten. It also demonstrates that the wealthy homes and significant civic structures in the early city, which were thought to have been constructed primarily of wood, were built with fine stone and brick.

Cover Photo: Maria Kohle / Kulturamt Kempten

Related Articles

Archaeologists discover 1200-year-old Wari temple complex in Peru

24 February 2023

24 February 2023

Archaeologists from the University of Illinois Chicago have uncovered a temple complex constructed by the Wari Empire 1,200 years ago...

The 6,000-year-old settlement found in island of Corsica

2 May 2023

2 May 2023

Archaeologists in a French municipality recently excavated the slopes of Punta Campana (island of Corsica) in preparation for a construction...

Ancient city site unearthed in Central China produces fortune-telling relics

8 February 2024

8 February 2024

Bone slips used for “fortune-telling activities” and “ancient sacrificial ceremonies” were unearthed during excavations at an archaeological site in Puyang,...

Rare Astrolabe Discovered in Verona Sheds Light On Islamic, Jewish, and Christian Scientific Exchange

6 March 2024

6 March 2024

An eleventh-century rare astrolabe bearing Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions was recently discovered in a museum in Verona, Italy. It dates...

‘World’s oldest dated rune stone’ found in Norway

18 January 2023

18 January 2023

The oldest known Rune stone in Norway has been discovered by Norwegian archaeologists working at the Museum of Cultural History...

A beautiful Medieval key discovered in Claverham village, UK

11 October 2023

11 October 2023

Earlier this year the Kemble fieldwork team from Cotswold Archaeology undertook a small excavation for Newland Homes on the edge...

Dominican mission discovers 1,305-meter Greco-Roman ancient rock-cut tunnel in Alexandria

4 November 2022

4 November 2022

A Greco-Roman tunnel measuring 1,305 meters in length was discovered beneath Tapuziris Magna, an Ancient Egyptian city, by an Egyptian-Dominican...

New Findings from 3,000-year-old Uluburun shipwreck: Uzbekistan Nomads Supplied a Third of the Bronze Used Across Ancient Mediterranean

5 December 2022

5 December 2022

A new study of the 3,o00 years old Uluburun shipwreck revealed a complex ancient trading network during the late bronze...

Bronze age settlement found under in Swiss lake

23 April 2021

23 April 2021

For the first time, archaeologists discovered traces of a Bronze Age lakeside village beneath the surface of Lake Lucerne. The...

A burial complex and an Ancient Dog Statue have been unearthed during excavations in Appio Latino quarter the Rome

8 January 2022

8 January 2022

Workers laying pipes for utility company Acea at Via Luigi Tosti in Rome’s Appio Latino quarter have unearthed an ancient...

Elite Roman man buried with a silver crossbow brooch, first of its kind found in Wales

15 July 2023

15 July 2023

Archaeologists in Wales have made an intriguing discovery near a Roman villa. They have discovered the skeleton of a man...

Mysterious Handprints Found in the Ancient Mayan Cave

1 May 2021

1 May 2021

In Mexico, home to ancient civilizations such as the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, archaeologist Sergio Grosjean found dozens of mysterious...

At Ostrowite, archaeologists have discovered a high-status burial dating back almost a thousand years

2 January 2022

2 January 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a burial chamber in Ostrowite, in Poland’s Pomeranian Voivodeship, containing several high-status grave goods from the 11th...

A farmer discovered artifacts of the Unetice culture in his field

19 August 2021

19 August 2021

A farmer in Sulęcin county in Poland’s Lubusz province discovered a rare treasure while trying to clear stones from his...

Structures in Turkey’s Panaztepe pointing out a 5,000-year-old settlement found

8 November 2021

8 November 2021

In the 5000-year-old Panaztepe settlement located in the Menemen district of Izmir, structures thought to belong to the oldest period...