Tony Clunn
Encyclopedia
John Anthony Spencer "Tony" Clunn MBE, (born 10 May 1946), is a retired major in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

, and an amateur archaeologist who discovered the main site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place in 9 CE, when an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius of the Cherusci ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions, along with their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.Despite numerous successful campaigns and raids by the...

 at Kalkriese
Kalkriese
Kalkriese is a 157-m high hill in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is hard to pass along Kalkriese's northern slope because one has to cross many deep brooks and rivulets. To the north of the Kalkriese is a large wetland, which stretches north for a large distance. It is a presumed archaeological site of...

 Hill.

Army career

Born in Kent, Clunn served in the ranks of the Royal Tank Regiment
Royal Tank Regiment
The Royal Tank Regiment is an armoured regiment of the British Army. It was formerly known as the Tank Corps and the Royal Tank Corps. It is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and is made up of two operational regiments, the 1st Royal Tank Regiment and the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment...

, rising to the rank of warrant officer class 1. He was then commissioned into the administrative section of the Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...

 as a lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...

 on 2 January 1986. His commission was backdated, with seniority as a second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 from 2 July 1981, and as lieutenant from 2 July 1983. He was promoted captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...

 on 2 January 1988. He was promoted major on 30 September 1994, having previously held the rank on an acting basis. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year Honours
New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the New Year annually in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen Elizabeth II...

, and retired from the army on 4 April 1996.

Archaeology

Clunn looked for Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 coins with a metal detector
Metal detector
A metal detector is a device which responds to metal that may not be readily apparent.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...

 as a hobby. In 1987, he was attached to the Royal Tank Regiment in Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...

 and asked Wolfgang Schlüter, at the time the archaeologist for the District of Osnabrück
Osnabrück (district)
Osnabrück is a district in the southwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. With 2,121 km² it is the second largest district of Lower Saxony.- History :...

, where to look. On his advice, he began prospecting 20 km north of the city where Roman coins had previously been found, although no Roman finds had been made near the city for 18 years. Schlüter's recommendation was based on the study of maps and the 19th-century historian Theodor Mommsen
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...

's proposal of the Kalkriese area as a likely location of the battle which took place in 9 C.E. On his first day of searching, Clunn found several coins struck in the reign of Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

, mostly in excellent condition. No coins found at the site post-date 9 C.E. He also discovered sling shot
Sling (weapon)
A sling is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt projectile such as a stone or lead "sling-bullet". It is also known as the shepherd's sling....

 in the vicinity of Kalkriese, the first indisputable evidence of military activity there. There had previously been many conflicting theories about the location of the battle, which scholars had searched for without success for 600 years.

On the basis of Clunn's finds, in 1989 Schlüter began a comprehensive excavation of the site, later directed by Susanne Wilbers-Rost. The finds are now on display at the Varusschlacht (Varus Battle) Museum and Park Kalkriese, opened in 2002.

In the following years, Clunn investigated the entire area around Kalkriese. The coins he discovered have made it possible to reconstruct the route taken by the Roman legionaries under Varus
Publius Quinctilius Varus
Publius Quinctilius Varus was a Roman politician and general under Emperor Augustus, mainly remembered for having lost three Roman legions and his own life when attacked by Germanic leader Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.-Life:His paternal grandfather was senator Sextus Quinctilius...

 and to determine where they were ambushed and massacred. In Clunn's opinion, the march route corresponds exactly to the changing environment as described by Dio Cassius
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a Roman consul and a noted historian writing in Greek...

.

Clunn now lives in Osnabrück.

Publications

  • Tony Clunn. Ed. Anna Cheeseman-Clunn and Ursula Cheeseman. In Quest of the Lost Legions: The Varusschlacht. London: Minerva, 1999. ISBN 0754110680
  • Tony Clunn. The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions. Spellmount: Savas Beatie, 2005. ISBN 978-0-9544190-0-4

Sources

  • The Lost Legions of Varus. Television movie. Secret History Series 9. Granada Television
    Granada Television
    Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

    , 2001. ImdB
  • Wolfgang Schlüter. "Kalkriese: Ort der Varusschlacht. Die Ausgrabungen in der Kalkrieser-Niederwedder Senke". Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Nordwestdeutschland Beiheft 9 (1994).
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