“The history of mankind is carried on the back of a horse” is a saying that holds true for the Roman Empire, which expanded through the strength of its army, including its cavalry. An archaeological discovery in Germany offers rare insight into the animals that helped carry an ancient civilization.
In July 2024, a construction project in Stuttgart’s Bad Cannstatt borough unearthed approximately 100 horse skeletons. The subsequent excavation, supervised by the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, revealed that the animals dated to the second century CE and likely belonged to a Roman cavalry unit. One horse’s careful burial highlights the close relationship between some riders and their horses, suggesting that even 1,800 years ago, people mourned the loss of their animals as much as we do today.
Bad Cannstatt was an important Roman military site during the first half of the second century AD. The local cavalry likely maintained over 700 animals—animals that needed food, shelter, and, when the time came, burials. Archaeologists first suggested the existence of a Roman horse cemetery in the 1920s, when a local housing project revealed horse skeletons in the region. The recent excavation, detailed in a statement from the regional government of Baden-Württemberg on Wednesday, confirms this interpretation.
“Based on the archaeological and historical knowledge of Roman Bad Cannstatt, the horses can be attributed to the cavalry unit—a so-called ‘Ala’—that was stationed at Hallschlag from around 100 to 150 AD,” Sarah Roth, an archaeologist from the State Office for Monument Preservation, said in the statement. Hallschlag is a neighborhood in Bad Cannstatt. “The troop of almost 500 riders is likely to have had a total of at least 700 horses, with losses having to be replaced on a regular basis.”
The dead horses were buried individually in shallow pits away from both the ancient cavalry fort and civilian settlement. Each location must have been visually marked, since the pits rarely overlap, Roth explained.
“The horses do not appear to have all died at the same time during a major event such as a battle or epidemic,” she continued. “Rather, the animals buried here are those that died during the Ala’s presence in Bad Cannstatt due to illness, injury, or other reasons, or were no longer fit for service as military horses. If the horse was still able to walk, it would have been taken to the horse cemetery and killed on site so that the heavy carcass did not have to be transported.”
The process was in fact more of a “disposal” than a proper burial. In one notable exception, however, archaeologists unearthed a horse buried with two jugs and a small oil lamp, grave goods typically found in human graves. The inclusion of these objects indicates a close bond between the horse and its owner.
“Even after around 1800 years, the grief over the death of this one animal is still evident,” Roth pointed out. In contrast, archaeologists also discovered the remains of an adult man among the horses, without any grave goods—clearly someone Roman society deemed unworthy of a respectful burial.
The entire horse cemetery is likely much larger than the remains uncovered by the recent excavation, which is now complete. Still, researchers hope further archaeozoological work will reveal the horses’ sexes, ages, sizes, potential diseases, and causes of death—altogether, more details into the Roman army’s use of horses.
The finding also resonates wonderfully with the city’s historic connection to the majestic animal: Stuttgart is derived from the older “Stuotgarten,” meaning “a garden for the horses.”
