INTRODUCTION

The large villa complex of Reinheim is situated on the German side of the German-French border between the villages known today as Reinheim (Saarland), in Germany, and Bliesbruck (Moselle), in France. In ancient geographical terms, the villa is situated about 75 km to the east of the caput civitatis of the Mediomatrici (Metz), and just a few hundred yards to the north of the small town (vicus) of Bliesbruck (fig. 1). The most prominent feature of the countryside around the villa is the small stream named the Blies, which runs through rolling hills rising no higher than 400 m above sea level. The presence of Triassic limestone has produced highly fertile farmland which must have played an important role in the lives of the rural population in the Roman period.

Almost 100 archaeological sites from the Roman period have been mapped within a radius of approximately 12 km around the villa of Reinheim. Systematic archaeological excavations have been carried out at only a few of these sites – on the German side the villae rusticae of Bliesdahlheim, Böckweiler, Erfweiler- Ehlingen and Wittersheim and on the French side the villae rusticae of Großwald and Heidenkopf.

Scheduled archaeological excavations to examine the vicus on the northern outskirts of the township of Bliesbruck began at the end of the 1970s. In the course of several excavations an artisan and merchant district, a market place, public baths and numerous pits and shafts were uncovered and documented. Wells and remains of wooden aqueducts indicate how the vicus was supplied with water. Several graves that were documented to the north and south of the vicus prove the existence of two cemeteries. The excavated rows of houses were all built from limestone and as a rule had cellars and one or more rooms with hypocaust heating systems. A courtyard served as a workshop. Judging by the finds, the vicus seems to have been inhabited from the middle of the 1st century to the first half of the 5th century. The settlement attained its largest size around the middle of the 3rd century. In the second half of the 3rd century the vicus fell victim to Germanic invasions.