Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Roman road and a Roman canal near Nijmegen. The buildings, which are around 2000 years old, presumably formed important transport links between the nearby Limes and the Roman settlements in the region around Nijmegen. Along these ancient traffic arteries, the researchers also came across the remains of several Roman houses and warehouse buildings.
The Dutch city of Nijmegen has its roots in Roman antiquity. As early as 19 BC there were several Roman military bases and branches there. The reason for this was probably the strategic location on the banks of the Waal. Today it forms the southern and wider of the two mouths of the Rhine, but carried even less water at the time of the Romans. The Limes, the western border of the Roman Empire in this area, did not run along the Waal, but north of it along the Lower Rhine.
Roman road on the north bank of the Waal
During excavations in Oosterhout, northwest of Nijmegen, researchers from the Dutch archeology foundation RAAP have now discovered the relics of a wide Roman road and an ancient canal. According to dating, both are around 2000 years old. The Roman road follows the north bank of the Waal and could have been part of a long-distance connection between Roman Cologne and the Valkenburg branch on the North Sea coast, as the archaeologists explain. Because the route along the Waal was shorter than the way up the Limes to today’s Arnhem and then to the west.
The uncovered relics show that the Roman road was paved with a mixture of sandy loam and gravel. The gravel was probably mined in the immediate vicinity, probably in the lateral moraine of Nijmegen, and could then have been transported by ship over the Waal to Oosterhout. The surface of the old Roman road sloped slightly to the sides so that water could drain into the ditches along the road. In the immediate vicinity of the Roman road, the archaeologists have also discovered the remains of a Roman house.
Canal connected the Waal and the Lower Rhine
Not far from the Roman road, the researchers came across another structure from Roman times: a canal more than ten meters wide. This could once have connected the Waal with the Lower Rhine and thus enabled a direct shipping connection from Nijmegen to the Limes, according to the RAAP announcement. Along the canal, the excavations uncovered the remains of several Roman houses that were lined up next to each other on the canal bank. Remnants of antique everyday objects such as amphorae, oil lamps, glass and clothespins were found in the buildings.
In addition, the ruins of a so-called horreum, a type of Roman warehouse, were excavated. It suggests that this settlement may have served as a port and transshipment point for goods. Because, as the archaeologists explain, the arteries of the Roman Empire also formed attractive places for settlement and trading. The settlement along the canal therefore probably slowly increased in size over the course of the first century.
However, there are indications that the canal began to silt up a little later, as the archaeologists report. This is probably closely related to the departure of the Romans from Nijmegen around the year 105 – after that the road and canal were no longer maintained. Overall, however, the discovery of the canal and the Roman road indicate that the Roman infrastructure between Waal and Limes was more developed than previously assumed.
Source: RAAP