STUTTGART, GERMANY—According to a statement released by the State Office for Monument Preservation Stuttgart, archaeologists have discovered the skeletons of more than 100 horses near the site of a Roman fort in Germany's southern state of Baden-Württemberg. The horses belonged to a Roman cavalry unit of some 500 riders that was known to have been stationed at the fort in the second century a.d. The horses show no evidence that they were casualties of a single battle or military encounter, and they likely died mainly from disease or old age. While most were unceremoniously disposed of in shallow burials, at least one horse was furnished with human grave goods that included two jugs and an oil lamp. "Here we see a particularly close bond between the owner and his horse," said archaeologist Sarah Roth of the State Office for Monument Preservation Stuttgart. "Even after some 1,800 years, the grief over the death of this one animal is still evident." To read more about equine archaeology, go to "The Story of the Horse."
