During the first century, the area of modern-day southwest Germany was being slowly taken over and brought into the Roman Empire.

The Romans built entire towns, with forts and magnificent manor houses, throughout the region, including what is now the city of Stein.

But less than 200 years later, the city was abandoned, left to decay over time.

After 260 A.D. and the planned withdrawal of the Roman Empire from southwest Germany, the city where Stein now stands and the homes built therein were occasionally used by the Alemanni people, but otherwise remained untouched and fell into disrepair.

One of the manor houses was never built over and was converted into an open-air museum by the German State Office for Monument Preservation, serving as an important archaeological site because of the level of preservation.

Now, archaeologists working at the museum have discovered pieces of a large pillar that once stood at the manor house -- and it was a monument to the gods.

More than 100 fragments of the once-standing monument have been unearthed, archaeologists said in an Oct. 24 news release from the State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council, Archaeological Monument Preservation.

The pieces once belonged to a pillar built from larger stones stacked on top of one another, officials said.

Reliefs are carved into the stones on all sides, archaeologists said, including images of gods and their associated legends.

The pillar had been broken and scattered in the era after Roman occupation, officials said. Because the images are now in pieces, they have to be identified by comparing the sections to well-preserved pieces found in similar contexts, according to the release.

Archaeologists found the pillar by chance during the summer excavation season in 2023 while they were searching for the northern outer wall of the estate, SWR Aktuell, a German news outlet, reported. The pillar was in the forest area on the border of the site.

The pillar is a rare find in this region of the Roman Empire, officials said, and similar pillars have only occasionally been found in the other Roman border provinces.

Compared to those other pillars, the one found at the museum is relatively large, officials said.

Archaeologists believe that even with as many pieces as they have found, only part of the pillar has been unearthed and the rest may no longer be at the estate. This means a full reconstruction will need the help of replicas.

Officials currently plan for 3D print scaled-down versions to be included in the visitor section of the open-air museum, according to the release.

Archaeologists are unsure who owned the manor and who would have had the pillar commissioned, officials said. They are also trying to solve the mystery of why, and how, it was desecrated.

The manor house dates to between the second and third centuries A.D., and it was first excavated in 1978, officials said. Excavations continued in 1981, and the open-air museum was constructed the following year.

Excavations have continued every year since 1992 as archaeologists learn more about Roman life in Stein. The rest of the estate, including farm buildings and a wall, is open to visitors.

Stein is in southern Germany, about 7 miles west from Nuremberg.