Archaeologists expanding Germany's A8 motorway near Drackenstein have uncovered a 2,000-year-old Roman road buried beneath the planned highway route in Baden-Württemberg.
The 90-metre section of ancient thoroughfare crosses the future road corridor almost at a right angle, offering fresh insight into Roman trade and military logistics across the region.
Excavation teams working on the A8 Albaufstieg infrastructure project unearthed the structure during preliminary archaeological surveys that began in August 2025. By the summer of 2026, researchers had fully exposed the road alongside ancient graves, building foundations, coins, and household artifacts from multiple historical epochs.
René Wollenweber, an official from the State Office for Monument Preservation of Baden-Württemberg, said the discoveries shed light on the origins, importance, and historical use of one of the oldest roads in the southwestern German state.
Ancient Engineering on the Alblimes Way
The newly exposed stretch of road measures approximately five metres in width. Although the original upper surface has worn away over the centuries, the structural foundation laid down by Roman engineers remains remarkably intact.
Builders constructed the base using local white Jurassic limestone gathered from the weathered bedrock of the Swabian Jura. The Swabian Jura is a prominent limestone mountain range in Baden-Württemberg that stretches about 200 kilometres in length and 45 kilometres in width, running from the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen on the Swiss border to the Nördlinger Ries impact crater in Bavaria.
Researchers believe workers constructed the thoroughfare in the first century AD during the reign of Emperor Vespasian. Vespasian ruled the Roman Empire from AD 69 to 79 and established the Flavian dynasty after a period of civil war, investing heavily in provincial infrastructure and military defenses.
The road formed part of the Alblimes Way, a strategic route built to connect Roman forts and civilian settlements across the high plateau. The network formed vital infrastructure for Germania Superior, an imperial province established to secure Rome's southwestern frontier along the Rhine river.
The Alblimes Way linked key Roman border posts at Urspring and Donnstetten. For more than a century, the road traversed a frontier zone between Roman-controlled territory and unconquered Germanic lands to the north and east.
Soldiers, civilian travellers, and merchant convoys used the route to transport goods and supplies between garrisons and towns. Rottweil, the oldest town in Baden-Württemberg, was linked directly to Heidenheim an der Brenz via this highland passage.
Although archaeological investigations during the 19th and 20th centuries documented smaller segments of this fortification and road system, the A8 motorway excavation has allowed scientists to examine an unusually large and well-preserved section.
Bronze Age Urn and Pre-Roman Settlements
The Roman highway was built directly on top of much older traces of human habitation. Beneath the Roman roadbed, archaeologists discovered a burial urn dating to the Late Bronze Age.
Near the urn, teams recovered a decorative bronze pin featuring a rolled head. Researchers believe Roman construction workers likely displaced the pin from its original resting place while building the road over the prehistoric burial ground.
Surrounding excavation plots revealed additional graves, structural footprints of ancient dwellings, and artifacts dating predominantly from the Bronze Age and the subsequent Iron Age. The finds indicate that a Celtic settlement flourished near Drackenstein centuries before Roman legions arrived in the region.
The physical layering of artifacts allows historians to reconstruct a continuous timeline of human settlement. Roman engineers did not lay their transport corridor across wilderness, but rather across land that had been farmed and inhabited for generations.
Wollenweber told German broadcaster SWR that the surrounding plateau had served as cultivated farmland for centuries prior to Roman rule. He added that the inhabitants of the Swabian Jura deserve to have their cultural history thoroughly documented and preserved.
Coins, Footwear Nails and a Potential Road Station
Archaeologists also recovered significant Roman artifacts from the soil surrounding the roadbed. Among the items is a bronze dupondius coin, which carried a value equal to half a sestertius in the Roman monetary system.
The coin features a partially preserved portrait of an emperor, whom researchers believe may be Domitian. Domitian, the son of Vespasian, ruled from AD 81 to 96 and expanded Roman border fortifications across southwestern Germany during his reign.
Excavators also found iron hobnails from Roman footwear, dropped by marching legionaries and travellers as they journeyed along the limestone path.
Fieldwork is being conducted by specialized archaeological firms ArchaeoBW and fodilus under the supervision of the State Office for Monument Preservation of Baden-Württemberg. State-owned motorway company Autobahn GmbH commissioned the excavations through its southwestern regional branch prior to heavy construction work.
Crews have investigated approximately 4.6 hectares so far, representing roughly two-thirds of the designated 7-hectare survey site. The remaining unexcavated area holds high potential, as geological and spatial markers suggest the presence of a Roman road station, or mansio.
Road stations along Roman highways provided essential services for travellers, including overnight accommodation, fresh horses, and repair facilities for wagons. Archaeologists have not yet confirmed the presence of a station at the site, but plan to complete excavations by late 2026.
Construction on the Drackenstein tunnel, a major engineering element of the new A8 Albaufstieg motorway rerouting, is scheduled to start in the spring of 2027.
