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Excavations at a Frankfurt palace garden revealed a 2,200-year-old Roman camp.Experts believe this military site represents the first Roman presence in the city, and artifacts there indicate a more peaceful co-existence in the region than had previously been imagined.Artifacts discovered during excavation prove the site stood for several years, which was uncommon in the region at that time.

Renovations at the Bolongaro Palace in Höchst, a neighborhood about five miles west of downtown Frankfurt, Germany, spilled into the estate’s adjacent garden. Then, after nearly a decade of work to convert the manor into a museum, archaeologists from the Department of Archaeological Heritage Management made a surprising find beneath the garden’s verdant grounds: the first-ever Roman military camp discovered in the region, replete with artifacts including coins from France and Belgium as well as South Gallic ceramics.

In a find that’s rewriting the early history of Frankfurt, experts said the artifacts lack signs of violence and strife, instead pointing to a peaceful beginning of Roman occupation in the area.

“The remains of a military camp dating back to around the year 0 are of significance extending far beyond the immediate region,” Mike Josef, Frankfurt mayor, said in a translated statement. “This archaeological site allows us to trace not only the development and expansion of the Roman Empire in our area, but also a piece of the history of the city of Frankfurt itself.”

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Andrea Hampel, head of the Monuments Authority, said the find contradicts much of what’s been believed about early Roman military movements in Germany. “We all have Asterix and Obelix”—characters from the popular French comic book series set during the Roman conquest of Gaul—“or the Teutoburg Forest in the back of our minds when we think about the Roman conquest of Germania,” Hampel said, referring to violent battles that have defined Roman-German history. “To date, archaeological excavations in the Bolongaro Garden have yielded no evidence of combat or destruction; instead, through the discovery of indigenous ceramics and insights into dietary habits, they point to contact and cooperation.”

As the Roman Emperor Augustus pushed his empire deeper into Europe, Germany became a key frontier zone in the first century C.E., when Frankfurt was likely founded. Still, during this time, military camps were typically short-lived. From an archaeological perspective, that makes them difficult to locate, since few artifacts get left behind.

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The Bolongaro Palace discovery differs in that regard, since it likely served as a Roman military camp for multiple years. Its relative longevity may have been been the result of its location near the Nidda and Main rivers, a strategic, elevated site that enjoyed a close connection to a road network linking the camp to other Roman sites in the region. The Höchst camp likely housed both Roman legion troops and auxiliary soldiers, boasting a more robust population than the typical temporary camp.

The discovery changes the narrative of early exchanges between the newly arrived Romans and the Frankfurt inhabitants already in place, leading Hampel to believe “we must rethink our perspective of the era of initial contact between the Romans and the ‘Frankfurters.’ It may well have been far more peaceful and characterized by curiosity than previously assumed.”

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Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.