Laurium

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Laurium
Alternative name Laurum
limes Lower Germanic Limes
Dating (occupancy) Aa) 39 to 47 AD.
Ab) 41 to 68
B) after 70 to 175
C) 175 to 260
Type Cohort fort
unit A) unknown
B.a) Cohors XV voluntariorum civium Romanorum pia fidelis
B.b) Cohors III Breucorum
C) Cohors III Breucorum
size A) unknown
B) 90 m × 140 m = 1.26 ha (?)
Construction A) Wood-earth warehouse
B) Wood-earth warehouse
C) Stone fort
State of preservation Outlines marked in the pavement
place Woerden
Geographical location 52 ° 5 '4 "  N , 4 ° 53' 5"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 5 '4 "  N , 4 ° 53' 5"  E
height 2  m NAP
Previous Fort Op de Hoge Woerd
Subsequently Bodegraven fort
Location of the fort in the 2017 city map
Marking of the fort floor plan in the paving of the Kerkplein

Laurium or Laurum was a Roman cohort fort on the Lower Germanic Limes . The relics of the former military camp are now located under the center of Woerden , a town and municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht . In addition to the fort and the associated vicus, Woerden is known in the provincial Roman archeology primarily through a number of ship finds from Roman times.

Sources and research history

The fort in Woerden was recorded as Lauri , which can be read as Laurum or Laurium , on the Tabula Peutingeriana , the medieval copy of a late Roman road map. There Laurium was five Leugen (around eleven kilometers) east of Nigrum Pullum ( Zwammerdam ) and twelve Leugen (almost 27 kilometers) west of Fletione ( Bunnik-Vechten ).

The search for the fort began relatively late. Since 1975, the then Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen (KUN) , which was renamed Radboud University Nijmegen in 2004, has carried out archaeological investigations in the area of ​​Woerden city center with a few interruptions , which initially remained without any tangible result with regard to the military camp, albeit a few brought Roman ship finds (see below) to daylight. In 1999, a finding that belonged to the context of the garrison was touched on for the first time, and it was not until 2002 that, due to civil engineering work, systematic investigations were carried out in the area of ​​the highest square in the city center at 2.4 m above Amsterdam's normal level , the Petruskerk upstream Kerkplein . These investigations were carried out on behalf of the municipality of Woerden and under the supervision of the Rijksdienst voor Archeologie, Cultuurlandschappen en Monumentenzorg (RACM) by the companies ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort , and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden and quickly led to the discovery of the Roman fort.

History and archaeological evidence

chronology

The archaeological investigations made it possible to differentiate between a total of four construction phases, which were numbered consecutively from Woerden I to Woerden IV .

Woerden I

The earliest military camp Woerden I on today's Kerkplein was possibly built in the time of Caligula , but at the latest in the early Claudian period. The exact reconstruction as well as the scope and structure of this construction phase remain problematic, especially since camps from the time up to Claudius (41–54) were very diverse in shape and size and could take on shapes other than a square or a rectangle. The fact that no traces of the interior development could be identified from this period further complicates the matter. The traces found speak for a north-south orientation of the fort. Due to the sparse findings, no statements can be made about the size of the camp.

Woerden II

Woerden I was occupied by an unknown unit for only a few years and was replaced by camp Woerden II in Claudian times , whose unit is also unknown. However, it is not entirely certain whether there was an immediate continuity between the two construction phases, or whether there was possibly a brief pause in the history of the garrison square. The new fort was oriented from northwest to southeast and had a total of three trenches in front of its wood-earth wall, which were at a distance of five to six meters from each other. Exact statements about the size of the military camp are also not possible in this construction phase, only the southwest side could be reconstructed to a length of 75 m to 100 m. “Woerden II” existed until it was destroyed by the events of the Batavian uprising in 68/69 AD, as evidenced by a thick layer of fire.

Woerden III

After Vespasian had prevailed in the empire and the Batavian rebellion had been suppressed, the fort Woerden III was rebuilt in 70 , which was now occupied with the Cohors XV voluntariorum civium Romanorum (German: 15th cohort of volunteer Roman citizenship), which was included in the In the time of Domitian it was nicknamed pia fidelis (dutiful and faithful). The problem with this cohort, which was excavated after the Clades Variana and which operated in Lower Germany for the time of its existence, also appears in inscriptions in Praetorium Agrippinae ( Valkenburg ), Matilo ( Leiden ) and in Nigrum Pullum ( Alphen aan den Rijn -Zwammerdam). It is not clear whether she switched between these locations, distributed vexillations to the individual locations or maybe even only transported her bricks to other locations and which was her own or at least main location.

During the explorations in 1999, the southwest and southeast defensive walls were cut. Most of the traces of interior development that were found (see below) also fall into this period, as does the finding of a fossa fastigata reinforced with beams (see below). The narrower sides of the praetorial front and the back of the fort were estimated to be around 90 m, the longer sides interpolated to around 140 m, resulting in an estimated storage area of ​​1.26 hectares. The transition to the next construction phase “Woerden IV” around the year 175 remains a bit speculative. It is attached to the finds of roof tiles with the stamp of Didius Iulianus from around 180 as well as building inscriptions of the Legio I Minervia Antoniniana from the time of Septimius Severus (193-211).

Woerden IV

Around 175 the previous wood-earth warehouse was replaced by the stone fort Woerden IV . The Cohors XV had already been replaced by the Cohors III Breucorum (German: 3rd cohort of the Breuker). An approximately 50 cm thick tuff stone wall was documented over a length of three meters. In addition to the tuff stone wall, there were other finds of natural stones and bricks, including two limestone fragments, one of which was decorated with a rosette and one of which had the three letters DEC or DEG from a formerly more extensive inscription. The fort was abandoned around the year 260.

Defensive trenches

In the course of the excavations, seven different defensive trenches were cut, which could be assigned to the four different construction phases as follows:

Construction phase from to Trenches Fort construction Wall / wall Occupancy
Woerden I 39 47 Dig 7 Wood earth supposed unknown
Woerden II 41 68 Trench 1, Trench 3, Trench 4 Wood earth proven unknown
Woerden III 70 175 Dig 2 Wood earth supposed Cohors XV voluntarium civium Romanorum pia fidelis
Woerden IV 175 260 Trench 5, trench 6 stone proven Cohors III Breucorum

"Graben 7", which was assigned to the oldest construction phase "Woerden I", was around two meters wide and had a remaining depth of 60 centimeters. The filling material became a single drag- type terra sigillata shard . 29 , which can be dated to the period between the years AD 45 and 70.

"Trenches 1, 3 and 4" were assigned to the "Woerden II" construction phase. "Trench 1" was 1 m to 1.5 m wide at its lowest level. Two sigillates of the drag type could be extracted from its filling. 29, which can be assigned to the Claudian-Neronian period. The approximately two meters wide "Graben 3" contained significantly more datable pottery than "Graben 1". The filling contained a Claudian-Neronian pottery stamp, pre-Flavian earthenware, terra sigillata fragments of the Hofheim 12 type and a rough-walled Stuart 204 type vessel. "Graben 4" was named due to its parallelism to the "Graves 1 and 3 “as well as by a TS-sherd of the type Drag which can be dated to the same time as this. 29 seen in the backfill as belonging to the same construction phase.

The “Ditch 2” belonging to the “Woerden III” construction phase was a reinforced fossa fastigata (pointed ditch) on its sides with an average length of 1.5 m still preserved . The original length of the beams was calculated to be around 2.5 m. Finds from the Late Nonic-Early Flavian Period come from this trench, including a TS soil of the drag type. 29 with the stamp OF.PONTI, which can be dated to the period between 65 and 85, another TS floor by the potter FRONTINUS, which can be dated to the year 70, as well as individual fragments of the Flavian types Stuart 107 and Stuart 109.

"Trenches 5 and 6" belong to the "Woerden IV" construction phase. Trench 5 had a maximum detectable width of around two meters and could be tracked over a length of around 20 meters. Due to the ceramic finds in its filling, it can generally be dated to the second century. A fragment of decorated drag comes from the bottom filling layer. 37, which can be dated approximately between 100 and 140, but possibly much later. The rest of the datable finds point to the second century without being able to be dated more precisely. The pottery from the filling of ditch 6 points to the first and especially the second century. The second half of the second century is also represented, including a fragment of the drag type. 37 from Lavoye , dated between the middle and the end of the second century.

Defensive walls and walls

During the excavations in 1999, traces of a rampart were documented under the Molenstraat . It was a wood-earth structure in which the space between the outer wooden panels that were braced together had been filled with earth. This defense structure could be assigned to the Claudian - Neronian construction phase Woerden II . During the investigations in 2002, no clear further traces were found, but these must be assumed for all fort phases.

In the Woerden IV construction phase , a three-meter-long tuff wall about 50 cm thick was documented, which was founded on a layer of large pebbles. Below the wall, this layer of pebbles was probably made into a stable foundation by placing numerous piles.

Interior development

The large number of pillars, sill beams and foundation trenches could not be assigned to individual buildings with certainty. The following interpretations of the findings are up for discussion:

  • A centurion apartment at the head of a team barracks with several hearths, smaller rooms and corridors.
  • A small workshop ( Fabricula ) instead of the centurion's apartment , as demonstrated by the finding “Valkenburg 1” ( Praetorium Agrippinae ).
  • A horse stable, as it is also known from "Valkenburg 1", in which there are narrow, elongated rooms or corridors.
  • Another building with several hearths, for example the commandant's apartment ( Praetorium ), the hospital ( Valetudinarium ) or perhaps a large workshop ( Fabrica ).

A ten centimeter thick layer of fire inside the camp indicates the destruction during the Batavian uprising.

A tuff stone wall was referred to as the wall of the principia (staff building) of the stone fort, the maximum side length of which was calculated to be 42 meters with a size of the atrium of 20 m by 20 m.

Vicus

Analogous to other auxiliary forts, it had to be assumed in Woerden that traces of a vicus could be found outside the military camp , possibly accompanied by one or more burial grounds. The vicus was the civilian branch of the train of the unit, in which traders, craftsmen, innkeepers, prostitutes and other service providers as well as relatives of the soldiers settled. A total of eight structures were found in the study area, which should be placed in the context of such a vicus. It was not always clear what function the individual structures had, and it was also difficult to precisely differentiate between the individual structures. It is also uncertain whether all structures are of the same time or whether they belong to different construction phases. A bathing building, a mansio and a burial ground could not be proven.

Ship finds from Woerden

Course of the Rhine around the Laurium fort in Roman times. Stone slab in the paving of the Kerkplein in Woerden

The ship finds from Woerden are a number of shipwrecks from Roman times. Together with the ship finds from De Meern and the ship finds from Zwammerdam , Woerden is one of the most important sites where Roman ships were found in north-western Europe, as the permanently moist soils in this part of the Netherlands, which are below sea level, have preserved the wood very well.

Woerden 1

The Woerden 1 was found in 1978th The ship was probably 25 m long. Its width was 3.65 m. Woerden 1 was a flat-bottomed ship of the Prahms type and served as a grain transporter. It had a possible loading capacity of 50 to 70 tons. For the team there was a cooking place and a wooden crate as weather protection. The felling date of the oak beams, from which Woerden 1 was made, was dated to the year 169 AD. The finding was partially disturbed by a late Roman bank fortification in the third and fourth centuries.

Woerden 2/6

The finds, which were initially interpreted as separate shipwrecks Woerden 2 and Woerden 6 , involved a single ship. The Woerden 2 finding was cut during dredging work in 1988 and partially destroyed. There is only superficial documentation from this period. The finding is said to have included a hull 3.1 m wide and 1.2 m high. According to the scant records, it was probably a heavy-duty frame type ship. The Woerden 6 was discovered 1998th This find was the one meter long end piece of a pram from the third century. The section was salvaged and preserved . Eventually it could be proven that it was actually one and the same wreck.

Woerden 3 to 5

Woerden 3 was found in 1988 and, like Woerden 2, only inadequately documented. Woerden 3 is a dugout canoe that was extended by an attached top shelf. The width of the fuselage was 1.2 m on the ship's side and 0.6 m on the ground, and the height was a little less than 0.5 m. The total length was estimated at around 11 m. Findings made it possible to roughly date the dugout canoe to the first or early second century.

The Woerden 4 is only known from written records of the 16th and 19th centuries. The Leiden archaeologist Caspar Reuvens suspected that the find could be dated to Roman times.

Woerden 5 was observed in 1988. The find, which was already in the past, could be identified as a Roman dugout canoe.

Woerden 7 and 8

The Woerden 7 was discovered in the downtown area. It was a flat-bottomed cargo ship, specifically a prahm, and was probably used to transport natural and bricks. Their maximum width was 4.70 m, the board height was 1.25 m. The remaining length was 25.40 m and could be interpolated to an original total length of 29.70 m. The 43 remaining frames were between 20 cm and 30 cm wide and on average 15 cm thick. The Woerden 7 was made from Dutch and Central German oak, the trunks of which had been felled between winter 163/164 and processed “green” (fresh). The ship sank in the last quarter of the second century.

Within the findings of Woerden 7 there was a single frame that did not belong to this ship and was therefore named as the new wreckage Woerden 8 .

  • Restored aft ship of Woerden 7 in the underground car park under the church square

  • Restored aft ship of Woerden 7 in the underground car park under the church square

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Laurium  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Ship finds from Woerden  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Woerden 7 on the website of "Hazenberg Archeologie", an archeology company (Dutch), accessed on June 28, 2017
  • Woerden (Laurium) on limes.nl, the website of the Stichting Romeinse Limes Nederland (Dutch), accessed on June 28, 2017
  • Woerden on the website langsdelimes.nl (Dutch), accessed on June 28, 2017
  • Laurium: Woerden on romeinen.info, a website for “enthusiastic academics” (Dutch), accessed on June 28, 2017
  • Jona Lendering: Laurum (Woerden) . In: Livius.org (English), accessed on January 21, 2019
  • Official website of the Roman Collection of the Stadsmuseum Woerden (Dutch), accessed on June 28, 2017

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official website of ADC ArcheoProjecten  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Dutch), accessed July 1, 2017.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.archeologie.nl  
  2. ^ Official website of Hazenberg Archeologie (Dutch), accessed on July 1, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 .
  4. ↑ Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 64f.
  5. ↑ Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 65-67.
  6. ↑ AE 2001, 01423e
  7. ↑ Jan Kees Haalebos and Willem JH Willems: Leiden-Roomburg and the cohors XV Voluntariorum . In: Dies .: The Lower Germanic Limes in the Netherlands, 1995–1997 . In: N. Gudea (Ed.): Roman Frontier Studies. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies . (1999), p. 78f., ( Digitized version ).
  8. ↑ Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 67-69.
  9. ↑ AE 1994, 01285
  10. ↑ a b Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 69-72.
  11. ↑ Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 25 and 40-49.
  12. ↑ Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 40-49.
  13. ↑ Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 49-53.
  14. ↑ Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 53-59.
  15. ↑ Edwin Blom and Wouter K. Vos (eds.): Woerden-Hoochwoert. The opgravingen 2002-2004 in het Romeinse Castellum Laurium, de vicus en van het schip de 'Woerden 7' . ADC Rapport 910, ADC ArcheoProjecten, Amersfoort and Hazenberg Archeologie, Leiden, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5874-955-0 , pp. 72-77.
  16. ↑ a b c European Commission Directorate General X: The NAVIS I project , via .rgzm.de, the official website of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz and the Leibniz Research Institute for Archeology, accessed on June 28, 2017.
  17. ↑ Jan Kees Haalebos: Een romeins graanschip in Woerden . In Jaarboek Oud-Utrecht , 1997, ISSN  0923-7046 , pp. 67-96.
  18. ^ Wouter K. Vos, Tom Hazenberg and Jaap Morel: The Woerden 7 . In: Archäologisches Korrezpondenzblatt , 2011, ISSN  0342-734X , pp. 101–118.
  19. ↑ Edwin Blom, Tom Hazenberg and Wouter K. Vos: Het geroeide Nederlandse vrachtschip de 'Woerden 7'. Onderzoeksresultaten van de opgraving van een Romeinse platbodem aan de Nieuwe Markt in Woerden (Hoochwoert) . Westerheem 55 (2006), pp. 141-154.
  20. ^ Wouter K. Vos, Tom Hazenberg and Jaap Morel: The Woerden 7 . In: Archäologisches Korrezpondenzblatt , 2011, ISSN  0342-734X , pp. 101–118.