Papers by Peter van den Broeke
in: R.C.A. Geerts and Ph. Bes (eds) 2024, Roman Pottery in the Low Countries: Past Research, Current State, Future Directions. Leiden: Sidestone Press (= Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities Leiden 32), pp. 31-46., 2024
The decades around the beginning of the Common Era saw rapid developments in the fabric, design, ... more The decades around the beginning of the Common Era saw rapid developments in the fabric, design, and decoration of handmade pottery in the riverine central part of the Netherlands. In part, these developments can be attributed to the arrival of new groups of settlers. The pottery of the only migrant group known from classical sources, the (Chatto-)Batavians, is remarkably less easily identifiable than that of unattested groups from the north. The immigrants who produced pottery in the ‘Frisian’ and ‘Chaucian’ styles seem to have arrived in the central part of this river area via an eastern detour. The many salt containers found in this area are known to have originated along the continental coasts of the North Sea and the English Channel.
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Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 54/1, 2024
An enigmatic grave good from a (Batavian) Roman-period cemetery in Nijmegen has been identified u... more An enigmatic grave good from a (Batavian) Roman-period cemetery in Nijmegen has been identified using various techniques. It is a section of a plant stem filled with cerussite (white lead), which appears to have been encased in a bronze cylinder. The vegetal part is probably made of water horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile). The artifact may be considered a cosmetic attribute. White lead was a well-known face whitener in the Roman world. The narrow bone end, however, suggests that the artifact was more likely a white eyeliner dispenser. The artifact may have originated in Eastern Europe, as suggested by another remarkable find accompanying the cremation remains: a fibula unparalleled in Northwestern Europe. The closest known counterparts come from the eastern basin of the Danube, where Batavian auxiliaries were also stationed.
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A thoroughly finished miniature cup, found in a waste pit at Nijmegen-Lent, is a special find bec... more A thoroughly finished miniature cup, found in a waste pit at Nijmegen-Lent, is a special find because of the character-like signs all around it. Despite the fact that far-reaching southern contacts with the Lower Rhine area existed in the Hallstatt C period (Oss, Wijchen), and although some of the signs match those in early southern European scripts, the early date of the cup (c. 750-675 BC) hampers any sound identification. The enigmatic character of the cup is augmented further by its apparent local origin.
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ArtefActueel 1, 2021
Een op een krijtje gelijkend staafje met een dun buisje aan het eind vormde jarenlang een raadsel... more Een op een krijtje gelijkend staafje met een dun buisje aan het eind vormde jarenlang een raadselachtig voorwerp, totdat door microscopisch onderzoek en röntgenanalyse een cosmetica-attribuut doorschemerde. Het artefact is van plantaardig en dierlijk materiaal gemaakt en ogenschijnlijk in bronsblik gevat geweest. Hoewel gevonden in een inheems-Romeins grafveld in Nijmegen-Noord is er een sterke aanwijzing dat de oorsprong ervan in Oost-Europa lag.
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This contribution discusses the deposition of jewellery in an Early Iron Age cremation burial (6t... more This contribution discusses the deposition of jewellery in an Early Iron Age cremation burial (6th century BC) found at Nijmegen, at the location Zuiderveld (Waalsprong). Most striking are parts of two nearly complete, but broken bronze torcs, one of which is of the scharflappiger Wendelring type, the other of the
simple twisted type. Furthermore, small fragments of three bronze rings, an iron pin (supposed Kropfnadel) and probably an iron bracelet were deposited among the cremation remains. Interesting in this case is that the Wendelring had been worn on the pyre, while the simple twisted torc definitely had not been worn. As
broken and strongly deformed objects (by the fire and/or by deliberately bending and breaking) they were combined with the bone ashes, and put into the ground
for eternity, just like the deformed body of the deceased. Providing the cremation grave with deformed and fragmented jewellery seems to be an expression of
the ‘costume of death’, as is known from inhumation graves such as those of the Hunsrück-Eifel-Kultur (HEK) in Germany. These types of jewellery (hair-rings,
ear-rings, torcs, bracelets and ankle-rings) are especially known to have been worn by deceased women in the HEK-area. The jewellery types, which are only rarely
found in Early Iron Age graves south of the Lower Rhine, may express a common elite-tradition.
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The set of criteria that has been defined, a decade ago, to identify closing deposits, appears to... more The set of criteria that has been defined, a decade ago, to identify closing deposits, appears to be too rigid on the one hand and too restricted on the other hand. Not only should it comprise deposits of secondarily burnt pottery filling-up post-pipes, in some contexts even a single sherd with such firing characteristics may be considered ‘suspect’. Moreover, ‘rubbish-pits’ with a dominance of secondarily burnt inventories and also house floors peppered with burnt artifacts
deserve more attention in this respect. Here, the provisional hypothesis is proposed that after the burning of a house inventory on a central pyre or in the house itself, items were distributed among several features that were in use at the
time of abandonment of a house-site. Refitting of pottery between features should provide evidence thereof. As current data suggest that even single pots, unaffected by fire, have been deposited in post-pipes after removal of the post, it is time for a reappraisal of the data set of objects for which a role as a building deposit was formerly taken for granted, such as the two vessels standing in a post-pipe of a native-Roman house at Wijster.
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Site reports by Peter van den Broeke
Editor with P.W. van den Broeke, Sporen uit de vroege ijzertijd en een stelling uit operatie Market Garden in het Lentseveld. Archeologisch onderzoek in het plangebied Lent-Laauwik, Nijmegen-Noord (project Nla14/20), Nijmegen (Archeologische Berichten Nijmegen – Rapport 72), 2019
The accidental discovery of some Merovingian cremation and inhumation graves in May 2011 in the L... more The accidental discovery of some Merovingian cremation and inhumation graves in May 2011 in the Lentseveld, north of the village of Lent (Nijmegen-Noord), led to an extraordinary archaeological investigation. The municipality of Nijmegen carried out two excavations between August 2011 and March 2015, which include not only a small and relatively intact cemetery from the 6th century AD, but also an early Iron Age cluster and a line of Second World War foxholes. This report focuses only on the traces and finds that have been excavated in context with the cemetery.
Sandy river deposits on which a layer of sandy clay have been sedimented from 1500 BC onwards, formed the basis for the earliest inhabitants of the Lentseveld. A cluster of refuse pits and a well dating from the Early Iron Age may have been on the periphery of a settlement. The pits were richly filled with, among other things, fragments of handmade pottery, natural stone broken by heat and animal bone. Most remarkable is the miniature pot of 3.2 cm high with pseudo-scripts. The object dates from the first half of the Early Iron Age (approx. 750-600 BC) and is, with its age, exceptional of its kind for our regions – and even north of the Alps. Together with other Iron Age finds from Nijmegen-Noord, it underlines the special position of this area in this period.
After the early Iron Age, it took about a millennium before activities were again developed in the Lentseveld. Apart from the aforementioned 6th-century cemetery, no remains of an associated settlement have been found. During the High Middle Ages the site seems to have belonged to the arable land of a ditched farmstead nearby. It takes until the 19th or early 20th century before the first traces of occupation appear, in the form of pits and wells. The most recent traces and finds are a line of foxholes, consisting of two rows of round pits in an alternating pattern. They were most likely constructed during Operation Market Garden by paratroopers of the American 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) on the evening of September 20, 1944, when the Allied Forces fought for the preservation of the Lent bridgehead (across the city of Nijmegen).
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Papers by Peter van den Broeke
simple twisted type. Furthermore, small fragments of three bronze rings, an iron pin (supposed Kropfnadel) and probably an iron bracelet were deposited among the cremation remains. Interesting in this case is that the Wendelring had been worn on the pyre, while the simple twisted torc definitely had not been worn. As
broken and strongly deformed objects (by the fire and/or by deliberately bending and breaking) they were combined with the bone ashes, and put into the ground
for eternity, just like the deformed body of the deceased. Providing the cremation grave with deformed and fragmented jewellery seems to be an expression of
the ‘costume of death’, as is known from inhumation graves such as those of the Hunsrück-Eifel-Kultur (HEK) in Germany. These types of jewellery (hair-rings,
ear-rings, torcs, bracelets and ankle-rings) are especially known to have been worn by deceased women in the HEK-area. The jewellery types, which are only rarely
found in Early Iron Age graves south of the Lower Rhine, may express a common elite-tradition.
deserve more attention in this respect. Here, the provisional hypothesis is proposed that after the burning of a house inventory on a central pyre or in the house itself, items were distributed among several features that were in use at the
time of abandonment of a house-site. Refitting of pottery between features should provide evidence thereof. As current data suggest that even single pots, unaffected by fire, have been deposited in post-pipes after removal of the post, it is time for a reappraisal of the data set of objects for which a role as a building deposit was formerly taken for granted, such as the two vessels standing in a post-pipe of a native-Roman house at Wijster.
Site reports by Peter van den Broeke
Sandy river deposits on which a layer of sandy clay have been sedimented from 1500 BC onwards, formed the basis for the earliest inhabitants of the Lentseveld. A cluster of refuse pits and a well dating from the Early Iron Age may have been on the periphery of a settlement. The pits were richly filled with, among other things, fragments of handmade pottery, natural stone broken by heat and animal bone. Most remarkable is the miniature pot of 3.2 cm high with pseudo-scripts. The object dates from the first half of the Early Iron Age (approx. 750-600 BC) and is, with its age, exceptional of its kind for our regions – and even north of the Alps. Together with other Iron Age finds from Nijmegen-Noord, it underlines the special position of this area in this period.
After the early Iron Age, it took about a millennium before activities were again developed in the Lentseveld. Apart from the aforementioned 6th-century cemetery, no remains of an associated settlement have been found. During the High Middle Ages the site seems to have belonged to the arable land of a ditched farmstead nearby. It takes until the 19th or early 20th century before the first traces of occupation appear, in the form of pits and wells. The most recent traces and finds are a line of foxholes, consisting of two rows of round pits in an alternating pattern. They were most likely constructed during Operation Market Garden by paratroopers of the American 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) on the evening of September 20, 1944, when the Allied Forces fought for the preservation of the Lent bridgehead (across the city of Nijmegen).
simple twisted type. Furthermore, small fragments of three bronze rings, an iron pin (supposed Kropfnadel) and probably an iron bracelet were deposited among the cremation remains. Interesting in this case is that the Wendelring had been worn on the pyre, while the simple twisted torc definitely had not been worn. As
broken and strongly deformed objects (by the fire and/or by deliberately bending and breaking) they were combined with the bone ashes, and put into the ground
for eternity, just like the deformed body of the deceased. Providing the cremation grave with deformed and fragmented jewellery seems to be an expression of
the ‘costume of death’, as is known from inhumation graves such as those of the Hunsrück-Eifel-Kultur (HEK) in Germany. These types of jewellery (hair-rings,
ear-rings, torcs, bracelets and ankle-rings) are especially known to have been worn by deceased women in the HEK-area. The jewellery types, which are only rarely
found in Early Iron Age graves south of the Lower Rhine, may express a common elite-tradition.
deserve more attention in this respect. Here, the provisional hypothesis is proposed that after the burning of a house inventory on a central pyre or in the house itself, items were distributed among several features that were in use at the
time of abandonment of a house-site. Refitting of pottery between features should provide evidence thereof. As current data suggest that even single pots, unaffected by fire, have been deposited in post-pipes after removal of the post, it is time for a reappraisal of the data set of objects for which a role as a building deposit was formerly taken for granted, such as the two vessels standing in a post-pipe of a native-Roman house at Wijster.
Sandy river deposits on which a layer of sandy clay have been sedimented from 1500 BC onwards, formed the basis for the earliest inhabitants of the Lentseveld. A cluster of refuse pits and a well dating from the Early Iron Age may have been on the periphery of a settlement. The pits were richly filled with, among other things, fragments of handmade pottery, natural stone broken by heat and animal bone. Most remarkable is the miniature pot of 3.2 cm high with pseudo-scripts. The object dates from the first half of the Early Iron Age (approx. 750-600 BC) and is, with its age, exceptional of its kind for our regions – and even north of the Alps. Together with other Iron Age finds from Nijmegen-Noord, it underlines the special position of this area in this period.
After the early Iron Age, it took about a millennium before activities were again developed in the Lentseveld. Apart from the aforementioned 6th-century cemetery, no remains of an associated settlement have been found. During the High Middle Ages the site seems to have belonged to the arable land of a ditched farmstead nearby. It takes until the 19th or early 20th century before the first traces of occupation appear, in the form of pits and wells. The most recent traces and finds are a line of foxholes, consisting of two rows of round pits in an alternating pattern. They were most likely constructed during Operation Market Garden by paratroopers of the American 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) on the evening of September 20, 1944, when the Allied Forces fought for the preservation of the Lent bridgehead (across the city of Nijmegen).