Living along the Limes Landscape and settlement in the Lower Rhine Delta during Roman and Early Medieval times Leven aan de Limes Landschap en bewoning aan de Oude Rijn tijdens de Romeinse Tijd en Vroege Middeleeuwen (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 4 oktober 2017 des middags te 14.30 uur door Marieke van Dinter geboren op 23 augustus 1970 te Uden Promotoren: Prof.dr. Hans Middelkoop Prof.dr. Esther Jansma Copromotor: Dr. Wim Hoek Utrecht Studies in Earth Sciences 135 Living along the Limes Landscape and settlement in the Lower Rhine Delta during Roman and Early Medieval times Marieke van Dinter Utrecht 2017 Examination committee Prof. dr. Marc Macklin Aberystwyth University Prof. dr. Hans Renes Free University Amsterdam Prof. dr. Sebastian Sommer Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpfleg Prof. dr. Theo Spek Groningen University Dr. Rien Polak Radboud University ISBN 978-90-6266-478-8 Copyright © 2017 Marieke van Dinter Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden vermenigvuldigd en/of openbaar gemaakt door middel van druk, fotokopie of op welke andere wijze dan ook zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de uitgevers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, by print or photo print, microfilm or any other means, without written permission by the publishers. Printed in the Netherlands by Ipskamp Printing Utrecht Studies in Earth Sciences ISSN 2211-4335 Contents Acknowledgements/Dankwoord 9 1 Introduction 13 1.1 Archaeology in deltas 15 1.2 Archaeology of Roman Empire deltas 16 1.3 Problem description 20 1.4 Previous research in the Rhine-Meuse Delta 21 1.5 General objective and research questions 22 1.6 Approach 23 1.7 Research framework 24 2 The Roman Limes in The Netherlands: how a delta landscape determined the location of the military structures 27 2.1 Introduction 27 2.2 The study area 28 2.3 Methods and materials 31 2.4 Results 34 2.4.1 Palaeolandscape 34 2.4.2 Landscape dynamics 37 2.4.3 Military structures 40 2.5 Discussion 47 2.5.1 Forts 47 2.5.2 Small military complexes 48 2.5.3 Canals 48 2.5.4 General 48 2.6 Conclusions 49 3 Settlement and land use on crevasse splay deposits; geoarchaeological research in the Rhine-Meuse Delta, The Netherlands 51 3.1 Introduction 51 3.2 Methods 55 3.3 Results 55 3.3.1 The excavated site near Kesteren 56 3.3.2 Other Betuwe route excavations 59 3.3.3 Other archaeological excavations 60 3.4 Discussion 62 3.4.1 The development of crevasses splays during the life-time of an alluvial ridge 62 3.4.2 The start and kind of exploitation by man 62 3.4.3 A model for exploitation of crevasse splays during its life-time 64 5 3.3.4 The potential of new survey techniques for improving archaeological prospection and preservation policy 64 3.5 Conclusion 65 4 Could the local population of the Lower Rhine Delta supply the Roman army? Part 1: The archaeological and historical framework 67 4.1 Introduction 67 4.2 The Rhine delta in the Roman Period 69 4.3 The Roman army in the Rhine delta 72 4.3.1 Timber for forts and other military structures 72 4.3.2 Timber for vici structures 74 4.3.3 Military population and their associates 75 4.3.4 Food for soldiers and vicus inhabitants 76 4.4 The rural population in the Rhine delta 77 4.4.1 Settlement distribution 77 4.4.2 Rural population 79 4.4.3 Arable farming and animal husbandry 80 4.5 Did the local population supply the Roman army? 80 5 Could the local population of the Lower Rhine Delta supply the Roman army? Part 2: Modelling the carrying capacity using archaeological, palaeo-ecological and geomorphological data 83 5.1 Introduction 83 5.2 Methods 85 5.2.1 Model concept 85 5.2.2 Model implementation 85 5.2.3 Local provisioning? Comparisons between carrying capacity, demand and supply 91 5.3 Results 91 5.3.1 Land availability 91 5.3.2 Population size 91 5.3.3 Military demand 93 5.3.4 Rural demand and supply 98 5.4 Discussion 103 5.4.1 Land availability and suitability 103 5.4.2 Labour availability 105 5.4.3 Parameter uncertainties 106 5.4.4 Provisioning of the Roman army 110 5.5 Conclusion 110 6 Late Holocene lowland fluvial archives and geoarchaeology: Utrecht’s case study of Rhine river abandonment under Roman and Medieval settlement 113 6.1 Introduction 113 6.2 Setting of the study area 115 6.2.1 Abandonment of the Utrecht Rhine 115 6.2.2 Avulsion history at delta scale 117 6.2.3 Settlement history of Utrecht and its surroundings 120 6 6.3 Combining geological and archaeological data 122 6.3.1 Geological-geomorphological mapping 122 6.3.2 Age control 123 6.3.3 Reconstruction of channel geometry and palaeo-discharge 126 6.3.4 Reconstruction of settlement history 127 6.4 Palaeogeographical development and habitation history 131 6.4.1 Early and Middle Roman period (AD 40-240) 131 6.4.2 Late Roman period (AD 240-450) 135 6.4.3 Early Medieval period – Merovingian period (AD 450-800) 136 6.4.4 Carolingian period and early Late Medieval period (AD 800-1200) 137 6.5 Abandonment phase stages and rise of the city of Utrecht 141 6.5.1 Mature channel belt – dispersed rural settlements (stage 0, up to ~200 BC) 141 6.5.2 Waning discharge – Roman Limes occupation and abandonment (stage 1, ~200 BC-AD 450) 141 6.5.3 River dynamics due to peak flows – re-expansion and trading network (stage 2, ~AD 450-800) 142 6.5.4 Final silting-up – city development and intensified land reclamation (stage 3, ~AD 800-1122) 142 6.6 Discussion: River avulsion and settlement history 143 6.6.1 Northwestern Europe 144 6.6.2 Mediterranean Region 144 6.6.3 Water availability 148 6.7 Conclusion 148 7 Synthesis 163 7.1 Geoarchaeology across scales 164 7.1.1 Excavation and coring campaigns 164 7.1.2 Municipality 167 7.1.3 Region 168 7.1.4 Supra region and delta 169 7.2 Living along the Limes 171 7.3 Early water management 172 7.4 Recommendations for future research 172 Summary 175 Samenvatting 179 References 183 Appendices 218 Author’s background 223 7 8 Acknowledgements/Dankwoord Kwartair Geoloog Een opgeschaafde profielwand is een vorm van geluk (vrij naar Emo Waterland; bron: Grondtonen; gedichten over archeologie, 2008) I was told that my grandfather was already interested in geography. Unfortunately, he died before I was born. Maybe I inherited his enthusiasm. During my youth, my parents took me all over Europe during holidays and I learned to realize and value the different landscapes and cultures. Only during my first geological fieldwork in the Rhine-Meuse delta – under the supervision of Henk Berendsen (†) – I realised the presence of buried landscapes below my feet and the fact that our ancestors lived in those hidden landscapes. It would not have been possible to finish this thesis without the help of many. I want to thank you all for your contribution, whether it was professional or as a friend. First, I want to express my gratitude to my supervisors Hans Middelkoop, Esther Jansma and Wim Hoek who gave me the opportunity to write this dissertation, long after I graduated. I enjoyed working under your supervision, greatly appreciated the trust you all kept in me, despite all personal hardship. I recognise the time and effort you put in reading the manuscripts, your constructive comments and correcting the English. Hans, I’m very grateful for supporting me during the numerous occasions that I got jammed between the strongly differing research traditions and methods in Geoscience and Archaeology. Esther, thank you for the funding of my work through the project ‘Treasures of the Dom square; reconstructing Roman and Early-Medieval Utrecht: new approaches’. This project was a cooperation of the faculties of Humanities and Geosciences (UU), the municipality of Utrecht and the Intiatief Domplein Foundation. The layout was funded by the project ‘The Dark Age of the Lowlands in an interdisciplinary light: people, landscape and climate in the Netherlands between AD 300 and 1000’. This project was a cooperation of the University of Utrecht, Groningen and Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE), and financed by the Dutch Scientific Organisation (NWO – Domain Social Sciences and Humanities, project nr. 360-60-110). Wim, thanks for your delightful jokes alternated by frequent grumblings ‘next door’. I also want to mention Kim Cohen. He frequently walked into my office room to discuss my research progress, ventilating ideas and meanwhile spreading brilliant puns. Together with Chris Roosendaal, he also carried out spectacular corings at the Domplein in Utrecht. This thesis would also not have been possible without the research project ‘A sustainable frontier? The establishment of the Roman frontier in the Rhine delta’, under supervision of Michael Erdrich and Rien Polak (Nijmegen University). At first, I want to thank Rien Polak for inviting me into the project. The interdisciplinary discussions with the research group (Laura Kooistra, Monica Dütting, Pauline van Rijn (†), Chiara Cavallo, Erik Graafstal and Julia Chorus) during the following years were inspiring and highly energising and enabled me to gain knowledge about the Roman society quickly.