Historical story

Roman skulls smashed at Velsen

The Roman remains of a fortress near Velsen are part of the Odyssey research plan. Archaeological excavations from the past are not always documented. In fact, millions of archaeological finds, which have surfaced in the last two centuries, are gathering dust due to lack of money and manpower. A start has now been made on re-examining the finds from 31 sites throughout the Netherlands. The results can be seen in the National Museum of Antiquities from 15 April 2014.

Two skulls of massacred Romans lie in a display case. A beautifully decorated officer's dagger lies next to it. These finds come from a well of the Roman fort near Velsen in North Holland. This fortress, including a harbor at the northernmost mouth of the Rhine delta, was supposed to guard the coast against 'barbarian' invaders from the north and from the sea.

That this was not always successful is apparent from the skulls of the Roman soldiers. Their bodies were recovered after the capture of the fortress in 28 AD. dumped in the well. Stories about this battle against Germanic tribes can already be found in Roman historiography. These archaeological finds now confirm the gruesome story.

Fectio alias Fighting

Another excavated fortress is Fectio, to the river Vecht near Utrecht. This is the oldest Roman fort in the Netherlands and also the first excavated fort. The Romans built the defenses around the year zero. About 1800 years later, the first excavations to the fortress took place. Caspar Reuvens, then director of the National Museum of Antiquities and professor of Archeology at Leiden University, then led the first excavation in 1829. The archaeological finds that can now be seen come from a later excavation from 1946. a Roman horseman, who has not been exhibited before.

Roman grave goods

After the departure of the Romans in the fourth century AD – they had lost the power struggle with the Germanic tribes – their influence did not immediately disappear. The early medieval grave field of Wijchen in Gelderland makes this clear. The dead have been buried in this vast field for more than three hundred years, between the fourth and eighth centuries.

It was not only shortly after the departure of the Romans that the Frankish dead were given Roman grave goods from the elite, both original and locally counterfeited jewelry and utensils. Roman objects still legitimized the power of the new Frankish rulers in the eighth century.

Archaeological sites now

The archaeological investigations that have taken place over the past two centuries often had architectural reasons. Populations grew rapidly and for the first time in centuries, cities grew beyond their historic city limits. Archaeological finds emerged from all this construction work. The excavated objects have been stored, but often nothing can be seen of the sites. Much more than the stuff on the shelves, which tell the stories of our history, is left. So it's high time to investigate and unlock these other objects.

Read more about archeology at Kennislink