A 2,000-year-old Roman military camp has been discovered hidden at unusual altitudes in the Swiss Alps.
Archaeologists uncovered the site at a shocking 7,200 feet in the sky, located in the Colm la Runga corridor on the border of Switzerland and northern Italy.
Artifacts like arrowheads, slingshots and other military equipment were also uncovered at the camp.
The ancient Roman military camp was discovered in the Swiss Alps, 7,000 feet above sea level
Researchers uncovered three ditches and a defensive wall at the site which would have given soldiers a 360-degree view of their surroundings.
Warriors must have trekked through the mountain pass to have a vantage spot overlooking a known Roman-era battlefield, which sits 2,950 feet below the camp.
The military camp site was found last year when a volunteer detectorist was researching the area and discovered a terrain structure – which turned out to be a defensive wall.
Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland used Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) that uses lasers to measure height differences in the ground and create three-dimensional models of the terrain.
The data revealed that the camp was fortified by three ditches and a defensive wall on top of the mountain, which offered a birds-eye view of four valleys: Landwassertal, Albulatal, Domleschg, and Surses.
This location would have given Roman soldiers, who were stationed at the camp, an advantage to spot incoming armies that would cross through the Lenzerheide pass – the most common path militaries would take through the Alps.
The team reported that the discovery is ‘internationally outstanding’ because it allowed them to trace the precise advance of the Roman forces 2,000 years ago.
The camp site was at a ‘strategically favorable location,’ according to the researchers who said the ‘sensational discovery’ is most likely linked to war that broke out at the battlefield below two millennia ago.
The military site was discovered by a volunteer detectorist who was researching the area at the time. There are three ditches and a defensive wall
The archaeologists found an arrowhead at the site (pictured) that connects the military camp to a battlefield nearly 3,000 feet below
The team uncovered the site last year and since then have found artifacts including military equipment and sling shots that link the camp site to an ancient battlefield below
Researchers believe the site’s altitude gave the soldiers an unobstructed view of the area to spot incoming militaries
Since 2021, researchers have studied the battlefield that was the site of a Roman conflict between people in Cunter and Tiefencastel at the Crap Ses ravine in Graubünden.
It was identified as the first-ever Roman battle site in Switzerland and researchers have speculated that a force of 2,000 soldiers from the third, tenth and 12th Roman legions fought between 500 and 1,000 people from the Suanetes tribe on the hilltop.
Researchers believe the war between the two groups was part of the Roman Empire’s effort to dominate the region and the discovery of the military camp site and its artifacts shows an obvious tie to the battlefield.
Over the last year, the team uncovered a number of artifacts at the camp including equipment that belonged to Roman soldiers and weapons.
Among these finds were sling shots that carried the stamp of the Imperial Roman army’s third legion which was involved in the battle.
‘The sensational discovery of a Roman military camp in Graubünden once again underlines the fact that archaeological research in ‘Roman Switzerland’ continues to produce wonderful surprises,’ the researchers said.