Archaeologists found a Roman temple just under a Taunus forest floor

Archaeologists have uncovered a small Roman temple just under the forest floor beside the Kapersburg fort in the Taunus. Smithsonian Magazine reported on October 8, 2026, on an announcement the Hesse State Office made on September 25. The rectangular temple is about 16 feet long, with an inner square chamber and three walls about 20 inches thick, a layout consistent with an ambulatory temple. An inscription points to a dedication to Mars. A statue fragment may be Mars, and a small figure with wings, a palm, and laurel is likely Victoria.

The fort itself likely dates to the second century, under Trajan or Hadrian. The unit called the Numerus Nidensium stayed about 150 years, until the mid-third century, and is thought to have come from Nida, today's Heddernheim in Frankfurt. About 160 soldiers were posted there, and the civilian settlement may have held up to 700 people. The site sits on the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2005 that runs about 342 miles from the Rhine to the Danube. Storms, drought, and pests opened the canopy and exposed the settlement. A votive stone found earlier is in a museum in Rosbach vor der Höhe. This year's dig also found blacksmith pits and ovens used for baking or drying grain. Late jewelry shows people used the place after the soldiers left. A Latin inscription on another votive stone is still being read.