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Archaeologists have been searching for signs of a Roman military presence in eastern Germany for centuries.

And now researchers believe they have made the long-awaited discovery of what appears to be a military camp, near the town of Hachelbich in Thuringia.

Located in a valley, the temporary camp measures 18 hectares (180,000 square metres) and is thought to have housed 5,000 Roman troops.

Archaeologists have been searching for signs of a Roman military presence in eastern Germany for centuries, and now researchers have made the long-awaited discovery of a Roman military camp near the town of Hachelbich in Thuringia. Pictured are the Roman trenches dug around the site

Researchers believe the camp was set up by the Romans in the hope of invading territories further east, according to a report in Science.

Artefacts discovered inside the trenches include four nails from the bottom of Roman boots, part of a scabbard and traces of makeshift bread ovens.

Scientists claim these date back to the first two centuries AD, but they have been unable to pin them down to a more specific event in Roman history.

Researchers believe the camp was set up by the Romans in the hope of invading territories further east. Pictured is an excavation of the site.  The exact whereabouts is currently being kept secret, to prevent metal detector hobbyists from stealing items for the site

Around the camp there are 6.6ft (2 metre)-deep trenches, which each measure over 0.24 miles (400m) in length. A separate trench protects a gate constructed at the northern edge of the camp

The artefacts discovered from Hachelbich - fittings and nails from the sandals of Roman legionaries

Around the camp, there are 6.6ft (2 metre)-deep trenches which each measure over 0.24 miles (400 metres) in length.

A separate trench protects a gate constructed at the northern edge of the camp.

The camp was first discovered in 2010, but it has taken up until now for archaeologists to conclusively prove that it is in fact Roman.

'It's typically Roman - no Germans did that sort of thing,' Mario Kuessner, an archaeologist working at the sitefor the state of Thuringia told Science.

'The best would be if we could find coins or something with the legion number written on it,' said Kuessner. 'That would help us pin down the date.

The Romans were defeated in a battle against German tribes north of the Rhine River in 9AD.

Written sources suggest that despite this defeat, the Romans would sometimes campaign into Germany. 

The Hachelbich discovery provides concrete evidence to back this up. 

The exact whereabouts of the camp is currently being kept secret, to prevent metal detector hobbyists from stealing items for the site.

The Roman military camp is located near the town of Hachelbich in Thuringia. The Romans were defeated in a battle against German tribes north of the Rhine River in 9AD. Written sources suggest the Romans would sometimes campaign into Germany. The Hachelbich discovery provides concrete evidence to back this up