Unarmed Cananefates? Roman military equipment and horse gear from non military context in the civitas Cananefatium. Julius van Roemburg Front cover illustration: bronze umbo from Rotterdam (Photo Boor: Rotterdam). Unarmed Cananefates? Roman military equipment and horse gear from non military context in the civitas Cananefatium. MA-Thesis University of Leiden, Faculty of Archaeology Master Programme: Archaeology of North-western Europe Supervisors: Drs. J. de Bruin/Dr. S. Heeren Julius van Roemburg Student number: 0233285 Leidschendam, 15 December 2011 - Unarmed Cananefates? - Contents Preface 5 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Research background 7 1.1.1 Armed Batavians 9 1.1.2 Unarmed Cananefates? 10 1.2 Research objectives and questions 11 1.3 Research methods: overview 12 1.4 Research area 13 1.5 Thesis structure 14 2. The civitas Cananefatium: an overview of the research area and the 15 involvement of Cananefates with the Roman army. 2.1 The Cananefates 15 2.2 Tribal areas and civitates in the Netherlands 16 2.3 Geology and landscape 17 2.4 Settlement pattern and civilian sites 19 2.5 Chronological development and size of population 22 2.6 Military installations and military occupation in the civitas Cananefatium 24 2.7 Recruitment and the Cananefatian auxilia units 27 3. Roman military equipment 37 3.1 The typology of Nicolay 37 3.2. Critique on the typology of Nicolay and recent developments in the field 45 of Roman military equipment studies 4. Roman military equipment from the civitas Cananefatium 49 4.1 Survey method and completeness 49 4.2 Archaeological collection methods of the finds 51 4.3 Data overview: find contexts 52 4.4 Chronological and spatial patterns 57 4.4.1 Chronological patterns of military equipment: weaponry 58 4.4.2 Chronological patterns of military equipment: suspension 60 4.4.3 Chronological patterns of horse gear 63 3 - Unarmed Cananefates? - 4.5. The sites: rural settlements 66 4.5.1 Recognizing military sites and veterans 67 4.5.2 Rural Settlements in the limes zone 68 4.5.3 Rural Settlements along the Meuse banks 70 4.5.4 Rural Settlements in the Westland and Midden-Delfland clay 73 area (Gantel system) 4.5.5 Rural Settlements in the beach barrier area 82 4.5.6 Rural settlement summary 86 4.6 Urban centres: Forum Hadriani 87 4.7 Cemeteries 92 4.8 Cult places 92 4.9 Rivers 93 4.9.1 The Rhine 93 4.9.2 The Meuse estuary 97 4.9.3 River finds comparison 98 4.10 Chronological patterns of the different find contexts 99 101 5. Cananefates vs. Batavians 5.1 Representativeness of the data sets for comparison 101 5.2 Chronological comparison 106 5.3 Context comparison 109 5.4 Conclusion 116 6. Conclusions 119 6.1 Further research 127 Abstract 129 Bibliography 131 List of figures 147 List of tables 151 Appendix 1: The sites 153 Appendix 2: Typology of Roman military equipment and horse gear 155 Appendix 3: Data 163 Appendix 4: Plates 4 - Unarmed Cananefates? - Preface When you have the same name as one of the most famous Romans and also study archaeology, you can expect a few jokes coming your way. Furthermore, everybody will expect you to specialize in (provincial) Roman Archaeology. I do not know if those jokes and expectations played a role, but in the earlier years of my study I actually tried to steer clear of Roman archaeology. However, over time, archaeological fieldwork kept throwing Roman archaeology at my feet. It started with the fieldschool at Den Haag Uithofslaan VP3, followed by fieldwork at Roman period settlements at Naaldwijk Zuidweg, Midden-Delfland Harnaschpolder, Roman roads in Utrecht, Roman period dams with culverts at Bernisse, the fortress at Vechten, and very recently Naaldwijk again. Before I knew it, I was completely “hooked ”. Although I initially intended to focus my research on the transition period from the Iron Age to the Roman period in Zuid-Holland, a period that is still poorly understood, the lack of material forced me to change my plans. Therefore, this thesis mainly concerns Roman military equipment from civilian contexts of the late 1 st to early 3 rd century AD. This research would never have been possible without the cooperation of many people working at the various archaeological companies, municipal services, museums, depots etc. I especially would like to thank Jean Paul Bakx (erfgoed Delft), Jeroen van Zoolingen & Ab Waasdorp (gemeente Den Haag), Tim de Ridder (Vlak), Hans Koot (gemeente Rijswijk), Kees Herweijer (BOOR), Ton Immerzeel & C. van der Doef (Westlands Museum), Lourens van der Feijst (ADC), Tiziano Goossens & Michiel Goddijn (Archol), Heleen van Londen, Mark Driessen & Stefanie Hoss (University of Amsterdam), Daphne Smits (BAAC) and Jasper de Bruin (Leiden University Leiden). Furthermore, I like to thank the various sections of AWN. It was my intention to include as many private collections as possible. To be honest, I am not completely sure whether I succeeded or not. However, I have met a number of very friendly and cooperative amateur archaeologists, who, sometimes without even having any military equipment or horse gear in their collections, helped me a great deal in understanding the metal detecting situation in Zuid-Holland. My colleagues at RAAP West have been a great help by relentlessly inquiring about my progress, although for one the motivation for doing so seemed to be the cake and graduation party. But more importantly, the many discussions about the subject were invaluable. Special thanks go out to Jan Albert Schenk and especially Geuch de Boer for their help with the maps. 5 - Unarmed Cananefates? - But most importantly, I have to thank Esther for her unending patience and her help to keep me on track when I was lost in the most remote corners of the Roman Empire in search of more information. And finally, although it will take many years before she can read this, I have to thank little Erlijn, for the motivation to see this to a good end. 6 - Unarmed Cananefates? - 1. Introduction Since in 1992 the Valletta treaty was signed, the Dutch archaeological world started to change and saw the introduction of (semi) commercially operating companies. This resulted roughly a decade later in a considerably increased volume of research. However, the new (semi)commercial approach is often criticized for being less or not scientific, as it is driven by modern day infrastructural developments and not necessarily by scientific research questions (e.g. Bazelmans 2009; KNAW 2007; Raemaekers 2008) . On the other hand, the new system is responsible for a substantial part of the research taking place in areas and locations, which have been largely neglected by the ‘traditional ’ scientific archaeological world with unsuspected results on a regular basis. 1.1 Research background. During the last few decades, a tremendous amount of research has been carried out focusing on the rural communities during the Roman period in the Netherlands. Recurring themes in this research are Romanization and identity (Roymans 1996; 2004). Unfortunately, this research is very unevenly distributed over the Netherlands as the majority of these studies are focused on the Batavian region in the Dutch Eastern River Area (Heeren 2009; Nicolay 2007; Roymans 2004; Vos 2009; Willems 1981; 1984). This high degree of attention for the Batavians is not surprising. Firstly, a wealth of historical sources mention the Batavians, e.g. Historiae, Annales, Germania (Tacitus). According to Tacitus, the Batavians were exempt from regular taxes (at least for the 1 st century), based on an old treaty with Rome ( civitas antiqua ). Instead, they supplied a high number of troops for the auxilia (8 cohors and 1 ala ) and a substantial part of the emperors ’ bodyguard. 1 In doing so, the Batavians were the principal supplier of Roman troops in Northern Gaul (Nicolay 2007, 7). The historical authors emphasize their prominent military role and martial prowess, e.g. ‘they [Batavians] are like weapons and armor – only to be used in war ’ (Tacitu s, Germ. 29). Furthermore, the historical sources give an exceptional detailed account of the Batavian revolt of AD 69, in which the Batavians and their allies laid waste to parts of the Rhine limes . 1 The possibility of regular taxes being collected in the Batavian area during the 2 nd century AD has recently been demonstrated (Groot et. al. 2009). 7 - Unarmed Cananefates? - Secondly, the epigraphic (military) evidence on the Batavians (veteran diploma’s, gravestones, etc) found throughout the area of the Roman Empire is abundant and detailed (Derks 2009) providing an important secondary source for researchers. Thirdly, the Batavian region contains well preserved sites with excellent preserved bones and metals (including military equipment) that have been systematically mapped (Willem 1981), providing another key source for researchers. These sources and evidence have served to shape the Batavian image of an exceptionally warlike “warrior elite ”. However, do the Batavians indeed have this exceptional martial identity or is that a general characteristic for all the communities along the Roman Rhine limes ? In other words, are the Batavians representative for the other communities along the Roman Rhine limes ? Hardly any overview studies have been made about the other known tribal areas or civitates in the Netherlands. For example, the Batavian western neighbors, the Cananefates, only received fragmentary attention (as stated by Bazelmans and De Jonge 2006, 39). In the Dutch Archaeological Research Agenda chapter on the limes (Van Enckevort and Vos 2006), the Cananefates are not mentioned at all in the text, although the limes coincides with the northern border of the civitas Cananefatium. The Batavians, on the other hand, are mentioned over twenty times. Furthermore, the first synthesizing work about the Cananefatian area, published in 1978 by Bloemers, is still a principal source, despite being 32 years old.