Solving an ancient cold case: Roman was brutally murdered
Who was the dead man found in a well near Velsen? And who killed him? Archaeologists and forensic experts reopened a cold case after almost 2,000 years. Using the latest methods, they discovered the gory details of the murder.
This 2,000-year-old cold case offered a wealth of information, Leiden archaeologists Carol van Driel-Murray and Mark Driessen explain. Few skeletons from the Late Iron Age and Early Roman Era have been preserved, making this largely intact skeleton a valuable research resource. In their new book Victims of Violence from the Early Roman Fort Velsen, Van Driel-Murray and Driessen reconstruct the cause of this man’s death. This interdisciplinary study combined archaeological, historical and forensic insights.
Tax as a motive?
But first, back to how it all began: in 1977 amateur archaeologists unearthed a well where the Roman fort of Velsen once stood. At the bottom of this well, they discovered the almost complete skeleton of a man complete with a military belt, a dagger, a ring, a brooch and a soldier’s sandal. Archaeologists and historians have been speculating about his fate ever since.
The find was soon linked to an ancient Roman source. In his Annals, Roman historian Tacitus described how the Frisians rose in revolt in AD 28 when the Romans demanded higher taxes. Could there be a link to this murder?
Driessen and Van Driel-Murray did not want to accept this hypothesis as is because it lacks empirical evidence. ‘Written sources and archaeological finds often tell different stories’, Van Driel-Murray notes. Ancient sources assume that the Romans retreated from the area north of the Rhine around the year 28, whereas archaeological finds indicate a much longer presence.
State-of-the-art techniques
The skeleton in the well raised so many questions that it was decided to reopen this archaeological cold case. Over several years, a team of archaeologists, specialists and enthusiastic students investigated the remains using state-of-the-art techniques, including isotope, forensic and osteoarchaeological analysis, and 3D imaging.
They found further evidence of stab wounds on the skeleton, including on the inside of the ribcage, and numerous perforations in the pelvis. Using 3D models, they reconstructed how these were made. The wounds were most probably caused by a Roman military dagger, presumably the dagger that lay with the man in the well, say the researchers.
Brutal murder
The number of stab wounds is surprisingly high. ‘Forensic experts said this was a very brutal murder’, says Driessen. ‘It shows that the perpetrator or perpetrators were extremely angry at this man. It must have been a furious and targeted act of revenge.’ He believes this makes a defensive fight at the fort a much less likely cause of death.
Childhood in Southern Europe
Who was this brutally murdered man? The researchers think he was more likely to have been a regular soldier than an officer. He carried a worn Roman dagger and his belt was made up from different pieces. In contrast, the dagger sheath was pure Roman bling.
At around 1.90 metres, the man was surprisingly tall for the time and very muscular. Archaeologists in the early 1980s therefore suggested that he might have been a Frisian. The latest dating methods led the team to a different conclusion: isotopes in the man’s tooth enamel indicate a childhood spent in Southern Europe. Local food and water leave traces in tooth enamel that tell us more about where someone spent their youth.
Whodunnit?
As with any cold case, the big question is whodunnit? ‘We’re trying to solve an ancient murder with modern methods and are not choosing one theory’, says Driessen. ‘In the natural sciences, a single explanation is the norm. But with an archaeological case like this with human actors it’s much more accurate to work with multiple scenarios.’
Their book therefore offers just that. One scenario is that the man was murdered by the Frisians during an attack on the fort, for example, out of anger about taxes, as Tacitus described. In another scenario, they explore the option that he was a deserter executed by the military command. And in yet another scenario, he was murdered in retaliation by one or more members of the local population.
Material for a novel
Driessen and Van Driel-Murray think it most likely that the murder was committed by fellow soldiers in retaliation for misconduct. But there is no such thing as absolute certainty, Van Driel-Murray admits. ‘We challenge readers to reach their own conclusion based on the research. We’d like to pass the story onto a writer of historical fiction who could produce a novel or script about it.’
Dutch Museum of Antiquities
The research doesn’t stop with the publication. ‘There are still many other skeletal remains and archaeological finds from the Roman settlement at Velzen that deserve study so that the history can be reconstructed more fully’, says Driessen.
The skeleton is back in storage at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, which hopes to include the story in the future permanent exhibition in its section on the Netherlands during the Roman Empire.