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Germania- Albaniana, NL |
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Investigating the Fortress of Albaniana In 1998 excavations of the long suspected site of the Roman fortress of Albaniana in Alphen aan den Rijn began. Mentioned on the Peutinger map, a twelfth century copy of a fifth century Roman roadmap, Albaniana was located between the fortresses of Nigrum Pullum (Zwammerdam) and Matilo (Leiderdorp) which were well recorded. Roman remains had been described in 1714 by Plemper somewhere in the centre of the little village of Alphen, and in 1920 there was a brief archaeological survey following the burning of a church built on the site of a Roman bathhouse situated outside the southern gate, possibly of the fort. Isolated Roman finds including pieces of pottery, a bone comb, a tile continued to surface notably during substantial groundwork in the centre of town during the sixties. The discovery of Nigrum Pullum (excavated in 1968-1974) which belongs to the same council as Alphen aan den Rijn raised the possibility of another important fort. The excavations were completed in 2002 revealing a fortress or castellum of a very early date, in an unusual location and of an unusual outline. Albaniana was not aligned with the other Roman fortresses, except that is for Valkenburg, and was a matching layout. The reason for this caused a sensation amongst the archaeological community in the Netherlands. Albaniana had not been built to guard the northern frontier after general Corbvlo retreated behind the Rhine in 47 AD, this fortress was built to enable the emperor Caligula to invade Britain in 40 AD and so was Valkenburg. Caligula’s invasion of Britain though meticulously planned was not executed, and was much ridiculed by Roman writers who recorded his rule. The growing evidence of real preparations on a grander scale than has been previously realised does call for deeper investigation of the reasons for Caligula to hold the legions on the coast of Gaul and not commit to the invasion itself. The dating of Albaniana proved simple. 700 coins, 27000 fragments of pottery, 5000 pieces of metal and several hundred kilos of bone, brick and fragments of masonry were recovered, and a lot of datable wood. Most of the coins – 324 out of 750 - are dated during Caligula’s reign (37-41 AD) and were unmarked by his successor Claudius, suggesting the coinage was current money not that of a former emperor. These unmarked coins were most likely used and lost when Caligula still was emperor. The remainder of the coinage gives dates across a period until the fort was abandoned in 270 AD. The greater part of the Dutch province were Alphen aan den Rijn is situated is peat, so in the Roman period would have been swampy. Due to the very wet soil conditions many wooden artefacts survived two millennia in prime condition enabling a dendrochronological survey. Dendrochronology is based on counting tree rings; these grow different yet identical thicknesses every year and every season and if there are enough samples it is possible to build a solid timeline. In the case of Valkenburg only one dendrochronological survey was completed concluding that at least one tree used was felled in 40-41 AD. |
