Under a football field in Vienna along the Danube River, archaeologists have found a mass grave dating to the era when the Roman Empire was battling Germanic tribes almost 2000 years ago, experts announced this week. The grave was discovered by a construction company doing renovations for the field in Vienna’s Simmering district in October, a team of archaeologists and historians at the Vienna Museum said in announcing its findings. The extraordinary discovery was tied to what they called a “catastrophic” military event, possibly one where Roman troops were badly defeated and fled the site quickly. Radiocarbon dating traced the bones to about AD 80 to 234 – a period in which more than a dozen Roman emperors ruled, including Domitian and Trajan, who clashed with ancient Germanic people in the region. An analysis of other items found in the grave, including an iron dagger, lance points, scale armour and a cheek piece of a helmet, helped confirm the time period. Near the foot of one skeleton, archaeologists also discovered shoe nails that came from distinctive Roman military shoes called caligae.