Vagalinski has noted that Deultum faced attacks from East Germanic peoples and Huns in the fourth and fifth centuries — the period around A.D.

400 encompasses multiple possible attacking forces.

What is clear from the archaeological context is that whatever happened at Deultum’s western gate turret was violent, destructive, and sudden enough that a young man with two iron knives ended up dead inside a ceramic storage jar while the building around him burned.

What A Dolium Actually Is

Before examining the specific details of the discovery more closely, it is worth understanding what the vessel that became this person’s apparent refuge actually was — because the nature of a Roman dolium is central to making sense of what happened at Deultum.

A dolium (plural: dolia) was the largest category of ceramic vessel produced in the Roman world.