HECHINGEN-STEIN, GERMANY—Archaeologists have uncovered more than 100 fragments of a votive monument at the site of a Roman villa in southwestern Germany, ArtNet News reports. The complex, which was occupied during the second and third centuries a.d., was first excavated between 1978 and 1981 and then became the Hechingen-Stein Roman Open-Air Museum. Archaeologist Klaus Kortüm of the State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council said that the large stone blocks and smaller pieces of the monument recovered during the most recent excavations, including heads and inscription fragments, make up only a small part of the original monument. “The blocks are decorated with reliefs on all sides, showing ancient gods and figures from the associated legends,” he said. “Following Roman times, the monument was broken up into pieces, both large and small, and scattered. Only some parts of the figures are recognizable and these can only be identified using better-preserved examples.” The researchers plan to create a miniature model of the monument with 3-D printed blocks, which will be displayed in the museum alongside the fragments. To read more about Roman Germany, go to “The Road Almost Taken.”

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Source: archaeology.org