Gold-covered equestrian bronze statue found in Roman town in Germany

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After a very modern-looking shoe, here is another amazing find from a Roman settlement near Frankfurt.

National Geographic: This Golden Head Adds a Twist to Ancient Roman History

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"After nearly a decade of legal wrangling, a piece of ancient Roman sculpture worth almost U.S. $2 million has been unveiled to the public for the first time. The 28-pound fragment is a life-size horse’s head dated to A.D. 1. Made of bronze and covered in gold, the head is more just than a spectacular example of Roman art.

The horse head was uncovered as part of excavations of a Roman settlement called Waldgirmes, near modern-day Frankfurt, and it adds a dramatic new wrinkle to the story of Rome and the Germans.
[...]
The settlement covered nearly 20 acres and had a defensive wall but no military buildings. Its existence shows that the Romans were living next to and trading with German "barbarians" peacefully for years, right up until the Teutoburg defeat, according to lead researcher Gabriele Rasbach of the German Archaeological Institute.

Most of the settlement’s buildings were made of wood, and based on tree-ring data, archaeologists say the town was built from scratch beginning in 4 B.C. Behind 10-foot-tall timber walls, Waldgirmes had pottery and woodworking workshops, Roman-style residences, and even traces of lead plumbing.

A multistory administrative building sat at the town’s heart, and in a courtyard or forum outside, archaeologists identified pedestals for four life-size statues of riders on horses. The gold-covered horse’s head was part of one of these statues, probably one depicting a Roman emperor.
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Excellent discoveries.
 

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