The Romans & Early Middle Ages
From the 1st century A.D. Germanic tribes came into our region. One of the oldest Germanic graves was found near the river March in Mannersdorf. Germanic remains have also been unearthed at Stillfried/Kirchenberg within the area of the Bronze Age fortification . With the excavations still unfinished, the dimensions of the Germanic settlement can only be estimated for the time being.
Between the 2nd and the 4th centuries the Romans repeatedly established bases there. Parts of walls, tiles, painted plaster, bricks with marks of the roman legion and bricks of a hypocaust remind us of the Roman presence in Stillfried. Roman armour in bronze and iron – lorica squamata - and three fragments of lorica segmentata, a sword scabbard, a dagger with sheath as well as fragments of helmets remained from the roman occupation. Roman table ware like Terra sigillata bowls, oil lamps, pieces of big vine amphorae, glass, keys, fibulae and coins were excavated. Several ovens in front of the rampart in the west tend to be connected with the roman presence in Stillfried. In the east of the Bronze Age fortification area thick layers of roman debris were documented.
In the area of the so called “Römerhügel” a Germanic aristocratic domicile is supposed to have existed until the 5th century. Remains of tribes from the migration period (6th century) have been found. A coin of the Emperor Justinian reminds us of the contract between Byzanz and the Longobardi in 546. The museum also houses the inventory of twelve graves of the late Avar period from Schönkirchen from the time around 900 A. D. we know graves of a Slavic population in the south of the fortification in Stillfried and a Slavic potters workshop from the area inside. There are also Slavic graves from Mannersdorf. Tanged arrow heads are evidence of fights with the Magyars coming from the other bank of the river March.
