Blacksmiths assist at the Roman center Schlungenhof

Forging the hot iron: English blacksmiths support FAU Professor Boris Dreyer's team at the Roman center. (Image: FAU/Marc-André Werner)

FAU researchers receive assistance from England for the third scientific vehicle reconstruction.

They had traveled especially from Great Britain. British blacksmiths under the leadership of Rowan Tylor and Mischa Kunkel from Holme Lacy College in Hereford arrived in late May at the Roman center at Altmühlsee to collaborate on a project by Boris Dreyer, Professor of Ancient History at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). Their task there was to reconstruct the load-bearing iron components of a Roman racing chariot. After a Celtic chariot and a Roman carriage, this is the third reconstruction of an ancient horse-drawn vehicle.

The design is based on a recently excavated Roman light carriage find in Vincovci, northeastern Croatia, led by Hrvoje Vulic. The reconstruction of the vehicle was undertaken by FAU ancient historian Prof. Boris Dreyer and his team at the Roman center Schlungenhof. The CAD plans were created by former FAU mechanical engineering professor Dr. Marcel Bartz and Marc Schulte from TU Dortmund.

Now the British team have completed the necessary iron components after a week of hard work, the next step is the reconstruction of the vehicle’s ash wood components, which will once again be handled by the Boris Dreyer’s experienced wood reconstruction team. But time is tight. “We need to hurry a bit,” says Prof. Dr. Boris Dreyer, “so the vehicle is ready by October. Then we will conduct a major comparative trial of the three FAU Roman vehicles based on comfort and driving criteria.” During the comparative trials at the Altmühlsee, stud farm and carriage owner Jörg Wildung will provide his trained carriage horses for the scientific tests.