Origin of the limes

[D B Campbell]

The difference is that this time, a line of watchtowers was added. The one at Utrecht is not there to control a road or another strategic location, but a "classical" limes watchtower, to send signals from one castellum to the next.

Can you tell us where this watchtower has been published, Jona? From your post, it sounds as if it is an isolated feature. Is it possible that it is connected with a particular fort, perhaps to enhance the local security?

[Jona Lendering]

Can you tell us where this watchtower has been published, Jona?

Not yet; I'll keep you updated. There's a newspaper article here, in Dutch. There are two watchtowers; one is dated by pottery to the forties; the other one has a dendro in the sixties. There's a reconstruction in the neighborhood - Robert Vermaat's article is here (in English).

[Jona Lendering]

Can you tell us where this watchtower has been published, Jona?

Yes, now I can:

J.S. van der Kamp, Vroege Wacht, Archeologisch onderzoek van twee eerste-eeuwse wachttorens in Leidsche Rijn, Basisrapportage Archeologie 16 (2007) Utrecht.

Unfortunately, it contains no summary in English.

[D B Campbell]

Many thanks for posting the link, Jona. I don't know which is more amazing: the astonishing preservation and finds from the site, or the fact that a 227-page, high quality, lavishly illustrated report has been made available free of charge!

If I read it correctly, the researchers are unsure whether the tower fits into a sequence. (I skimmed through chapter 8, Synthese, without understanding much!)

(Amongst other things, the animal remains are interesting, in light of the recent thread on the army's diet.)