Fort Ala Nova

The deployment of a mobile cavalry unit was a strategic necessity to more effectively secure the expansive plain between Vindobona and Carnuntum along the Danube and to facilitate rapid response in case of an emergency.

It is likely that Ala Nova was built in the late 2nd century, with the current Alanova Square initially comprising fortifications constructed from wood and earth.

[1] Schwechat is crossed by a total of five streams: This divides the urban area into two parts, Klein-Schwechat in the west and Groß-Schwechat on the right bank of the Kalten Gang.

The stationing of a mobile cavalry unit was necessary in order to better secure the wide and flat plain between Vindobona and Carnuntum and to be able to intervene quickly in an emergency.

The Roman place name Ala Nova can probably be traced back to a (possibly completely newly established) cavalry unit stationed in Schwechat.

[11] As part of the lively building activity at the turn of the 20th century, many coins, masonry and numerous bricks with Legio X Gemina stamps were once again found.

[12]In spring 1910, Johann Ableidinger, former mayor and local historian of Schwechat, discovered the profile of the fort moat and the foundations of the enclosing wall during excavation work for a beer canal on the Dreher Brewery [de] site.

In autumn 1910, the archaeologist of the Limes Commission, Eduard Nowotny, succeeded in uncovering and subsequently documenting a considerable part of the western fortifications on the brewery site.

During the construction of a new residential complex on Frauenfeld, Hannsjörg Ubl from the Federal Monuments Office was able to identify cut pointed ditches at the north-east corner of the excavation pit.

[18] The discovery of fortification and beam trenches was an indication of a possible wood-earth complex at this location, around 400 metres south of the previously known fort Ala Nova.

Of particular interest were finds from a late remodelling phase from the 4th/5th century, with which the conversion of a military camp into a civilian settlement area in stone construction could be clearly documented.

These excavations, which were completed at the beginning of November 2010, provided numerous new findings that would shed new light on the size, location and history of Ala Nova.

[23] These two stratigraphic excavations and their numerous finds have been comprehensively analysed since 2012 as part of a research project by the Austrian Archaeological Institute [de], led by Stefan Groh.

Another indication of an early wood-earth camp, albeit south of the stone fort at the junction of Gladbeckstraße and Brauhausstraße, in the immediate vicinity of the Mühlbach stream that ran at this point at the time, where H. Ubl[18] in 1979 and U. Langenecker in 1994[19] were able to identify moats.

Its depth was 1.8 m (2.6 m below the top of the humus), the maximum width 3.8 m. However, the finds from the lowest layers were no longer suitable for exact dating due to their poor state of preservation or heavy wear.

As part of an excavation campaign in June 1950 in connection with the reconstruction of the war-damaged St James' Church in Groß Schwechat, the profiles of two pointed ditches were again cut at Hauptplatz 21a, the Roman origin of which was proven.

The excavation in spring 1910 by the k&k Limes Commission under the direction of E. Nowotny led to the discovery of a considerable part of the camp fortification on the former site of the Dreher brewery.

[14] In the area of Alanovaplatz and the cemetery, it was possible to confirm the existence of the camp front (left principle side) extending from north-east to south-west along a line of 153 metres, which was pierced in the northern section by a 19-metre-wide gateway.

Two finds by J. Ableidinger (a water pipe trench in June 1928 in the house at Wiener Straße 35 and canal work at Alanovaplatz in 1937) were thought to have determined the exact dimensions of the camp.

The most recent excavation in 2010 at Alanovaplatz was able to identify the northern pointed ditch directly along Wienerstraße, so that the camp wall, even if no artefacts are detectable, must lie around 20 m further north than previously assumed.

The south-west corner of the fort was rounded and additionally reinforced with a relatively small square tower with a side length of six metres that was only slightly offset inwards.

This is also suggested by the discovery of two columns within the cemetery, on the former fort site, in the 19th century[29] In 2000, an excavation was carried out by the AUSINA association (led by Krista Süss).

Worth mentioning is the discovery under the oldest wall courses of a strongly profiled fibula with a perforated pin holder, which can probably be dated to the 1st century.

For the 2nd century, the Ala I Thracum Victrix [de] was initially under discussion, but new finds of brick stamps prove with great certainty the location of this troop near Petronell-Carnuntum.

It has also already been postulated that Ala Nova had no troops of its own and that the camp was possibly only an ‘outpost’ of one of the neighbouring legionary fortresses, Vindobona or Carnuntum.

[30] For late antiquity, however, a cavalry unit of the Equites Dalmatae for Ala Nova (also for the neighbouring fort of Aequinoctium [de]/Fischamend) can still be clearly assigned - in connection with the records from the Notitia dignitatum.

In 1950, E. Neumann reported the discovery of several graves and golden earrings during a basic excavation in the course of repairing war damage at Hauptplatz 21 and 21a.

[38] In 1958, Hans Walter uncovered a skeleton with its head facing east during earthworks for a new road within the grounds of the Schwechat brewery between Flaschenhalle and the former Soma plant.

[39] In 1963, skeletal remains and Roman pottery shards were discovered in the excavation of a 2.50 metre deep trench in Sendnergasse/corner of Hauptplatz, where some body graves had apparently been destroyed.

The Limes road from Schwechat to Vienna probably did not run directly through the camp area,[14] but probably southwest of today's cemetery towards the Klein-Schwechat railway station, where it made a bend and continued to the eastern wall of the central cemetery, under whose administrative buildings it appears to continue along Simmeringer Hauptstraße in the direction of the former Vindobona legionary camp.