Archaeologists in eastern Germany uncovered the remains of a rural settlement dating from the 3rd to 5th centuries CE, offering new information about daily life during the final centuries of the Roman Empire.
The site lies in Liebersee, part of Belgern-Schildau in Saxony, where gravel extraction is expanding into a new area. Before mining work began, the State Office for Archaeology of Saxony carried out excavations from December 2025 to April 2026 across about 3,200 square meters. The work was necessary because gravel and sand extraction would permanently destroy buried remains.
Liebersee sits along the left side of the Saxon Elbe Valley between Riesa and Torgau. The valley has attracted human settlement for thousands of years due to fertile land and nearby water sources. Archaeologists already knew of several ancient sites close to the gravel pit, which made the excavation a priority.
Researchers uncovered traces of a settlement occupied during the late Roman Imperial period and the early Migration Period. The remains included at least four timber longhouses built with rows of wooden posts, along with three smaller pit houses dug partly below ground.
The longhouses reached up to 20 meters long and around 5 meters wide. Their layout suggests people used them as combined homes and animal shelters. The pit houses were much smaller, measuring between 7 and 12 square meters, and likely served as workspaces, storage areas, or utility buildings.
One pit house contained clear signs of textile production. Archaeologists found 30 clay loom weights, rounded and flattened in shape, which once hung from the warp threads of a vertical loom to keep tension while weaving. A clay spindle whorl was found nearby. This tool added weight to a spindle and helped spin raw sheep’s wool into thread, one of the main materials used for clothing during this period.
Most objects recovered from the site were fragments of everyday pottery. One item stood out from the rest, a large dark glass bead decorated with pale wavy lines. Similar beads often appear in women’s graves from the 4th and 5th centuries CE as jewelry or burial goods.
This bead came from a settlement pit instead of a burial context. Because of this, archaeologists think residents may have reused the object for another purpose, possibly as a spindle whorl.
Other remains point to a self-sufficient farming community. Excavators recovered reddish burnt clay, likely fragments of wall plaster once used to coat timber buildings. Charred grain found on the site shows people stored cereals, likely for food and planting.
The burnt grain and hardened clay also suggest the settlement experienced at least one major fire. Archaeologists do not yet know whether this event led to the village’s abandonment or whether residents rebuilt afterward.
Further analysis is still underway. Researchers plan radiocarbon dating of charcoal and plant remains to establish a more precise timeline for the settlement and the fire.
The Liebersee excavation provides a closer look at rural life during a period of major change across Europe. Instead of focusing on large political events, the site preserves evidence of ordinary activities such as farming, weaving, storage, and animal keeping in a small community nearly 1,700 years ago.
More information: Sächsische Staatskanzlei
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