Gallo-Roman Antwerp: more than meets the eye?
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www.antwerpen.be +32 3 22 11 333 GALLO-ROMAN ANTWERP: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE? 1 Gallo-Roman sites in the region of Antwerp (city centre not included) (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 2 Distribution map of sites with Gallo-Roman traces and/or finds in the Antwerp city centre (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 3 Tegula fragment with ‘[P]RIMCORS’ stamp, Stadsparking excavations, 1970’s (Guy Vermeylen, Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 4 Gallo-Roman mortarium fragment with ‘MASSVROF(ecit/ficina)’ stamp, Ekeren-Wilgehoeve excavations, 1980’s (Philippe Debeerst for FORTVNA/ Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 5 Archaeological fieldwork at Ekeren-Wilgehoeve, 2005 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 6 Excavation map of Ekeren-Wilgehoeve, 2005 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 7 Gallo-Roman cremation grave, partly destroyed by 17th century burials of Antwerp Augustinians, Oudaan, 2002 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 8 Gallo-Roman cremation burial content, Oudaan, 2002 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 9 Ceramic building material: tubulus fragment from the Jordaenskaai excavations, 2009 (Philippe Debeerst for FORTVNA/ Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp)) 10 Gallo-Roman traces beneath the medieval Antwerp burg, along Jordaenskaai, 2009 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 11 Ceramic building materials: tegulae and imbrices fragments from the Jordaenskaai excavations, 2009 (Philippe Debeerst for FORTVNA/ Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 12 Late Roman coin (Constans I, Trier, 348-350 AD), Jordaenskaai excavations, 2009 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) Despite several decades of urban archaeological activity, many questions about early Antwerp remain unresolved. However, new excavations increasingly shed new light on the traditional perception of the settlements that preceded the trading metropolis and of Gallo-Roman Antwerp in particular. Excavations in 2005 at Ekeren-Wilgehoeve, to the north of the city centre, have allowed us to recompose the image of a rural settlement of agglomerated or dispersed farmsteads during the 2 nd and 3 rd century AD. Widely known as the ‘Alphen-Ekeren’-type since the 1970’s, two successive double-aisled farmhouses with so-called ‘potstal’, adjacent granaries, wells and inherent material culture, are being studied in detail. Reconstructing an image of (a) contemporary settlement(s) in the Antwerp city centre is more complicated. Although attested by pioneering excavations led by A.L.J. Vande Walle in the medieval burg area in the 1950’s and 1960’s, in situ traces of Gallo-Roman Antwerp were never found until the large-scale ‘Stadsparking’ dig in the 1970’s. Since then, numerous traces and objects from the Gallo-Roman era have been found at several locations in the city centre: at Our Lady’s Cathedral, Veemarkt, Koraalberg, Hoogstraat, Oudaan, Sint-Michielskaai, Suikerrui and along Jordaenskaai. Due to the nature of urban archaeology and in the light of more than one thousand years of urban growth, these scattered traces hardly allow us to reconstruct the physical appearance and atmosphere of the early Antwerp settlement(s). Nevertheless, insight into Gallo-Roman Antwerp’s architecture, agriculture, trade, material culture, environment and chronology is growing little by little. The traditional concept of a 2 nd to 3 rd century peripheral, rural community of only a few farmsteads with limited ‘Romanization’ and ditto material culture is subject to reconsideration in view of the discovery of seemingly significant amounts of imported wares, ceramic building materials (tegulae, imbrices, hypocaust parts such as floor tiles and tubulus fragments), mortar, metallurgic waste and cremation graves at large mutual distances. Furthermore, Late Roman ceramic and coin finds from several sites throughout the city centre broaden its chronology to the 4 th or even 5 th century AD. Viewing its location on the junction of the rivers Scheldt and Schyn and surrounded by several contemporary settlements (including Ekeren, Kontich, Wijnegem and many others), Gallo-Roman Antwerp might have been more than meets the eye: a trading farmers’ town or a farming traders’ settlement as a cradle for the early medieval vicus? Acknowledgements We would like to thank Wim De Clercq, Anne Schryvers, Karen Minsaer, Steve Michiels, Danny Huygens, Mike Van Vlasselaer, Dieter Leclercq, Alix Lorquet and Tony Douglas-Smith. Tim Bellens 1 , Tim Clerbaut 2 & Guido Cuyt 3 1 Urban archaeologist, Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp, Grote Markt 1, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium, [email protected] 2 Finds specialist, FORTVNA, Herautenlaan 15, 2180 Ekeren, Belgium, [email protected] 3 Honorary President, AVRA (Antwerpse Vereniging voor Romeinse Archeologie), Kruishofstraat 219, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium, [email protected] ILLUSTRATIONS 1 2 3 4 5 8 7 6 11 10 12 9
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Poster presented at the Romeinendag/Journée d'Archéologie Romaine, Brussels (B), 2014
Transcript of Gallo-Roman Antwerp: more than meets the eye?
www.antwerpen.be
+32 3 22 11 333
GALLO-ROMAN ANTWERP: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE?
1 Gallo-Roman sites in the region of Antwerp (city centre not included) (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 2 Distribution map of sites with Gallo-Roman traces and/or finds in the Antwerp city centre (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 3 Tegula fragment with ‘[P]RIMCORS’ stamp, Stadsparking excavations, 1970’s (Guy Vermeylen, Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 4 Gallo-Roman mortarium fragment with ‘MASSVROF(ecit/ficina)’ stamp, Ekeren-Wilgehoeve excavations, 1980’s (Philippe Debeerst for FORTVNA/
Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 5 Archaeological fieldwork at Ekeren-Wilgehoeve, 2005 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 6 Excavation map of Ekeren-Wilgehoeve, 2005 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 7 Gallo-Roman cremation grave, partly destroyed by 17th century burials of Antwerp Augustinians, Oudaan, 2002 (Department of Archaeology,
City of Antwerp)
8 Gallo-Roman cremation burial content, Oudaan, 2002 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp) 9 Ceramic building material: tubulus fragment from the Jordaenskaai excavations, 2009 (Philippe Debeerst for FORTVNA/ Department
of Archaeology, City of Antwerp))10 Gallo-Roman traces beneath the medieval Antwerp burg, along Jordaenskaai, 2009 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp)11 Ceramic building materials: tegulae and imbrices fragments from the Jordaenskaai excavations, 2009 (Philippe Debeerst for FORTVNA/
Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp)12 Late Roman coin (Constans I, Trier, 348-350 AD), Jordaenskaai excavations, 2009 (Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp)
Despite several decades of urban archaeological activity, many questions about early Antwerp remain unresolved. However, new excavations increasingly shed new light on the traditional perception of the settlements that preceded the trading metropolis and of Gallo-Roman Antwerp in particular.
Excavations in 2005 at Ekeren-Wilgehoeve, to the north of the city centre, have allowed us to recompose the image of a rural settlement of agglomerated or dispersed farmsteads during the 2nd and 3rd century AD. Widely known as the ‘Alphen-Ekeren’-type since the 1970’s, two successive double-aisled farmhouses with so-called ‘potstal’, adjacent granaries, wells and inherent material culture, are being studied in detail. Reconstructing an image of (a) contemporary settlement(s) in the Antwerp city centre is more complicated. Although attested by pioneering excavations led by A.L.J. Vande Walle in the medieval burg area in the 1950’s and 1960’s, in situ traces of Gallo-Roman Antwerp were never found until the large-scale ‘Stadsparking’ dig in the 1970’s. Since then, numerous traces and objects from the Gallo-Roman era have been found at several locations in the city centre: at Our Lady’s Cathedral, Veemarkt, Koraalberg, Hoogstraat, Oudaan, Sint-Michielskaai, Suikerrui and along Jordaenskaai.
Due to the nature of urban archaeology and in the light of more than one thousand years of urban growth, these scattered traces hardly allow us to reconstruct the physical appearance and atmosphere of the early Antwerp settlement(s).
Nevertheless, insight into Gallo-Roman Antwerp’s architecture, agriculture, trade, material culture, environment and chronology is growing little by little.
The traditional concept of a 2nd to 3rd century peripheral, rural community of only a few farmsteads with limited ‘Romanization’ and ditto material culture is subject to reconsideration in view of the discovery of seemingly significant amounts of imported wares, ceramic building materials (tegulae, imbrices, hypocaust parts such as floor tiles and tubulus fragments), mortar, metallurgic waste and cremation graves at large mutual distances.
Furthermore, Late Roman ceramic and coin finds from several sites throughout the city centre broaden its chronology to the 4th or even 5th century AD. Viewing its location on the junction of the rivers Scheldt and Schyn and surrounded by several contemporary settlements (including Ekeren, Kontich, Wijnegem and many others), Gallo-Roman Antwerp might have been more than meets the eye: a trading farmers’ town or a farming traders’ settlement as a cradle for the early medieval vicus?
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Wim De Clercq, Anne Schryvers, Karen Minsaer, Steve Michiels, Danny Huygens, Mike Van Vlasselaer, Dieter Leclercq, Alix Lorquet and Tony Douglas-Smith.
Tim Bellens1, Tim Clerbaut2 & Guido Cuyt3
1 Urban archaeologist, Department of Archaeology, City of Antwerp, Grote Markt 1, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium, [email protected] Finds specialist, FORTVNA, Herautenlaan 15, 2180 Ekeren, Belgium, [email protected] Honorary President, AVRA (Antwerpse Vereniging voor Romeinse Archeologie), Kruishofstraat 219, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium, [email protected]
ILLUSTRATIONS
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