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Bath complex with subterranean well house

Bathing pleasures and subterranean worlds in the new open-air site An additional complex of ruins has attracted visitors to come to the open-air site of Augusta Raurica since the end of August 2000. Here you can see the only upstanding reconstruction, to date, of a bath complex in a Roman town and the edifice, which was probably the actual reason for the baths having been constructed here in the first place: a completely preserved subterranean well house with the well still in it.

Panoramic photograph - a panorama of the subterranean well house Press release about this discovery
During the excavation:		In Roman times:

Privately run public baths (balneum)
Since its discovery in 1997, a further bath house has been added to the three large public 'bathing palaces' (thermae), the spa and a number of private baths in the houses of wealthy inhabitants already known in Augusta Raurica. The complex was located northeast of the town centre in the valley of the Violenbach stream on an important transport route linking the political and commercial centre, the forum, with the quarters on the Rhine
Towards the end of the 2nd century, the baths were constructed to the rear of a building facing the road. It was probably open to the public and was not only used by the inhabitants of that particular quarter, but also by traders and other passers-by who would have been aware that they could use it in exchange for a fee.		Excavation 1997
As it was commonplace in Roman baths, this site also contained three rooms of varying temperatures, thus allowing its bathers to warm their bodies gradually. A corridor led from the road into the so-called cold room (image right: frigidarium), which in this case also served as a changing room (apodyterium).		Bath in the cold room
After removing their clothes, the bathers moved into the areas of the baths that were heated by a warm air heating system (hypocaust). Crossing a small room bathers reached the warm room (tepidarium), and once acclimatised, proceeded to the hot room (image right: caldarium), which was heated to between 40 and 50° Celsius. Bathing concluded in the cold water basin measuring 3 by 3 m situated in the cold room. If bathers had more time, they had the additional option of visiting one of the circular sweating-baths (sudatorium), the predecessor to our modern-day sauna.		Hypocaust in the hot room
The subterranean well house - an unusual object of interest
Spring 1998, on the large excavation in the grounds of the company E. Frey AG; a thick unit of layers was being removed, when the small digger that was being used broke through the ground into a hollow area underneath - an event which was to start an archaeological journey of discovery into the underworld of the Roman town!
The excavation was subsequently continued manually, and brought to light a peculiar object, which was covered in yellow clay and exhibited three openings (image right). Inspections and a probing camera revealed a domed room, which had not been seen for some 1700 years.
The top of the dome after its discovery. A coat of yellow clay prevented moisture from penetrating the outer layer. Three air vents, which allowed for an initial inspection of the interior, are clearly visible.
From the subterranean construction, which was only partially filled in with rubble, the excavators encountered 'air from Roman times' so to speak. This is what the interior looked like viewed through one of the air vents. The arch on the left represents the entrance from the tunnel, the arch on the right leads into the shaft of the well. A cone of rubble has slid into the vaulted room (front) from the well shaft, which was filled to the top with material. The extremely well preserved state and the unusual design of the construction immediately prompted plans to conserve and make it publicly accessible. Thanks to the cooperation on the part of the land owner and the speedy execution by the officials (cantonal administration, legislative body of the Canton, community of Augst), Canton Basel-Landschaft was able to acquire the site with the edifice and its surroundings in May 1999.
Exciting excavation work
The partially submerged construction was fully uncovered in 1999. The excavation started at the opening of the tunnel, which had come to light in late 1998, through the shaft of the well, and from the location, … The entrance to the 'underworld of Augst' after its initial exposure.
... where the tunnel ceiling had collapsed in Roman times. The removal of the rubble in the vault provided evidence of a potential historical crime story, … The site of the tunnel collapse as seen from the outside. During the collapse, material from above (among other things, parts of a massive masonry sewer) was literally 'sucked' into the depths. The well house is located to the left. The tunnel exhibited a considerable incline.
... with the discovery of no less than five human skeletons, as well as the bones of several dogs and other animals, … Human and animal bones are jumbled up in the cone of debris, among them a drum of a column, probably once part of the bath building.
... and, lastly, there were some 6,000 small clay moulds, which were used to copy huge numbers of coins in the first half of the 3rd century AD. The casting of coin replicas was obviously tolerated at the time - there seems to have been a shortage of 'change' - but it does not appear to have been entirely legal. A selection of coin moulds. The coins cast from these date from the first half of the 3rd century, with the latest one, according to current knowledge, having been minted in AD 246.
The human bodies were literally 'disposed of' by dumping them in the shaft, as is shown by evidence of a blow on one of the bones. The excavation of the well shaft was completed in April and May 2000. The work revealed an actual layer of animal carcasses, intermixed with pockets of debris, which may have stemmed from the demolished bath house. Excavation work in the well shaft - detailed archaeological work carried out in cramped conditions. Fortunately, the water table was lower down than initially feared. When this picture was taken, a further one and a half metres of rubble and animal bones were yet to be excavated.
An extraordinary construction
The edifice was constructed towards the end of the 1st century AD. Initially, it consisted of a tunnel, which ran a good 11 metres in length and was roughly the height of a man, and a well house with a more or less egg-shaped ground plan, which had a diameter of about 3.5 metres. It was constructed in the manner of a Roman basement with large wall niches and air and light shafts to the surface. The appearance of the original well remains unknown; the shaft preserved belonged to the second building phase.
The complex was significantly redesigned within a few generations in conjunction with the construction of the large privately run bath complex next door: the well house was fitted with a vaulted tuffstone ceiling.
The height of the vault measured a good 4 metres. The light shafts of the earlier construction were cut off and replaced by four chimney-like air vents in the new ceiling (see top of the image).
A panoramic view of the 'subterranean Augusta Raurica': we have stepped from the tunnel into the vault and are looking at the wall opposite; one of the two arches to the well shaft is visible on the left …
The newly raised well shaft is accessible through two arches, whose construction, consisting of tuffstone and a central pillar of sandstone ashlars, is worth a closer look! This series of images (below) show what the construction looked like after its exposure; we recommend that you visit it and compare the images with its present-day state after it has been conserved and restored in detail!

Panorama - continued: we have turned to the right and have one of the three niches in our sight; we can also see one of the air shafts at the top centre		A further turn to the right reveals the wall opposite the entrance		We have turned to the right again and can now see the entrance from the tunnel and on the right one of the arches leading to the well.
Finally, we are looking through the other arch ...		... into the bricked up well shaft.		A happy councillor at the official opening.

A well with special water
Ground water came to light during the excavation at a depth of approximately 12 metres below the exterior ground surface; in Roman times, the ground water table may have been a little higher. The chemical analysis revealed an unusual 'tonic', at least for this region: it is strongly sulphurous, but quite deficient in lime. At the bottom of the well, this is actually confirmed by the smell.
It is possible that the water leaked from the slope of the Kastelen hill in Roman times resulting in the odours emanating from it. This may have been the reason why the water source was contained by such an elaborate construction. Was this possibly also the reason for the subsequent construction of the baths in this location? Sulphurous water has been attributed with medicinal properties since Antiquity - the Roman naturalist Plinius, for instance, recommended it for treating nervous disorders.
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