MUNICH, Germany – Their dried out food, cheerless service, and overpriced gas have made highway service stations the bane of modern travel. However, archaeologists have found evidence that they are not such a modern phenomenon after uncovering the remains of the Roman equivalent of an American rest stop.

Deep beneath a bus terminus in the town of Neuss, near Dusseldorf, they have found the 2,000-year-old foundations of a roadside rest stop complete with forecourt, chariot workshop, restaurant, and an area to give horses water and hay. A Roman traveler would have been able to order a quick meal before setting off on the wide road – which ran the length of Germany – or book a room and spend the night. There may not have been candy or hamburgers, but travelers could buy other essentials such as clothes, preserved meat, and olives.

Sabine Sauer, the archaeologist leading the team which spent the past year investigating the site, said: “We’ve nicknamed it Big Maximus, because people would have pulled their chariots into the forecourt and ordered pork cutlets and wine, before heading back on the road.”

The foundations of the first building excavated were found when the team was asked to survey the area for a new underground parking lot. Ms. Sauer, the city’s chief archaeologist, said: “The area has many Roman settlements and roads. We expected to find some Roman remains, but had no idea we would find an ancient service station.”

The remains found so far cover 240 square yards, and the team believes that the entire Roman complex – which appears to run beneath several existing buildings – may have been twice the size.

“Big Maximus” was situated on the main road from the Roman settlement at modern Xanten, near Duisburg, to Cologne. The route followed the Rhine and formed part of the Roman Long Road – from the North Sea to Brindisi in southern Italy.

At the time Neuss – known to the Romans as Novaesium – was a small settlement, with little need for any other large public building. In its heyday it would have been used by passing sailors as well as travelers on foot, horseback, chariot, and wagons.

Because it was only possible to travel by day, historians believe that there would have been similar rest stops every 20 miles or so. The Neuss building could have housed up to 30 travelers and their animals overnight.

Martin Haidinger, a historian at Vienna University who has advised on many excavations in central Europe, said: “This gives us a fascinating insight into another chapter of Roman life and confirms that some aspects of society were remarkably similar to our own.”

The archaeologists have uncovered signs of a workshop, where local mechanics would have repaired chariots. Roman crockery also suggests that its restaurant did as flourishing a trade as any highway McDonald’s. Ms. Sauer said: “We have clues to what they ate from discarded pottery. There were spice jars, containing garum sauces from North Africa, similar to what one might find in a Thai restaurant today.

“We know from the bones that they ate a lot of meat – chicken and pork – as well as bread, rice, lentils, and fruit. There were desserts of sweet cakes, cooked with sesame seeds, and almonds. There must have been a flourishing trade: There were many fragments of wine amphora, and broken plates.”

The building was more substantial than other Roman properties in the area, with strong foundations to bear the weight of at least two floors. “It would have been visible from far away, a welcome sight for weary travelers,” said Ms. Sauer.

“From what we have found, the food and accommodation was probably good, and the building was a high standard,” she said.

It was built from high-quality tuff stone and included under-floor heating and an overhanging slate roof to trap the warmth of the sun.

The Neuss town council has now abandoned its plan to build a parking lot on the site and will instead develop it as an amusement park, with the Roman remains at its center.