Stockstadt Roman Fort
Stockstadt Fort is a former Roman fort located in Stockstadt am Main in the district of Aschaffenburg in Lower Franconia. Following several years of excavations, mainly in the early 20th century, evidence was uncovered indicating the existence of a fort complex comprising two previously documented predecessor buildings, as well as a succession of different troops stationed there. From the early period of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes to the fall of the Limes, Stockstadt was therefore an important military camp on the Main Limes, the so-called Wet Limes. The site is of significant archaeological interest due to the large number of stone monuments that have been discovered, particularly in the vicus area, which encompasses two mithrae, a Jupiter Dolichenus sanctuary and a beneficiarius station.
Location
Stockstadt is situated in a convenient location in proximity to the confluence of the Gersprenz river into the Main river. In addition to its function as a border, the river was of significant importance for the supply of the forts situated along the Wet Limes. Given that the Gersprenz was also used for shipping in Roman times, possibly with smaller barges, it is probable that it was an important transfer point. The presence of a beneficiarius station and other stone monuments from Roman times provides evidence of this. The Civitas capital of Dieburg could be reached via the Gersprenz. The discovery of a boat hook in Groß-Bieberau provides evidence that the river was utilised for a considerable distance into the valleys of the Odenwald.An early Roman road, the existence of which is evidenced by the discovery of significant remains in the form of the Bickenbach marsh bridge at the small fort of Allmendfeld, initially connected the West Gate with Gernsheim on the Rhine. The subsequent establishment of the principal settlement at Dieburg served to reinforce the significance of this connection to the West. However, there is no evidence of it in the immediate vicinity of the fort. The main settlement axis of the fort village was located along the Roman road leading from north-west to south-east. This road connected Stockstadt with the neighbouring forts of Seligenstadt and Niedernberg. It ran parallel to the Main Limes. Furthermore, the route was also traversed in the vicinity of the fort on several occasions.
The Roman military encampment was situated to the south of the current residential development, occupying both sides of the Rhine-Main railway between Stockstadt station and the River Main. The distance from the river was between 160 and 200 metres. The distance from the high bank to the site was approximately 75 metres. The area has been entirely redeveloped with industrial facilities, and no trace of the ancient sites remains.
History
The Stockstadt forts represent the most extensively researched of all the Roman military sites on the Main Limes. This has provided a clear chronological sequence of the various fort complexes and the troop units stationed here. It is uncertain whether the frequent change of cohorts was a distinctive feature of the fort at Stockstadt or whether it occurred at other sites in the Limes region. The numerous remains, particularly the stone monuments bearing the names of the troop units, provide a coherent picture of the chronological sequence of events at the Stockstadt site. Although there are also features of chronologically consecutive fort complexes from some military sites in the region, the source situation concerning the units stationed there is generally poor in comparison to Stockstadt.The chronology of the Stockstadt fortifications is likely to commence with a small redoubt situated to the north of the railway line. This was soon replaced by the first wood and earth fort, which was only partially excavated. A limited number of stratified finds were recovered from both sites. It can be surmised that the later parts of the vicus overlapped the early forts. The evidence indicates that the initial garrison was not established before 90 CE. However, a more recent analysis of the coin series suggests that it was only between 100 and 110 CE. The function as predecessors of the Stockstadt redoubts to the fort has been subject to recent debate.
It is possible that the sparsely documented wood-and-earth fort served as a construction site for the larger cohort fort to the southeast, which was probably built around 100 AD. Together with the Balineum, it is dated to the early Trajanic period. In addition to the small finds, the stamped bricks from the bath building were of particular significance in establishing the dating. A total of 122 of the 126 bricks exhibited a stamp of Legio XXII Primigenia. The remaining four bricks had likely been used during a repair and bore the much later stamps of the Cohors IIII Vindelicorum from the Großkrotzenburg fort down the Main. The brick stamps of the 22nd Legion are referred to by researchers as the Stockstadt group. The bricks are dated to a period shortly after the legion was transferred to Mogontiacum around 93 AD. This group of stamp types is of significant importance for the dating of numerous other fortifications on the Upper Germanic Limes, including the forts of Marköbel and Ober-Florstadt, the fort baths of Hanau-Salisberg and the fort of Hainstadt.
It is likely that the cohort fort was constructed with a stone defence wall during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. This was accompanied by the development of an extensive camp village to the north and south of it. The establishment of a civil administration with its headquarters in Dieburg was a further factor that favoured the location economically. A landing stage for ships was built on the Main and a beneficiarius station close by. The significance of the transhipment centre is evident from the dedicatory inscription for Jupiter Dolichenus of a soldier of Legio XXII, who was dispatched to Stockstadt with a lumberjack detachment. The inscription can be dated to the year 214 CE and is one of a series of similar inscriptions found on the Main Limes, for example in Obernburg or Trennfurt.
The presence of two mithraeums and a sanctuary for Jupiter Dolichenus provides evidence of oriental cults in Stockstadt during the late second and third centuries. In addition, inscriptions have been discovered which refer to a Fortuna sanctuary and a nymphaeum. The cult of Jupiter Heliopolitanus from Heliopolis, which was relatively uncommon in the north-west provinces, is also documented in the nearby town of Zellhausen. The altar was donated by a prefect of Coh. I Aquitanorum, who hailed from Berytus in the vicinity of Heliopolis, and is believed to have introduced the cult to the region from his homeland. The numerous stone monuments in Stockstadt represent a unique collection of this type on the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes. The fort and vicus were in existence until the time of the Limesfall in the middle of the 3rd century CE.
Several graves were discovered in the fort area, which are believed to date back to the 4th century CE based on the grave goods found within them. The findings suggest that the area was a frequented by the Alamanni in Late Antiquity. A similar phenomenon can be observed at the Mainlimes fort sites of Großkrotzenburg and Hainstadt. Nevertheless, the medieval settlement centre of Stockstadt was situated to the north. The fort site remained undeveloped until the time of the Imperial Limes Commission.
Stationed military units
The inscriptions provide evidence of three units in Stockstadt. The presence of stamps on bricks from several buildings of the cohort fort and from two brick kilns provides evidence of the Cohors III Aquitanorum equitata civium Romanorum. The cohort consisted of 500 men and an equestrian unit of 120 men, for a total strength of 620 men. The bricks used indicate that this unit was responsible for the construction of the fort, although it is not certain whether it had already been stationed there beforehand.The cohort was relocated to the Neckarburken fort in the early second century CE. It was replaced by the Coh. Hispanorum eq. pia fidelis, previously stationed at Fort Wimpfen in the valley. The name of this cohort is inscribed on the gravestone of the soldier Diomedes, an Isaurian by birth, and in the dedicatory inscription of a decurio. Both inscriptions lack a date. The introductory formula n h d d of the decurion dedication suggests that it was created in the time of Antoninus Pius, at the earliest.
From the mid-2nd century CE onwards, the Coh. II Hispanorum eq. p. f. can be traced to Fort Heddesdorf, indicating that it was not long in residence in Stockstadt. This unit was replaced by the Coh. I Aquitanorum veterana eq., which was initially stationed at the Arnsburg fort, and it is likely it remained in Stockstadt until the fort was abandoned. This is corroborated by several inscriptions from the Dolichenus sanctuary.
Exploration
The earliest documented archaeological findings in Stockstadt date back to the early 19th century. In 1820, a "considerable Roman bath" was unearthed in the vicinity of the churchyard, "very close to the Main". The construction of the railway in 1858, which crosses the fort area, presented an opportunity for further investigations that was not taken. It was not until 1885 that Wilhelm Conrady conducted excavations on a more extensive scale. The cohort fort was discovered in the spring of the same year. The excavations were conducted over a period of 25 years.In 1897, it became apparent that a comprehensive investigation was necessary in order to assess the potential impact of a proposed pulp factory to be constructed by the Aschaffenburger Aktien-Gesellschaft für Maschinenpapier-Fabrikation on the site. Conrady supervised the archaeological research until shortly before his death, while the factory engineer Carl Wirth, who had a great interest in Roman antiquities, was in charge of the site. A street in Stockstadt, in the vicinity of the fort, is named after him. The majority of the artefacts unearthed during the earlier excavations have been irrecoverably lost. The stone monuments were subsequently donated to the Saalburg Museum, which had provided technical assistance and sent trained workers to the site following Conrady's death. Only a few of the finds were incorporated into the municipal collections of Aschaffenburg or the local history museum. In 1908 and 1909, the Aschaffenburg Historical Society organised a number of re-excavations.
In 1962, during the excavation of a factory building in the northern storage area of the cohort fort, a coin hoard comprising at least six aurei and 1,315 denarii was discovered in a jar. The youngest coin in the hoard had been minted between the years 167 and 168 AD. It is likely that the coin hoard was concealed from the Chatti invaders during the Marcomannic Wars and is now housed in the Aschaffenburg Abbey Museum.
A number of smaller investigations were conducted at the beginning of the 1990s. The investigations yielded new insights into the civilian settlement and the burial grounds. Two further consecration altars were discovered in a filled-in cellar located 50 metres outside the southern corner of the cohort fort. The presence of five horse burials of male animals with bent limbs in the vicinity remains unexplained. The discovery of a pottery and brickworks district comprising over 80 cremation and fire-filled graves provided further insights into the burial grounds.
File:Weihestein Beneficiarius Stockstadt.jpg|left|thumb|Votive stone of a beneficiarius of Legio VIII Augusta from Stockstadt, today in the principia of the Saalburg fort, Saalburg Museum