Acta Ant. Hung. 58, 2018, 199–215 DOI: 10.1556/068.2018.58.1–4.12 SARAH LO RUSSO – REGULA ACKERMANN – HANNES FLÜCK WITH A CONTRIBUTION BY MARKUS PETER THE MITHRAEUM AT KEMPRATEN (CH) – PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A NEW DISCOVERY IN 2015/16 Summary: During rescue excavations carried out near the vicus at Kempraten (municipality of Rappers- wil-Jona, St. Gallen, Switzerland) in advance of a private construction project, a Mithraeum measuring approximately 8 by 10 m was unexpectedly discovered in the summer of 2015 and subsequently exca- vated and investigated in detail. This paper presents the preliminary results of the excavation, which was completed less than a year ago, and pays particular attention to the interdisciplinary approach used in the excavation. These included intense sampling of the features for the purposes of micromorphology and archaeobiology. Three construction phases with intermittent conflagrations were identified. The question as to whether there was an ante-chamber remains unanswered. The external areas are also quite difficult to interpret, at least for the time being. The rich assemblage of finds, which included numerous coins, pottery, animal bones and a range of religious artefacts (e.g. altars and a half relief), will only be dealt with in a cursory manner here. According to the range of coins, the Mithraeum undoubtedly dated from the late 3rd to the late 4th or early 5th centuries. The site will be analysed by an interdisciplinary team and pre- liminary work is already underway. Key words: Switzerland, Germania superior, excavation methods, sampling strategy, vicus, Mithraeum, archaeological science, archaeology, Roman Imperial period, cult, religion 1. INTRODUCTION The Kempraten vicus was uncovered in the north-western part of what is today the town of Rapperswil-Jona (Canton St. Gallen) located on the northern shore of Lake Zurich. In recent years Rapperswil-Jona has experienced intense building activity. For the past approximately ten years, the Archaeology Department of Canton St. Gal- len (KASG) has been able to systematically mount rescue excavations in advance of planned construction projects. As a result, our knowledge of the vicus has significantly increased within a short space of time and it has been possible to unearth such unex- pected finds as the Mithraeum discussed here. 0044-5975 © 2018 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 200 SARAH LO RUSSO – REGULA ACKERMANN – HANNES FLÜCK WITH MARKUS PETER The Roman settlement spread over an area of at least 11 ha lining various trans- port routes.1 The fact that water and land routes criss-crossed at this point made the area interesting as a place of settlement, once the road which branched off from the east–west-axis (Graubünden passes – Vindonissa – Gaul/Germania) to the north towards Vitudurum and the Danube border had become more important. The settlement was founded in around AD 30/40. Not much is known about the first settlement, except that it comprised several timber-built phases which were replaced in around AD 120 by stone- built constructions. Based on the coin sequence, the Roman settlement can be shown to have lasted until the turn of the 5th century AD. Whilst its transition to the Early Middle Ages remains unexplored, we may assume that the settlement continued.2 A forum, of which an exedra (perhaps a curia or temple?) and another monu- mental building in front of it (perhaps a basilica?) are known, and whose architecture was surprisingly monumental given the type of settlement it was and the region in which it stood, formed the centre of the settlement (fig. 1).3 The streets in the residential districts close to the centre were lined with large complex buildings of a high-quality finish, some of which had interior courtyards. Smaller buildings which were as carefully constructed but had only one or two rooms, stood in the back yards of these edifices.4 A district with strip houses was unearthed in the northern part of the settlement. The back yards of these strip houses contained workshops, notably pot- ters’ workshops (fig. 1, Fluh).5 A Magna Mater sanctuary with two Gallo-Roman temples enclosed by a temenos was discovered on the north-western edge of the settlement (fig. 1, Seewiese).6 The property at Zürcherstrasse 131 is located directly on Lake Zurich and c. 200 m from the Seewiese temple district, which means that in Roman times the site would have been situated outside the actual settlement (fig. 1, Zürcherstrasse 131).7 The area is characterised by a rocky outcrop with an upper flat terrace, a rather steep slope and a lower terrace. The latter also had a steep slope which, however, had been filled with sediment since the Last Ice Age, most of which now lies below the lake level.8 The Roman-period shoreline, however, has not survived due to modern altera- 9 tions. Much like today, the lake level during the Roman period was at approx. 406 m a.s.l. 1 Not included in the 11 ha is the only known cemetery in the Belsito area and the site of the Mith- raeum itself, since it is presumed that it was strictly speaking located outside of the settlement. 2 ACKERMANN, R.: Der römische Vicus von Kempraten, Rapperswil-Jona. Neubetrachtung anhand der Ausgrabungen Fluhstrasse 6–10 (2005–2006) [Archäologie im Kanton St.Gallen 1]. St. Gallen 2013, 216ff. 3 MATTER, G.: Jona SG, Kempraten, Parzelle 4239, Grabung 2002. Ein repräsentativer Architek- turkomplex im Zentrum des römischen Vicus Kempraten. Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte 86 (2003) 178–185; ACKERMANN (n. 2) 214–215. 4 ACKERMANN (n. 2) 211–215. 5 JbAS 92 (2009) 306f., JbAS 93 (2010) 253f. and JbAS 95 (2012) 194f. 6 See the article by Pirmin Koch in this volume, DOI: 10.1556/068.2018.58.1–4.34. 7 Excavation Rapperswil-Jona SG, Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131, site no. 53.204; JbAS 99 (2016) 206f.; JbAS 100 (2017) 241f. 8 We would like to thank Thomas Gubler, Schwändi near Schwanden, and Hugo Mändli, Horgen, for assessing the geological situation. 9 (Note: a.s.l = above sea level). WILD, D.: Der Befund. In WILD, D. – KREBS, D. (eds): Die römi- schen Bäder von Zürich. Ausgrabungen am Weinplatz in der Altstadt von Zürich 1983/84 [Berichte der Acta Ant. Hung. 58, 2018 THE MITHRAEUM AT KEMPRATEN (CH) – PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A NEW DISCOVERY 201 Fig. 1. Rapperswil-Jona, Kempraten: Overall map of the vicus in the 2nd/3rd centuries AD (sc. 1:5000, map: KASG) Geological trial trenches dug for the purposes of foundation testing in January 2015 exposed two Roman lime kilns. This prompted the Archaeology Department to carry out a geomagnetic survey of the area that would be affected by the planned con- struction project and that had previously been used as meadowland. The aim was to ascertain the number of kilns and potential other structures prior to the commence- ment of the rescue excavation, which would now be mounted. The results suggested the existence of another kiln and pinpointed a further area as worth investigating.10 ———— Zürcher Denkmalpflege. Monographien 24]. Zürich/Egg 1993, 23 and 25; EBERSCHWEILER, B. – KÄCH, D.: Ein römischer Rundtempel auf dem Großen Hafner im Zürichsee. In Archäologie im Kanton Zürich 2003-2005. Bericht 18. Zürich 2006, 249; WILD, D.: Lindenhof, Sihl und Zürichsee – Fragen zu Geologie und Topographie zwischen Spätlatène und Frühmittelalter. In BALMER, M. (Hrsg.): Zürich in der Spät- latène- und frühen Kaiserzeit. Vom keltischen Oppidum zum römischen Vicus Turicum [Monographien der Kantonsarchäologie Zürich 39]. Zürich/Egg 2009, 17. 10 HÜBNER, C.: Bericht 464/2015: Geophysikalische Prospektion Zürcherstr. 131 (53.204) Rap- perswil-Jona, Kempraten (Kanton St.Gallen, Schweiz). Unpublished manuscript. Freiburg i. Br. 2015 (records in the KASG archive, site no. 53.204). Acta Ant. Hung. 58, 2018 202 SARAH LO RUSSO – REGULA ACKERMANN – HANNES FLÜCK WITH MARKUS PETER Fig. 2. Rapperswil-Jona, Kempraten: Overall map of the excavation at Zürcherstrasse 131 with the Mithraeum, three lime kilns and their associated spoil heaps as well as the excavation perimeter (sc. 1:300, map: KASG) Soon after commencement of the rescue excavation it became obvious that the Roman builders had availed of the natural slope in the terrain for the construction of three adjacent lime kilns in that both the praefurnia and kilns were hewn into the rock (fig. 2). The lower terrace was fortified with loose paving and the resulting, rather large square served as a work space and increasingly as a dumping ground for the spoil from the kilns.11 It was not until the end of the planned excavation that the eastern external wall (MR1) of a Mithraeum came to light west of the kilns in the area that had been pin- pointed by the geomagnetic survey. A trench dug at right angles to the wall brought to light two lateral platforms and a central aisle. The finds recovered included numer- ous coins, animal bones, almost exclusively of poultry, and a number of rock crystals, immediately pointing to a possible religious function for the building. Any residual doubts were removed and it became apparent that the features had to be the remains of a Mithraeum when two fragments of a larger than life-sized cult image depicting Mithras were discovered a short time later (fig. 3). The extraordinary find – it is only the third building of its kind to come to light in present-day Switzerland12 – led to the excavation being extended to the end of 11 On the lime kilns, see ACKERMANN, R. – KOCH, P.: Römische Kalkbrennereien im Vicus von Kempraten (Rapperswil-Jona SG). Minaria Helvetica 36 (2015) 78–80. 12 The other two Mithraea are located at Martigny/Forum Claudii Vallensium, Canton Valais (WIBLÉ, F.: Martigny-la-Romaine.