Roman Villa Rustica Leutstetten

The Villa rustica near Leutstetten is the archaeological site of a Roman estate (Villa rustica) that existed for around fifty years. The area of the small manor house, excavated between 2001 and 2002, has been made accessible to the public and is located on the edge of agricultural fields south of the village of Leutstetten in Upper Bavaria, which is now part of the district town of Starnberg. In addition to the farm's bath, the finds from a well and the grave inscription from the Leutstetten branch church of St. Alto are of particular scientific interest.
The main house of the Villa rustica, measuring around 25 × 8 meters, was probably built around 133 AD and was apparently only used for around 50 years. The basis for the dating was the very well-preserved wooden pumping shaft of the well discovered during the excavation on the eastern front side of the farm. According to dendrochronological investigations, the planks of the well box, made from a 70 centimetre thick and 200-year-old oak, were felled in 133 AD and were still completely intact from a depth of three metres. The interior width of the wooden box was determined to be 1.20 metres. During the assumed period of use of the villa rustica, the well was later abandoned and initially filled with rubble. This was probably the result of a renovation project that probably dates back to the second half of the 2nd century. A beech board that ended up in the well with the rubble was dated to the year 147. As was common at the time, the well was also filled with disused household items. These movable objects make up the majority of the finds discovered in Leutstetten. In addition to remains of dishes and a terra sigillata bowl by the well-known South Gallic potter Cinnamus, who produced in Lezoux between 135 and 170, two house keys, a writing tablet and animal bones were also found in the well box.

It's amazing how modern the Romans were.

Here you can learn something about the heating technology used by the Romans at that time.