A hidden Roman sanctuary discovered during school construction in Frankfurt-Heddernheim is providing rare clues about ancient multi-god cults and rituals in Germania. The complex consists of eleven stone buildings and dozens of ritual pits and shafts that remained undisturbed for nearly two millennia. Archaeologists have recovered more than 5,000 fragments of painted wall plaster and bronze door fittings, indicating that the sanctuary was once a richly decorated and significant religious hub.
Among the most startling finds is a well containing a bronze statuette of the goddess Diana, a dedicatory inscription to Mercury, and a human skeleton. The presence of the skeleton within the ritual deposits has led researchers to investigate the possibility of human sacrifice, an extremely rare find for this region of the Roman Empire. An interdisciplinary team is now conducting archaeozoological and archaeobotanical analyses on 150 samples to reconstruct the ritual meals and offerings that took place at the site.