Amphorae from the Kops Plateau (Nijmegen) - Csar Carreras Monfort

In the year 19 BC, Roman legions arrived in Nijmegen with the aim of conquering the Rhenish territories from the local populations. In addition to the legionaries themselves, the Roman army required a regular provision of staple supplies in order to keep such a war machine in top condition. The archaeological evidence for this provision is a myriad of organic remains (i.e. seeds, bones, pollen) as well as ceramic containers such as amphorae. One of the first military camps at Nijmegen, together with that on the Hunerberg, was Kops Plateau. This timber fortress - the most northerly military site of the Julio-Claudian period - dating from 12 BC to AD 69, has provided an extraordinary amphora assemblage. At a time when most Roman roads were still only projects, this distant military outpost received amphora products from all over the Mediterranean basin - from Palestine to Greece in the east to Baetica and northern Africa in the west as well as from the Italian core. In addition to amphorae, Kops Plateau also provided a wide repertory of regional vessels whose contents are unknown. The amphorae from Kops Plateau represent a singular example of Roman military supply in northern Europe at a very early date. Their analysis sheds light on trading routes in the Atlantic regions, and from Gaul to Germany; indeed also on the Claudian invasion of Britain.

Csar Carreras Monfort is currently senior lecturer in the field of Classical Archaeology at the Department of Antiquity Science at Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB) since 2011. Before, I was lecturer in the Department of Humanities of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) since 1997. He has a PhD in Ancient History (1995) from the Universitat de Barcelona, another PhD in Archaeology (1994) from Southampton University (United Kingdom) and a Master Science in Computer applications in archaeology (1991) from Southampton University (United Kingdom). He is currently involved in excavations at the Roman towns of Iesso (Guissona) and Iulia Libica (Llvia) and the Roman Republican fortress of Puig Castellar (Biosca). He has published many books and papers on amphorae found in Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and now the Netherlands; Joost van den Berg studied Ancient History and Roman Provincial Archaeology at the Radboud University of Nijmegen. Since then he has worked as curator for the archaeological collections of municipality of Nijmegen, the province of Gelderland and the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren. He has also been employed as a Roman finds specialist for Radboud University and the Nijmegen archaeological service. Currently he is the curator for the archaeological collection of the province of Zeeland (Stichting Cultureel Erfgoed Zeeland) in Middelburg.