It seems as though somebody has whipped out their history books and cottoned on that the Romans did send expeditions across the Rhine, most famously those led by third-century emperor Maximinus Thrax, who boasted about it by taking the name Germanicus Maximus.
Nevertheless, they're sticking to the story that the battle site at Kalefeld is the "find of the century", tracing the progress of the battle through finds of arrow heads, ballista bolts, broken harness, horseshoes, sandal nails, and other odds and ends (including an army-issue axe), scattered over an area of one and a half kilometres by 500 metres (suggesting that a substantial column came under attack and fought off its ambushers). They also say that the 600 finds already turned up barely scratch the surface. Gosh, exciting stuff. It brings to mind the opening scenes of the film Gladiator - as the less reputable German newspapers have hastened to point out.
Updating to add (oh irony!):
Thursday, January 8, 2009
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