Roman dagger found in Switzerland

A volunteer archaeologist using a metal detector in Switzerland uncovered a 2000-year-old dagger (pugio) in 2019. Due to its cross-shaped handle, the dagger can be dated to 50 BC. Daggers of this type are extremely rare with only four known. The dagger was found in the mountainous Graubünden region of Switzerland, an area believed to be the site of battle where Imperial Roman soldiers fought Rhaetian warriors in 15 BC. His discovery sparked an excavation of the area that revealed a trove of ancient military artifacts including lead slingshot and hobnails from soldiers' boots. A Roman coin minted between 29 BC and 26 BC during the reign of Emperor Augustus was found.

Slingshot feature inscriptions by the Roman legions that made them.

The Rhaetians, or Raeti, were a confederation of tribes that lived in the Alpine regions of what are now Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany. They opposed Roman occupation, fighting a series of battles against the invaders in the first century B.C.E. The clash near the gorge probably took place around 15 B.C.E., when Roman Emperor Augustus ordered a military campaign. The historic encounter occurred near the Crap Ses Gorge in southeastern Switzerland around 15 B.C.E. Soldiers from the 3rd, 10th, and 12th legions were led by Augustus's stepsons, Tiberius and Drusus. The Roman victory integrated the region into the empire as part of the new province of Raetia, a territory Rome held for the next 400 years.