Today at 12:15 PM · Evelyn J. Verhoef
Alphen aan den Rijn – The Limesweg still lies below ground level along the Rhine. When construction takes place in the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, a piece of this Roman road is regularly found. Last Saturday a seminar was held at the Park Archeon Museum on the north-western part of Limesweg.
Six scholars shed light on the ‘secrets’ of Roman Limesweg on Saturday. They agree on some things, but not on others. They share the general conclusion: there is more we don’t know than we know about Limesweg. The locations of some parts of the road are known, for others there is a viable hypothesis and some parts of the road are considered a “surprise”.
Today’s President is Saskia Stevens. In addition to being a senior lecturer at Utrecht University, she is the leader of the interdisciplinary project “Creating Limes”. Stevens introduces the speakers and always takes the lead during question period.
Technasium project Alphen aan den Rijn
The first speakers during the symposium were Sofiki de Bruijn and Heidi Huisman, students of the Alvins Technasium School. Today they will talk about their 2023 project, and on Sunday they will show replicas of the measuring instruments to visitors at the Roman Bath. This is the topic of their project.
Technasium students investigated the measuring tools that were used to build a Roman road. The passerby is the surveying instrument, the groma; Odometer, distance scale; A spiritual scale that works with water and also a scaffold with rollers to make you feel the difference in weight.
Why we don’t know much (of course).
A characteristic of science is that new research always raises more questions and different points of view. If there is any progressive vision anywhere, it is in science. This is clear from the different readings. And scientists themselves realize this too. For example, Wouter Vos begins his speech with: “I agree with much, but…”
There are different sources to prove Limesweg, says Voss. The route was drawn on the Peutinger Map, a representation of medieval Roman road maps. There are also many Romanian itineraries, which are route descriptions that provide information. These are indicators, but only when you actually find the road during an archaeological excavation can you be sure it was there.
underground
The challenge with a road like Limesweg is that, two thousand years after the road was built, nothing above ground can be seen. However, the road remains underground almost everywhere. There are several ways to find a route. Mark Groenhuijzen uses computer models for this purpose. The computer model is based on all types of data. For example, the course of the Rhine River, its basin areas, the course of dams and the location of large peat areas are important.
Rinse Willet collects data from all kinds of sources, such as literature, landscape integration and research using lidar, a technology for “underground” research. Data indicate that approximately 100 km of roads have been identified, of which 400 km are hypothetical and 300 km are potential.
The beginning and end of Limesweg
In the Late Iron Age (between 100 BC and 300 AD) there was already an extensive road system. This includes nature trails, timber trails and peat roads. These prehistoric roads are often found near fields of graves and urns, says Christian Kiecken. Roman road builders regularly used such ancient track.
Only at the end of the first century did the “true” Roman Limesweg appear. Emperor Hadrian ordered around 125 people to build a brand new road from sustainable oak, complete with a well-paved gravel road surface. At the end of the third century, the Limesweg in the northwestern border region was no longer functional, says Cornelis van Tilburg. This is mainly due to lack of maintenance because the Romanian army has already left our area.
Read also: Roman finds from the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn can be seen ‘everywhere and anywhere’
