This study explores the long-term development of the rural community of the Cananefates, who lived in the most north-western, continental part of the Roman Empire. To study this community a wide range of archaeological data are used, which were collected during excavations in the research area that roughly corresponds to the civitas of the Cananefates. This civitas was located between the Lower Rhine and the river Meuse in the present day province of South-Holland, the Netherlands (fig. 1.1).

THE CANANEFATES

Several classical authors refer to Cananefates. In 28, an Ala Canninefas is mentioned by Tacitus. This cavalry unit (ala) was active at this time in an area north of the Rhine river, possibly in the vicinity of the Roman fort at Velsen. During the Batavian revolt in 69-70, the Cananefates are named as instigators of the rebellion and as one of the eight mutinous Batavian cohorts. If these references are interpreted literally, a Cananafatian group existed from the 1st century onwards: they were identified as such and described by Romans authors, and were incorporated in the Roman army. After 69-70, no literary sources refer to the Cananefates. However, it is clear that the Romans perceived there to be a distinct Cananefatian identity. Interestingly, there is an large time gap between when Roman authors wrote about the Cananafates (the 1st century) and when the Cananefates appear in epigraphic documents (from the 2nd century onwards). A military diploma discovered in 1970-1971 near The Hague, mentions a veteran, who was the son of the Cananefatian Amandus. The diploma can be dated to 164 (table 1.1). This might indicate that already around the middle of the 2nd century, the name Cananefates still existed and was used in the research area. Outside this area, thirteen inscriptions refer to the Cananefates (table 1.1). Most of these are inscriptions of (discharged) soldiers, indicating a strong link between the Cananefates and the Roman military. Some of the members of the imperial horse guard in 2nd century Rome identified themselves as natione Can(n) onefas. These soldiers clearly felt the need to refer to the group of people from which they originated. Apparently, the need to express one's origin was strong in the Roman military; for example almost all inscriptions referring to the Batavian community are set up by (former) soldiers as well.

Besides the military structures along the Lower Rhine, further to the south exists the Roman town in Voorburg. The town was located on the Corbulo Canal (section 3.4.1) and was also connected to the surrounding area via roads (fig. 4.1). We will first discuss in this chapter the evidence of Roman roads, followed by the town itself. The combination of archaeological structures and material remains of the urban community will eventually provide an insight into the character of the urban community.

ROADS

The discovery of four milestones in The Hague in 1997913 made it clear that an important road ran straight through the Cananefatian area. This road was a via publica, (i.e. a public road), constructed and maintained by (members of) the senate or the emperor, or a via vicinalis, a road maintained from the capital of the civitas (see also section 3.4.2). The trajectory of the road is also depicted on the Peutinger map; it concerns the road between Lugdunum (Katwijk), via Forum Hadriani (Voorburg) to Flenio/Helinio (section 2.7). First the differences will be described between the milestones found in the research area, after which we discuss the appearance of the road along which these milestones stood. And finally, other (possible) roads will be discussed.

MILESTONES

In the research area, a total of nine (fragments of) milestones have been found between the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century and 2007 (table 4.1). Of one milestone it is unclear whether it is in fact a milestone. The oldest milestone dates from 151 and it is assumed that this is the period when the Roman road between Voorburg and Naaldwijk was constructed, also because older milestones are lacking. It is of course possible that there was already a simpler road before this period, but the erection of the first milestone indicates that the road came into use as an official route in 151. On the milestone is mentioned the distance to the place MAC, which means Municipium Aelium Cananefat(i)um. The road can be seen as part of the upgrading of the civil infrastructure in the area, in connection with the foundation or extension of the new town in Voorburg. However, work on the road could have started already under Emperor Hadrian and only completed under his successor.

Roman Period Settlements in the Research Area

The habitation of the research area had been heavily influenced by the dynamic natural landscape. This chapter presents the formation and morphology of the landscape, as well as the activities (in particular habitation) that took place there. Previous research into the landscape of the Cananefatian region in the Roman period only focused on sub-sections, usually within (regional) archaeological research projects. The requirement for municipalities to make archaeological policy maps led to a renewed research into the local geology in some cases. At a larger perspective, new attention was given to the development of the broader landscap A new palaeogeographical map of the research area in Roman times has been made (fig. 2.1) on the basis of all these sources. Based on this map, the different landscape units will be described (section 2.3). Also relevant to this discussion are the erosive processes that took place after Roman times. These will be discussed in section 2.5. The second part of this chapter (sections 2.6-2.8) will deal with the settlements and their location in the landscape.

BRIEF GEOLGICAL HISTORY OF THE AREA FROM THE IRON AGE TO THE BEGIN NING OF THE ROMAN PERIOD

At the beginning of the Iron Age, around 800 BC, the coastline of the research area was closed off by a series of beach ridges that had formed already since 3850 BC. Together with the blockage of the estuaries, the draining of the land lying behind these ridges stagnated, bringing about the growth of peat. Saltmarshes only occurred near the mouths of the Lower Rhine and Meuse rivers. Sphagnum peat domes were formed in the bog areas between these river systems, which often were several meters in height. Reed and sedge peat occurred along the edges of the bog area, near the tidal basins.

Chapter 1 presented several concepts to explain the processes of change that occurred in rural communities in border areas of the Roman empire. As the level of archaeological data at the rural sites in the research area make it virtually impossible to identify individuals, it was decided to study rural habitation at the level of the entire community, which in the Roman period was referred to as the Cananefates. In this respect, regional differences were taken into account. The formation of this community and the changes that took place within this group during the first three centuries of our era formed the central theme of this research, as did the role of the Roman state in these processes. In the preceding chapters, a detailed description has been given of all the archaeological remains present in the research area and its wider history. The aim of this was to reconstruct the interaction between the Cananefates and the Roman-military and urban communities. Finally, this study focused on the question to what extent the case study of the Cananefates could be applied to other communities in the border areas of the Roman empire.

The community of the Cananefates

Evidence concerning the formation of the community of the Cananefates before the middle of the 1st century is known only from historical sources, which are difficult to interpret. Therefore, the reconstruction of the early history of the Cananefates remains hypothetical. The fact that the written sources report the existence of a population called Cananefates before any archaeological traces indicate a Cananefatian community, proves that the name of the group is Roman in origin. On the basis of the archaeological evidence, the research area was populated between 40 and 100, with the earliest Roman forts along the Rhine were constructed in 39/40 AD. The vast majority of the rural settlements were newly built and had no relation with the previous late Iron Age habitation. This suggests that the founders of the new settlements were immigrants from another place. Based on (slightly) different dates for the first phase of settlements, this process likely took place in several waves.

In the previous chapters, the archaeological remains of the military, the urban, and the rural communities that lived in the research area during the Roman period were described. This chapter summarizes these data, and the habitation history of the research area is discussed chronologically. Here, events that have been archaeologically observed in the research area are analyzed in the context of larger historical events in the Roman period in north-west Europe. Where relevant, archaeological data from surrounding regions are incorporated as well.

THE FIRST HALF OF THE 1ST CENTURY

An important observation with regard to the habitation history of the research area is the gap in habitation between the late Iron Age and the period around 50. This discontinuity can be explained by changes in the natural landscape, such as the stronger influence of channels from the sea, subsidence, increased water in the peat area, sand drifts and soil degradation of the beach ridges. However, these environmental conditions will not have had such an influence in the entire area that habitation on a larger scale was no longer possible. Another reason for the discontinuity may be the military operations of Julius Caesar in the more southern Gallic area, which certainly impacted neighboring regions. This can be seen from the fact that the gap in the habitation is not only present for the research area, but also applies to the central Dutch river area, the northern part of the Menapian civitas, and the Meuse-Demer-Scheldt area. In all these areas there is a break in the habitation record in the 1st century BC. So, Caesar's campaigns may have contributed to the disappearance of the habitation in the research area in the 1st century BC.

Nevertheless, there are indications that the area between 100 BC and 50 may not have been completely empty. People probably lived locally in the area although it may not have been many people. This means that in addition to the sparse rural habitation, which can be regarded as a remnant of the late Iron Age, the oldest features that were found in the research area are of Roman-military signature. These include some castella and the remains of a possible fort at the former airport in Valkenburg, all dating from the period 39-41. The forts themselves were probably not in continuous use, but only if they were needed, such as during military campaigns.