Sling bullets and swords unearthed at Switzerland’s unique Roman battle site

Over the past two years archaeology students from the universities of Basel and Zurich and volunteer detectorists have unearthed thousands of Roman military artefacts littering a rolling meadow in southeast Switzerland.

These include ancient swords, slingshot bullets, brooches, coins, fragments of shields and several thousand Roman hobnails. 

Based on recent finds, Swiss historians believe an important battle took place on the remote mountainside in the idyllic Julier Valley, south of Chur, around 15 BC between Roman troops advancing northwards through the Alps and local Suanetes fighters. They believe this marked a historical turning point: the start of the Roman occupation of Switzerland.

The digging phase is now officially over. Yet many open questions remain: what exactly happened on this bucolic meadow over 2,000 years ago? And what was the precise historical context of the epic bloody struggle?