By Tony Clunn
The following excerpt is from Tony Clunns forthcoming book on the Lost Legions of Varus, called 'The Quest for the Lost Legions'. This first excerpt is from Chapter One. It is shown here with the kind permission of Sarah Stephan from Savas Beatie LLC, www.savasbeatie.com who also have available copies of this title with bookplates signed by the author.
This is an unedited excerpt from the forthcoming book The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions: Discovering the Varus Battlefield, by Tony Clunn (April 2005; ISBN 1-932714-08-1). It is provided to you courtesy of the author and Savas Beatie LLC (www.savasbeatie.com). All copyright protections apply. If you wish to reproduce this material in its entirety as presented below, you may do so provided: (1) You email Savas Beatie and alert us as to where it will appear ([email protected]), and (2) This introductory paragraph (and the one that concludes this excerpt) remain intact. Should you wish to reproduce only a portion of this excerpt, please contact us for permission ([email protected]). Thank you.
Chapter One
1987: The First Find
For more than six hundred years, people have searched for the site where the Roman army had been annihilated. Early in the sixteenth century, when the story was becoming widely celebrated, the Lippischer Wald was renamed the Teutoburger Wald. In 1875, a monument to Arminius was erected on the supposed site of the battle near Detmold. Nearly everyone with a strong interest in the battle had a theory as to where Varus and his legions met their end. In 1998, however, German archaeologists made a shocking pronouncement: after ten years of research and excavations, the location of one of the most important events in Germany history-in many respects, the birthplace of the German nation-was no longer in doubt.
In 1987, using the most sophisticated metal detectors available, I launched my investigation of what ultimately turned out to be the Varus battlefield. For three years I studied old maps and documents of antiquity, walked fields and woods, surveyed the land, dug into the soil, and pondered over the artifacts I was turning up. Thankfully, all of this was carried out with the blessing, assistance, and guidance of the German museum and local archaeological authorities. This was not the first time the Detmold position of the battlefield had been seriously challenged. Archaeologists and historians had previously offered up some seven hundred and fifty alternative sites, but never before had the evidence so strongly favored a new location. Extensive desk research led me to the Kalkriese area, but the actual site was pinpointed almost by accident. One month after arriving in Germany in 1987 to begin a tour of duty with the Armored Field Ambulance unit in Osnabrück, I set off on a journey that would consume years of survey, research, and laborious days when it seemed as if the artifacts and the answers would never come. In the beginning, all I really expected to find was the odd Roman coin or artifact.
