The Roman dagger (pugio)

A dagger (pugio) in its richly decorated scabbard, dating back over twenty centuries, was unearthed in the tomb of a Roman soldier who is thought to have fought against Germanic tribes.

In April 2019, Nico Calman, 19, a trainee at the Westphalian Department of Archaeology, discovered this dagger, its scabbard and some parts of its belt during an excavation in Haltern am See (Haltern-on-the-Lake), a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The dagger (pugio) with its sheath were so corroded that it took nine months of sanding and grinding before the 35-centimetre-long edged weapon could be restored. The scientists were thus able to easily extract the dagger from its richly decorated scabbard.
The iron sheath is lined with limewood and decorated with red glass, silver and red enamel. Rings attached to the scabbard enabled the dagger to be suspended from a belt, which was also found in the tomb (image opposite).
It's certain that even ordinary legionnaires - and not just officers - wore such richly chased scabbards. This meticulous workmanship demonstrates the importance soldiers attached to their appearance. A practice that perhaps also gave them the opportunity to carry their wealth with them, even though the Roman army already had an elaborate banking system that made deductions from pay for the legionary's retirement or funeral.

This discovery is unusual, given that «it was not normal practice for Roman soldiers to be buried with their military equipment».», said Bettina Tremmel, archaeologist at the Westphalian Department for Monument Preservation, a specialist in the Roman Empire who took part in the excavations with the University of Trier.
During the Augustan period, from 27 BC to 14 AD, the site of Haltern-on-the-Lake was home to a Roman military base, comprising several thousand men, known as the «Hauptlager» or «main camp». Archaeologists had known about this site since 1900, which makes the discovery of the dagger all the more surprising.
Roman soldiers stationed at this camp suffered several setbacks against Germanic tribes. Three Roman legions (military units of between 5,000 and 6,000 men), the 17th, 18th and 19th, were wiped out when the Roman general Publius Quinctilius Varus was defeated in 9 AD.
Nearby is a cemetery, where Roman soldiers and their families were buried.

Despite several successful Roman campaigns and raids in the years following the Battle of Teutoburg, the Romans never again attempted to conquer the Germanic territories east of the Rhine.