Gayla Rosenstein (Associate Member)

The Early Roman cemetery of Oberstimm is going to be the focus of this project. The archaeological site is situated in the former roman province Raetia, South Germany, only 3 km away from the Celtic oppidum Manching.

The Roman name of the castle Oberstimm is still  unknown. The old ruins are buried under the buildings of the modern village today. The ancient military fort was one important part of the fortifications along the River Danube. The  place  was founded during the Early Roman period, when the boundary of the Roman Empire (limes) ran  south the  river. Probably the castle was settled from support troops from the Roman army (auxilia). Their aim was to ensure a Roman presence north of the Alps in the second half of the 1st century AD. Oberstimm lost its military importance in the second decade of the 2nd century AD, as the border of the empire was moved across the Danube to the north. After that, the castle transformed into a civilian place, village (vicus), which existed up to the 3rd century AD.

The Roman cemetery was situated south-west of the castle and vicus, outside their borders - extra muros, on the southern side of Roman road. The rest of the cemetery was discovered in the 1960’s. The rescue excavations took place mainly by collecting the archaeological remains which were lucky enough to survive after looting by grave-robbers. Today this area is at the bottom of an artificial pond. The archaeological finds are stored the Stadtmuseum, Ingolstadt, awaiting verification, which may not be published for decades. Few of them are on display.

The main purpose of this PhD project is a professional archaeological analysis and interpretation of this sepulchral subject (Roman cemetery Oberstimm) according to modern criteria and thought. The starting point of the research project should be the creation of a new unified catalog of graves and finds. This will be the basis for further observations and conclusions. The preliminary study of archaeological artifacts revealed a lot of details about the funeral rites, about death and about the afterlife imagination of the population. If correctly read, the details could provide important information about the religious and spiritual life of the individual as well as its social and economic status. Furthermore the other aspects of life should be mentioned - such as ethnic background and origin of the settlers, the migration of peoples, trade relations and especially the role of the Roman army. А  comparison with other "places of death" in the province of Raetia will draw a complete picture of the topic "Death on the Roman Limes". Not only archaeological subjects will be analyzed.  Hermeneutical and ethnographic sources will be an important part of the research as well.

The research will try to answer some eternal questions, or at least to represent them through the perception of the ancient, as well as the modern vision. Modern science is obliged to participate in the discussion about the death, dying and the life after life, because “Der Tod ist nicht eine Sache des Glaubens, sondern eine Sache  des Wissens!” said Elisabeth Kübler Ross.