History
In Velsen, you drive through the northernmost Roman fortress in Europe,
but no one realizes it
An impression of the Roman fort and port of Velsen - Image Graham Sumner
With the discovery of a genuine Roman legionary camp, a castra, in Velsen, archaeologists know for sure: the northernmost Roman fort on the European continent was in North Holland. What happened here?
Hannah van der Wurff - December 7, 2021, 12:32
With a little imagination you can hear Roman soldiers marching through the marshy field in what is now called the recreation area of Spaarnwoude. Archaeologist Arjen Bosman has to talk loudly to be heard above the noise of cars and the ticking of hailstones on his storm umbrella.
The first excavation of the canal of 'Velsen 2' in 1997
"Imagine it for a moment," he begins. A branch of the Rhine flowed through Velsen two thousand years ago. He points to the Velser Tunnel. "A few hundred meters downstream used to be a gigantic Roman army camp. The northernmost of that size." His eyes grow large. "That's world news."
Now motorists in the Velser Tunnel drive unnoticed right through this history. Fort "Velsen 2," as Bosman calls it, turned out to be much larger than previously thought following recent research commissioned by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Bosman estimates that thousands of Roman soldiers lived in the camp, protecting the northern border of the Roman conquests through Europe from advancing Germanic tribes.
The location of the two Roman forts - Image Thijs van Dalen
With one fell swoop, the Netherlands was turned on its head this year, as far as the early Roman period is concerned. Earlier this year, a similar castra was discovered in Valkenburg, next to Leiden in South Holland. Whereas Nijmegen had long been known as a legion base, Velsen and Valkenburg now have been added. An important find according to Bosman: "This was at a time when Nijmegen was not so large, mind you."
Expeditions to Britannia
A lucky coincidence, and the find of his career. When a trio of Roman moats was found during the construction of water and gas pipes in Velsen, Bosman knew for sure that the camp must have been large. He deduced that the camp occupied a strategic position, probably for expeditions to Britannia.
This had to go well at all costs in order to uphold the honor of emperors Caligula (37-41 A.D.) and Claudius (41-54). He points to the ditch to his left as an illustration, where the camp must have once been located. "Should anyone want to attack the camp, they were slowed down. Such ditches were built as a defense."
A Roman torque from which a soldier's sword hung, excavated in 1964. This was well preserved in the groundwater,
so it was not affected by oxygen. Shortly prior to that, a similar torque had been found near Valkenburg.
That was no unnecessary luxury. The first, considerably smaller, settlement of the Romans near Flevum (read: Velsen), lay six hundred meters upstream, where now the Wijkertunnel runs under the North Sea Canal. At that spot, around 28 AD, the Romans lost a bloody battle against the Friesians, after which they packed up and retreated south.
''We would have been speaking French or Italian now''
But they soon returned. And, it now appears, this time with reinforcements. "This shows once again that this area was of great importance to the Romans," says Rob van Eerden, policy adviser for archaeology at the province of North Holland. According to Van Eerden, the army campaign to the north had only one purpose: it was an attempt to gain control of the area above the Rhine. "If the Germanic people had not scared off the Romans, we would be speaking French or Italian now," he says.
It didn't get that far. Exactly what happened in the area after that remains unclear, according to archaeologist Bosman. Looking out over the drab pond between both tunnels, he can see, in his imagination, the Roman ships sailing up and down the river. Bosman imagines that the vast and cold area was not an inviting place for the tunic-wearing Roman soldiers, women and children.
They therefore did not stick around for long. After eight years the men received an imperial order to withdraw, according to Bosman because Flevum was losing its strategic position due to the siltation of the river mouth where the army camp was located. Whether the Germanic tribesmen eventually turned them out is not recorded in the Roman texts about this time. The men then settled behind the Rhine, which is known in history as the northern border of the Roman Empire.
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