Fort Ala Nova
Fort Ala Nova, or also Schwechat Fort, is a former Roman cavalry fort situated within the Austrian section of the Upper Pannonian Limes. The fort was situated in the municipality of Schwechat, Lower Austria, a few kilometres east of Vienna. The area of the former cavalry fort encompassed the site of today's Alanovaplatz, the cemetery and the brewery grounds in the Klein-Schwechat district. The deployment of a mobile cavalry unit was a strategic necessity to more effectively secure the expansive plain between Vindobona and Carnuntum along the Danube and to facilitate rapid response in case of an emergency.
It is likely that Ala Nova was built in the late 2nd century, with the current Alanova Square initially comprising fortifications constructed from wood and earth. At the beginning of the 3rd century, the fort was rebuilt in the form of a rectangular, fortified structure enclosed by stone walls. It is evident that the fort underwent several phases of remodelling during its occupation, extending up to the 5th century. Based on the evidence of individual finds, it can be postulated that at least one civilian settlement existed in the area surrounding the fort. Burial grounds have been discovered in the vicinity of Schwechat's main square and to the south of the fort, at Frauenfeld. Since 2021, the has been part of the Danubian Limes UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Location
Schwechat is located on the north-eastern edge of the Vienna Basin at the outlet of the Schwechat river into the Danube and was named after this river. In the north-west, the city has grown together with Vienna in recent decades and borders directly on the 11th district of Vienna.The town is situated in a favourable location in terms of transport at the intersection of two important routes. In Schwechat, the route along the Danube is intersected by a route coming from the Leitha near Deutsch Brodersdorf, via Moosbrunn and Himberg and further along the Danube and its neighbouring floodplains to the north to Groß-Enzersdorf. There is evidence of settlement in the region since the Neolithic period. Over a period of around 6000 years, a conurbation with 16 large settlement areas developed over a length of just five kilometres. This is evidenced by archaeological sites on both sides of the Schwechat bottomlands.
Schwechat is crossed by a total of five streams:
- the Liesing, which merges into the Schwechat river here,
- the Schwechat river, following the natural riverbed,
- the Schwechat-Mühlbach near, which was drained and filled in the 1950s,
- the Mitterbach or Wildbach or "Wildes Wasser", an artificial relief channel of the Schwechat, which begins at Achau and takes in the majority of the water, and
- the Kalter Gang.
The former auxiliary fort was located in Klein-Schwechat on the site of today's Alanovaplatz, the cemetery and the brewery grounds just a few hundred metres south of the ancient steep bank of the Danube. The stationing of a mobile cavalry unit was necessary in order to better secure the wide and flat plain between Vindobona and Carnuntum and to be able to intervene quickly in an emergency. The river crossings and the bridges over the three rivers in Schwechat also had a certain strategic importance, which can be deduced from the accumulation of archaeological traces of two to possibly three wood-earth camps in the immediate vicinity of these rivers. In the fort chain of the Limes, Ala Nova was located about six Roman miles south-east of the legionary camp of Vindobona and 21 Roman miles west of the metropolis of Pannonia, Carnuntum.
Name
Ala Nova means newly established cavalry division.Ala Nova is mentioned twice in ancient literature. The Itinerarium Antonini, a newly edited road directory from around 300 CE, mentions Ala Nova near , a post that was located almost exactly halfway between Vindobona and Carnuntum. The Itinerarium gives the distance between Carnuntum and Vindobona as 27 Roman miles, which corresponds to around 40.5 kilometres.
The Notitia Dignitatum, an administrative handbook from the 5th century, also mentions an Alanoua or an Ala nova, together with the last unit to be stationed there, the equites Dalmatae Ala nova.
In 98 CE, the Ala I Flavia Britannica in Vindobona/Vienna was replaced by the Legio XIII Gemina. It may have been an endeavour to additionally secure the new legionary base at Vindobona on its south-eastern flank. A fort was built in Schwechat for this purpose. The Roman place name Ala Nova can probably be traced back to a cavalry unit stationed in Schwechat. The name could also derive from the fact that the new cavalry camp was built north of an existing wood-earth camp on the west bank of the Schwechat river. According to Hannsjörg Ubl, the question arises whether the ancient name Ala or Ala Nova could actually be traced back to this older camp.
Research history
Early findings
The first indications of Schwechat's Roman past were provided in the "Antike Reise" by F. F. Wächter from 1821, in which he mentions "... old walls in the cemetery of Schwechat". Records of the Schwechat notary Franz Schranzhofer show that remains of Roman walls were still visible in the seventies of the 19th century. In 1843 and 1844, six Roman milestones were found in a well on the western edge of the town, which originally stood 21 Roman miles from Carnuntum. In 1879, during fieldwork near the Schwechat cemetery on Frauenfeld, a 60 cm high bulbous clay pot was discovered containing a coin hoard with around 12,000 silver-plated copper coins from the 4th century.Excavations 1910-1937
As part of the lively building activity at the turn of the 20th century, many coins, masonry and numerous bricks with Legio X Gemina stamps were once again found. In most cases, however, the finds ended up in the hands of private collectors without any scientific documentation.In spring 1910, Johann Ableidinger, former mayor and local historian of Schwechat, discovered the profile of the fort moat and the foundations of the enclosing wall during excavation work for a beer canal on the site. The subsequent investigations carried out by led to the reconstruction of the course of the rampart and the remains of a barracks could be determined. In autumn 1910, the archaeologist of the Limes Commission, Eduard Nowotny, succeeded in uncovering and subsequently documenting a considerable part of the western fortifications on the brewery site. However, these excavation results did not yet allow the extent of the camp to be determined. In 1937, Roman masonry was again discovered during excavation work in the vicinity of the cemetery. During the construction of a drainage channel at Alanovaplatz, the south-eastern front of the fort was then cut into, which meant that the dimensions of the camp were known around 40 years after its discovery.
Excavations 1979-2009
In the years following the Second World War, several smaller excavations took place, particularly around on Schwechat's main square and during reconstruction work on the numerous war-damaged buildings in the area of this square and on the grounds of the district administration. It was not until 1979 that another important archaeological find was made. During the construction of a new residential complex on Frauenfeld, Hannsjörg Ubl from the Federal Monuments Office was able to identify cut pointed ditches at the north-east corner of the excavation pit. The discovery of fortification and beam trenches was an indication of a possible wood-earth complex at this location, around 400 metres south of the previously known fort Ala Nova. Ubl suspects that this wood-earth complex is older than the fort. This was confirmed by Ursula Langenecker from the Federal Monuments Office in 1994 with the discovery of further pointed ditches in the immediate vicinity of the first site. Unfortunately, the area where the early wood-earth camp is thought to have been located has been largely destroyed by intensive residential development.A small-scale archaeological investigation in the area of the Alanovaplatz under the direction of Krista Süss from the AUSINA association in 2000 provided evidence of two stone construction phases of the fort and a presumed early wooden construction phase of the camp.
Investigations since 2010
Since the excavation in 1910, there has been no systematic investigation of the Roman fort in Schwechat. The history of the camp and the associated questions therefore remained largely unanswered for a long time. A new turning point in the history of research into Roman Schwechat came in 2010, when two large-scale excavations were carried out on the site of the former fort between Alanovaplatz and and in the Frauenfeld district, at the junction of Gladbeckstraße and Klederinger Straße. Both excavations were commissioned by the Federal Monuments Office and were carried out by the company AS-Archäologie Service.At Frauenfeld, under the direction of Mag. Igl and Mag. Leingartner, an extensive civilian Roman cemetery was discovered and investigated alongside several Lombard graves, most of which had been looted. Numerous cremation graves, some with rich grave goods, and a number of inhumations were uncovered. Preliminary analyses allow the finds to be dated to the 2nd to 4th century CE. The location of the graves suggested the course of a burial route, which, however, could no longer be verified due to the relatively shallow location of the finds.
The excavation work at Alanovaplatz under the direction of Mr Scholz provided fundamental new findings. Two barracks buildings were almost completely recorded, and several repair phases were identified. However, a first Roman timber construction phase could not be confirmed. However, there are clear indications of an earlier settlement on the site. Of particular interest were finds from a late remodelling phase from the 4th/5th century, with which the conversion of a military camp into a civilian settlement area in stone construction could be clearly documented. Of almost sensational value is the first Austrian evidence of an Avar-era settlement within a Roman camp. These excavations, which were completed at the beginning of November 2010, provided numerous new findings that would shed new light on the size, location and history of Ala Nova.
These two stratigraphic excavations and their numerous finds have been comprehensively analysed since 2012 as part of a research project by the, led by Stefan Groh.
In November 2011, a geophysical prospection was carried out by the Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics on behalf of the municipality of Schwechat and Asset One Immobilienentwicklung AG on the former site of the west of the Klein-Schwechat cemetery, where further remains of the Roman cavalry fort are suspected. In particular, the georadar measurements show a rectangular structure with an apparently preserved stone floor and internal subdivisions at a depth of around 0.75 metres. Other parallel structures and a ditch are also recognisable.