Forum Hadriani: A dendrochronological study to determine the age and origin of wood from a Roman quay and landing

stage.

A sculpture of the Roman emperor Hadrian, the founder of Forum Hadriani. (www.romancoins.info)

N.A.G.M. van Helmond Prof. dr. E. Jansma April - July 2008

List of contents
Abstract Introduction Research question & Hypothesis Materials & Methods Results Interpretation Discussion Conclusions Acknowledgements References Appendix 1: Shapes of the studied cross sections of the wood (scale 1 : 5) Appendix 2: Photos of the excavation 3 4 7 9 20 25 36 38 39 40 42 47

Abstract
We determined the age and origin of the wooden remains of a Roman harbour. The remains of the harbour were found on the archeological site of the ancient Roman city of Forum Hadriani. Archeologists assume that the wooden remains are parts of a Roman quay and landing stage. The wooden remains can be classified in two groups, based on their dating. One group dates around AD 159. Another group dates around AD 218. when we plot the dating of the wood samples on the excavation map, it becomes clear that the harbour was constructed during (at least) two phases. The origin of the timber is diverse. One group matches against a regional calendar built out of the growth patterns of southern German oak. A second group corresponds with a regional calendar from the Saar-Mosel region in central western Germany. Because the object and site calendars used to construct the regional Saar-Mosel calendar are known, we can make a more detailed prediction. The wood shows high correlations with wood used in a Roman bridge in Koblenz, a Roman bridge in Trier and wood found during an excavation near Mainz, which points at a wood provenance between the Mosel and Rhine, South of the Mosel and East of the Rhine. A third group of timbers correlates with domestic calendars from the Netherlands and represents indigenous oak. Comparison with wood from an earlier studied water well, found in Forum Hadriani, points out that the youngest phase of the harbour may have been built simultaneously with this water well. The likelihood that these structures were related in terms of the organization of their construction is strengthened by the fact that the wood of the water well shows a strong similarity with the wood used for the harbour. The dimensions of the studied wood reveal that the timber from southern Germany and the Saar-Mosel region, used for the harbour in Forum Hadriani, was derived from dense forests. The wood that correlates with domestic calendars originates from trees that probably grew in a more open landscape.

Introduction
Biogeology is the field of science that studies the interactions between Earths biosphere and lithosphere. Traditionally, geologists deal with time spans of millions of years, whereas biologists deal with time spans of days to years. Biogeologists complement both, by studying processes in the past in extreme detail and by looking at contemporary and future processes at intermediate time scales of decades and centuries. Biogeology examines biotic, hydrological and terrestrial systems in relation to each other, to help understand Earths climate, oceans and other effects on geological systems. Biogeology consists of several sub disciplines like palaeoclimatology, microbiology, systems ecology, landscape ecology, biogeochemistry, organic chemistry and palaeoecology. Dendrochronology can be placed in several sub disciplines of biogeology, depending on its usage. Dendrochronology can be used to study present climate and reconstruct past climate (palaeoclimatology). But it can also be used to study factors that affect Earths ecosystems (systems ecology). There are several other usages of dendrochronology (see e.g. Schweingruber 1996). Dendrochronology is an interesting branch of science as it forms the link between biogeology and cultural studies, like archeology. Trees are part of the biosphere and therefore part of a field studied by biogeologists. When a tree is felled and used by humans it enters the study field of archeologists. Now we have a link between biogeology and archeology. The tree is a source of natural data, but the data are influenced by humans. When we study trees (or the remains of trees) felled or/and used by humans we use a biogeological branch of science to deduct human activity in the past. In this study we use the science of dendrochronology to determine the age and origin of wooden remains of a harbour excavated at the archeological site of the ancient Roman city of Forum Hadriani.

Fig.1) The arrow indicates the location of Forum Hadriani (Kosian, 2008)

Forum Hadriani is situated in todays Voorburg (fig. 1). It was the most northern city of the ancient Romans on the European continent. Forum Hadriani is the second oldest city of The Netherlands after the ancient city of Noviomagus, todays Nijmegen (Buijtendorp, 2006). The city was located in the centre of the civitas of the Cananefates, an ancient Germanic tribe, which lived in the Rhine-delta, situated in the western part of the Roman province Inferior Germania (Bazelmans & De Jonge, 2006). The first settlement, which formed the basis for Forum Hadriani, was a small native village of the Cananefates. They built their village along the Fossa Corbulonis or Corbulo-canal. This waterway was constructed by the Roman general Corbulo around AD 47. The canal formed an important economical connection between the two major rivers Rhine and Meuse. After the Revolt of the Batavi (AD 69-70) the Cananefates became loyal allies of the Romans. Afterwards the settlement, which we know today as Forum Hadriani, started to play a central role in the region (Buijtendorp, 2006). In AD 121 and/or 122 the Roman emperor of that time, Hadrian, made a voyage along the northwestern border of the Roman Empire. During his voyage Hadrian visited the former native settlement of the Cananefates, located at todays Voorburg. The emperor gave his own name to the town, after which it which was rebuilt in Roman style. In a few years Forum Hadriani developed into a flourishing market city. During the reign of Antoninus Pius, between AD 138 and 151, Forum Hadriani acquired town rights. The official name of the city then changed into Municipium Aelium Cananefatium (Aelius was the family-name of Hadrian) shortly written as MAC (Buijtendorp, 2006). It is certain that Forum Hadriani was an important local city. This is proven by the major Roman road (about 6 metres wide), which was found by archeologists in the area near Forum Hadriani. This road was already known because it appeared on the Tabula Pautingeriana, an old Roman route map (Waasdorp, 2006). It is sure that Forum Hadriani flourished up to AD 160, when the high days of the Romans came to an end. But archaeological research does not show an obvious decrease in Roman activity in the Netherlands after AD 160. In the third century the Roman Empire collapsed, thats why Forum Hadriani was largely abandoned between AD 250 and 275. Although the Roman Empire partly redeveloped again after the big collapse, Forum Hadriani didnt revive its glory days ( De Jonge, 2006). The first archeological excavations on the site of Forum Hadriani were done by C.J.C. Reuvens (1793-1835) between 1827 and 1834. Reuvens was the first professor in archeology worldwide. Unfortunately he died before he was able to publish his findings ( Van Es, 2006).

Almost a century later J.H. Holwerda (1873-1951) continued the excavation started by Reuvens. Holwerda published about his excavation, but he interpreted his findings as a Roman naval base instead of a Roman city (Van Es, 2006). In 1960 J.E.A.Th. Bogaers (1926-1996) was the first archeologist to recognize that he was dealing with the remains of Forum Hadriani. His conclusion was based on analysis of several inscriptions and did not lead to any comprehensive fieldwork (Van Es, 2006). Since the excavation of Bogaers several excavations took place on the site of Forum Hadriani. The material used for the current study represents the harbour of Forum Hadriani and was collected during the most recent excavation, in 2007-2008, Amsterdams Archeologisch Centrum (AAC, University of Amsterdam).

Research question & Hypothesis

Research question The aim of this study is to determine the age and origin of the wooden remains of the harbour excavated at the archeological site of the ancient Roman city of Forum Hadriani. For the archeologists it is very important to know the age of the harbour. The harbour could be the start of the city, because it would be the perfect manner to bring in the building materials the city required. Therefore we need the oldest date. But the youngest date is also very interesting, because this would represent the year during which the harbour was maintained for the last time. This year might also indicate at what time big economical investments in this part of the Roman Empire came to an end Hypothesis a: the age of the structure Since we know that Forum Hadriani started to flourish after the visit of the Roman emperor Hadrian, somewhere around AD 121/122 (Buijtendorp, 2006), we can predict that the construction of the harbour took place after this event. Therefore we assume that the construction of the harbour had a military background, meaning that the construction of the harbour was a military action. We know that the high days of the Roman Empire, and therefore Forum Hadriani, came to an end somewhere between AD 151 and 160 (De Jonge, 2006). Therefore we may expect that the harbour was built somewhere between these two events. This means it would be built between AD 121 and 160. We can even focus on a smaller interval. It is known that Forum Hadriani acquired town rights between AD 138 and 151 (Buijtendorp, 2006). We expect that the construction of the harbour took place after the city acquired town rights. Our hypothesis is therefore that that the construction of the harbour started after AD 138 and was finished in the period between AD 138 and 160. We furthermore assume that the wood used for each separate construction phase was felled simultaneously (i.e., in the same year). From a logistical point of view, it would be logical that the used wood was felled at the same time. Hypothesis b: the provenance of the wood We know from other dendrochronological studies on Roman wood found in the Netherlands that Roman wood in part did originate from domestic forests. This is for instance the case with the construction timbers of the Roman river barges De Meern 1 (built around AD 148) and De Meern 4 (AD 100; Jansma, 2007a, 2007b). But in the second century, the Romans also used oak from German forests for building activities in the Netherlands. This was the case with the river barge De Woerden 7, which was built from a mix of oaks from the

catchment basin of the river Mosel and oaks that grew in the vicinity of the Dutch town of Zwolle (Vorst, 2005). When we take a look at Roman wood provenance from a logistical point of view, we would expect the use of domestic wood. Transport of wood from Germany to the Dutch coast would have cost lots of effort. It is much easier to use wood from locations near the construction site. But this raises the question whether enough domestic wood was available at the time of the construction of the studied structures at Forum Hadriani. The answer is: probably not. We know from several locations near the limes1 that around AD 100 and AD 125 a new wooden road, quay, and shore sheets were placed (Enckevort & Vos, 2006). It is unlikely that in the following decennia local forests had recovered sufficiently from this period of extensive wood use and we therefore expect that construction timber in Forum Hadriani was derived from forests further away. We also assume that per construction phase the wood originates from the same region and/or forest stand, because in terms of logistics it is much easier to coordinate transport of wood from one single region and/or forest stand, than it would be to organize several transports from a variety of regions. Hypothesis c: different phases of construction Archeologists think they have excavated a minimum of two construction phases (Koot, written communication, June 21st, 2008). The oldest phase (fig.6, materials & methods) consists of the two eastern rows of posts in trench 2. The row of posts to the western part of trench 2 belongs to a younger phase. It is thought that the posts in trench 1 have the same age as the posts in the western part of trench 2 . Hypothesis d: chronological and organizational relationship with existing data One last research question regards the relationship of the studied timbers (age and provenance) with earlier dendrochronological results from the same site. Earlier dendrochronological research had focused on a water well from Forum Hadriani (RING Report 1988001). This material was shown to date in ca. AD 220, which is later than the predicted age of the quay and landing stage. We therefore expect no chronological and organizational relationship between the construction of the water well and the construction of the quay and landing stage at Forum Hadriani.

Limes is the Latin word for frontier. The limes was the fortified frontier of the Roman Empire.

Materials & Methods

Dendrochronology
The term dendrochronology is derived from three Greek words. These are dendron, which means tree, chronos, which means time and logos, which means the study or science of. Dendrochronology is the science that uses the growth rings in trees to date their exact year of formation and to study environmental phenomena that are recorded in their growth patterns. Chronological information derived from tree rings can be used to analyze temporal and spatial patterns of processes in the physical and cultural sciences (Grissino-Mayer, 1996).

Fig. 2) Schematic representation of the principle of cross-dating in dendrochronology. (Baillie, 1982) In temperate climates a living tree produces one growth ring every year. Ring formation takes place during the growing season, between the months of March/April and October. If one takes a sample from a living tree, the year of sampling coincides with the calendar year in which the outer ring in the tree (and in the sample) was formed. The growth patterns of living trees can be matched to the ring patterns of trees used for instance as beams in historic buildings (fig. 2). This process of cross dating is carried on using the patterns of successively older timbers from buildings, archeological sites and, ultimately, from natural vegetation remains buried in situ (in lakes, peat and swampy areas) or imbedded in river sediments. As a result ultra-long master chronologies can be constructed, with lengths up to nine millennia. These master chronologies are not built out of single trees, but out of the average of hundreds or even thousands of trees from the same species (mostly oak and coniferous species). Master chronologies are based on data that represent single species from welldefined regions with comparable environmental characteristics (soil, hydrology, climate; Baillie, 1995). Once master chronologies are available for a given region, it becomes

possible to determine the age and origin of a random sample of wood that originated from (grew in) this region. Samples The research was done on cross sections of wooden posts. The wood comes from oaks (Quercus). It is easy to recognize wood of oaks because the wood has very broad pith rays and a simple ring porosity (Brinkkemper et al., 2007). With a microscope it is not possible to determine which Quercus species it is. We assume that we are dealing with either the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) or the sessile oak (Quercus petraea). Today these two species are most abundant in Northwestern Europe. We know that nowadays the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) is highly abundant in the Netherlands, while the sessile oak (Quercus petraea) is rare (Brinkkemper, written communication, June18th, 2008). But the environmental conditions during the Roman era differ from todays conditions. Therefore it is not possible to say anything useful about the species of oak used for the construction of the harbour. Archeologists provided samples of different sizes for dendrochronological research. After they had excavated the wood, they cut cross sections from the timbers, which they wrapped in foil to prevent them from drying out. All samples were labeled with cards. These cards contained basic information like the code of the excavation, the number of the found object, the feature number, the date of excavation and the person responsible for the excavation of the object. The smallest samples are cross sections of about 15 x 15 cm. The biggest samples are about 35 x 35 cm (Appendix 1). Most of the cross sections of the timbers have a rectangular or square shape. But we also found some trapezium-shaped cross sections. Some samples appear to have had an octahedral shape. A few samples had been broken into pieces, therefore it was impossible to identify the original shape of these samples. Preparation Before one starts measuring the tree-ring pattern of a sample, it is necessary to prepare a fresh radius. This is done with different tools. It starts with the soft parts of the wood. Especially the outside of water-logged wood is very soft as a result of century-long direct contact with the groundwater. These soft parts are prepared with fresh (unused) razorblades (Gillette Blue Extra). For the harder parts we applied razorblades that had already been used and were somewhat blunter. Because the wood had been buried in sand, lots of sand grains were attached to the samples and were on occasion engrained in the wood. Therefore the blades got blunt after a while and needed to be replaced. When

10

preparing large hard surfaces we used the scalpel. Samples that were to wet for preparation, were dried with water absorbing tissues before treatment.. We prepared and measured two radii per sample and used these to calculate the average annual tree growth. Average series are better suited than single series to approach the overall annual growth of a tree. In addition, using multiple measurement series per sample has the advantage that the number of measured rings can be maximized. It is very important to measure as many rings as possible per sample, because every measured ring means extra information. Therefore it is important to start the measurement as close as possible to the pith up to the ring which is closest to the bark of the tree. Measuring Measuring starts with the oldest ring and ends with the youngest. An oak tree ring is characterized by a layer of big vessels (spring wood), which are built by the tree in early spring (March and April), and smaller cells (summer wood) which represent the remaining growing season (April to October). The next ring of big vessels in the wood represents the next new growing season. Ring boundaries in oak are easily discerned using a microscope Measuring was done using a binocular with different magnifications (6.4x, 10x or 16x). The thickness of the tree rings determines which magnification is used. The sample is placed on a measuring platform, which has an internal measuring device with a precision of 0.01 mm. The platform is linked to a computer. Using the software PAST4 (Bernhard Knibbe, 19951999; Bernhard Knibbe and SCIEM, 1999-2005) all ring widths were registered, and diagrams of tree-ring patterns were constructed. Subsequent statistical analyses also were performed with PAST4.

Fig.3) The photo shows a microscopic image of some tree rings of an oak. (www.microscopy-uk.org)

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Dating The next objective was to date the samples. Since we know the wood is from the Roman era, we needed to compare the measured tree-ring patterns of the individual samples with the available master chronologies that represent this time interval (1st to 4th century AD; see paragraph below). When the measured patterns match the master chronology it is possible to date them to (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4) Schematic representation of the dating process. (Baillie, 1995) A dendrochronological match is calculated using various variables: visual comparison, the percentage of parallel variation (%PV) with probability of exceedence (P) and crosscorrelation and Students t-values. The most important cross dating technique is visual comparison of the plotted curves (Jansma, 1995). This can be done with the computer program PAST4. The computer program shifts the two curves for a proper match, after which comparison is easy. PV (%) expresses the percentage of ring widths that at a given position simultaneously show an increase or decrease relative to the preceding width (Jansma, 1995). The probability of exceedence (P) is the probability that the obtained result is accidental. A high PV(%) combined with a low P-value are indicators for a good dendrochronological match. A Students t-value is based on the coefficient of (cross)correlation. Students t-value is a measure for the correlation between two series at each position of overlap. In dendrochronological dating a Students t-value of less than three is meaningless and a value over six almost always indicates that two patterns can be matched visually (Jansma, 2005). In dendrochronology it is allowed to say that two pieces of wood represent the same tree if the patterns of two pieces of archaeological wood match with a t > 10. To make sure we are dealing with two pieces of wood from the same tree we also use visual comparison of the tree ring patterns.

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For the samples with sapwood we can calculate the estimated felling date of the tree. If a sample contains sapwood we can predict the total number of tree-rings (from germination till felling). Therefore we can make an approximation (with help of a computer program) for the total number of sapwood rings in the tree. With this approximation we can give a felling date for the tree a margin. The margin is added because the number of sapwood rings differs per tree. The used program gives a minimum and a maximum number of sapwood rings belonging to the total number of tree-rings in the sample. For the samples without sapwood we can only give a later then prediction for the felling date. We know or we can estimate the number of tree-rings to the pith. With this number of tree-rings we can calculate a minimum number of sapwood rings belonging to this tree. This means we can give the date after which the tree was felled. So the tree was felled later then this date. In dendrochronology this is called a terminus post quem dating. Position of a studied sample The highest age of wood in a tree can be found just above the roots (this is the position in the tree where we can find the highest number of tree-rings). The number of tree-rings decreases when we move to a higher position in the tree (fig. 5), this decrease in tree-rings is in proportion with the yearly length growth of the tree. An archeological dating of wood therefore usually represents a minimum age, which is based on an observation (sample) higher in the tree (Jansma, 2007).

Fig. 5) The figure shows the effect of the position of a sample on the age of the sample.

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Calendars The calendars we used are listed in table 1. They represent tree growth in various regions in Germany and the Netherlands.
Lab code DECENT01V Region West Germany, average of others, including DERHMA01 and DESAMO03 East Friesland (Germany) Germany; catchment basis of the rivers Rhine and Main Germany, catchment basins of the rivers Saar and Mosel South Germany Wood used in Limburg and central/southern part of Germany Brugge and surrounding area Central Netherlands, combination of bog oaks and archaeology Bog oaks from Abcoude, Weesp, Diemen and Vinkeveen (NL) Bog areas in the Netherlands Netherlands and Flanders 1 year -690
st

Last year 1975

Author Hollstein, 1980

Lit. 1

DEOFRI01V DERHMA01

-441 -201

1991 198

Leuschner, unpublished Hollstein, 1980

n.p. 1

DESAMO03

-201

198

Hollstein, 1980

DESUDE01V EUDLIM01

-361 -971

1950 1995

Becker, 1995 EU Contractnr. ENV4CT95-0127 RING data

n.p. n.p.

NLBRUG01

-217

128

n.p.

NLROMR1

-325

563

Jansma 1995

NLVEEN05

-940

227

Jansma 1995, RING data Visser, 2005 Jansma & Hanraets 2004

2 and n.p. 3 4

NLVEEN06 NLVLAA01

-168 -211

210 1104

Table 1) The major regional calendars of EIKVROEG. n.p. = not published 1 = Hollstein, E., 1980: Mitteleuropische Eichenchronologie, Mainz. 2 = Jansma, E., 1995: RemembeRINGs. The development and Application of Local and Regional Tree-Ring Chronologies of Oak for the Purposes of Archaeological and Historical Research in the Netherlands. Nederlandse Archeologische Rapporten 19 (dissertation), Amersfoort. 3 = Visser, R.M., 2005: Houtvoorziening in het gebied van de Nedergermaanse Limes. Een historisch en dendrochronologisch perspectief op Romeinse import en/of export van hout, (thesis Vrije Universiteit), Amsterdam. 4 = Jansma, E., & E. Hanreats 2004: Dating Flanders. Towards a Flemish tree-ring chronology of oak, in: E. Jansma, A. Brauning, H. Grtner & G. Schleser (eds.), Tree-rings in archaeology, climatology and ecology (TRACE) 2, Proceedings of the Dendrosymposium 2003, Jlich (Schriften des,Forschungszentrum Jlich, Reihe Umwelt 44), 131-138.

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Most regional calendars are built up out of a collection of object and site calendars from that region. These object and site calendars are digitized individually for the regional calendar DESAMO03. The object and site calendars are listed in table 2.
Lab code holkoble holmbran holmbrom holtmos1 Object Koblenz, Roman Mosel bridge Mainz, excavation near Brand Mainz, Brand, Roman wells Trier, Roman Mosel bridge 1 year -110 -79 7 -34
st

Last year 203 253 259 140

Author Hollstein, 1980 Hollstein, 1980 Hollstein, 1980 Hollstein, 1980

Lit. 1 1 1 1

Table 2) Site and object calendars where regional calendar DESAMO03 was built out of. The table only shows the site and object calendars which show high correlations with the main curve of group B (see results and interpretation). 1 = Hollstein, E., 1980: Mitteleuropische Eichenchronologie, Mainz. Digitized by Vorst, Y.E., in 2005 Determining the origin of timber The calendars are not only used for dating, but also for the determination of the origin of timber. The calendar that shows the best match with a timber represents the origin of the timber. For some of the timbers only the region of origin can be predicted, because there is a lack of individually digitized site and object calendars. When there are individually digitized site and object calendars available we can give a more precise prediction for the origin of the timber. Groups When we apply dendrochronology on samples found in archeological excavations we can identify groups of samples with the same origin. First we can recognize groups by the regional calendars they date with. But the best way to identify groups is by mutual comparison between the samples. High correlations (Students tvalues above eight) between two or more samples indicate that we are dealing with samples with a similar origin, and therefore they belong to the same group. Out of the samples, with high mutual correlations, a main curve is constructed. All the samples which do not yet belong to the group are compared with that main curve. When there are samples that show high correlations with the main curve these can be added to the group. Afterwards a new main curve is constructed, then another round of comparisons is done. This method is rehearsed until there are no samples left anymore that show a high correlation with the main curve. Circumference To calculate the circumference of the tree this formula is used: circumference = 2 radius . To use this formula it is presumed that the stems are circular

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Excavation
Information obtained from written correspondence with C.W. Koot (2008). Photos (with description) of the excavation are shown in Appendix 2.

wpp

Fig.6 ) Positions of the trenches where the wooden remains of the harbour were found. The grey areas are the trial trenches. The black dots indicate the locations of the wooden posts and beams. The black lines indicate the location and shape of the wooden quays and landingstages. (Koot, 2008)

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The wooden remains of the harbour of Forum Hadriani were excavated by the Amsterdams Archeologisch Centrum (AAC).2 The project was directed at the so called villas II, III an IV. These so called villas are apartment complexes. The villas are situated between the contours of the wrecked buildings of the health establishment Effatha, namely Aula (trench 1), LTS/Nieuwe School (trench 2) and Meisjespaviljoen (trench 3) (fig. 6). The wooden remains of the harbour, which is the topic of the current study, are derived from trench 1 and trench 2. The trenches are situated on the eastern flank of the shoreline/bank Voorburg-Voorschoten. The flank of the shoreline descends in the direction of De Vliet, towards the south. This means that trench 2 is located in the south and trench 1 in the north. The flank of the shoreline was covered by peat and drift-sand deposits (dune formation), after which it was covered by a thick layer of clay. The clay dates from around 400 BC, and is a coating deposition from the Gantel, originated during the Duinkerke 1 transgression phase. The Gantel is a creek that stretches itself out from the mouth of the Meuse in a northward direction. Near the height off Rijswijk the creek deflects to the west and furcates (branches off) in all kinds of creeks and brooks, which we know today as Midden-Delfland. It is known that some creeks originate in the first part of the Gantel too. One of those creeks reaches Voorburg. In trench 1 the archeologists identified the western bank of this creek. They identified the eastern bank in trench 2. This is one of the main reasons why clay sedimentation took place on the flank of the shoreline. The archeologists presume that during the habitation of Forum Hadriani sedimentation of clay occurred even in the urban area. The open creek in the centre of Forum Hadriani is an astonishing discovery. The archeologists did not find any close-packed wooden sheetings. But they did find massive squared driven posts. The channel bed of the creek is filled with fine clay. In the clay packet no stratification was recognized, which means that we are dealing with a constant grain size. The fine clay is a marine sediment, probably coming from the mouth of the Meuse. The channel bed of the creek is covered by litter: bones, potsherds, bricks, stones, leather, metal, glass and wood. Regarding the wood, the archeologists found sharpened stakes, planks, spars, staves, branches, twigs and also some chips, but no big quantities and certainly no concentrations of chips. This means that the wood used for the harbour mainly was worked somewhere else. The bottom of the channel-bed deposits already contains some material from the Roman age. Archeologists think that the channel bed of the creek may have been dredged.
2

AAC is responsible for the archeological survey of the new construction project New Hadriani in Voorburg. AAC was hired by building company BAM Vastgoed b.v.. The building company was obliged to let carry out an archeological survey by an acknowledged archeological company, because the new construction project is partly situated between the contours of the protected monument Forum Hadriani.

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In trench 1 one row of posts was found, Viewed from above this row makes an angle just within the entrance of the excavation. This is the end of the creek. To the west there are some other posts. One of them (dendrocodeVFH00010) was dated 212 6 AD.3 In trench 2, the archeologists were able to study the bank of the creek as a whole. Here three rows of posts can be discerned. The most western row (the posts that were placed in the creek) consists of posts that are conserved up to an average height of 2 m. These posts were sharpened along a length of some 1,7 m. At the top end they had six sides, but in the direction of the bottom they had 4 sides. The squared posts have an identical shape, with average sides, these sides all have a width of 27 cm. A part of the construction is damaged. some posts had fallen into the creek a long time ago. The two rows of posts to the east stand in line with each other. Between these rows some smaller posts were placed, with lengths up to 0,8 m. The two eastern rows of posts are shorter than the posts in the western row. They have an average height of 1,6 m. The sharpenings are four-sided or, less often, two-sided, and have a maximum length of 0,8 m. Some of these posts are massive, the sides are up to 35 cm width. All posts are driven and stand in clay. The posts in trench 1 have been driven while there was clay in the channel bed. They are probably the remains of a quay. The eastern rows of posts in trench 2 are also interpreted as the remains of a quay. The archeologists interpret the western row of posts on the eastern bank (trench 2) as a landing stage, because the posts stand in the creek instead of directly along the bank (Koot, written communication, June 21st, 2008). The wood samples The archeologists provided us with 58 wood samples taken from posts that belonged to the harbour construction. For this study, 46 samples were prepared and measured. The current report deals with 30 of these samples (table 3). The remaining 16 samples were not used because of measurement errors and growth anomalies like reaction wood and double piths.

Ring Report number 2007082

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Sample Code VFH00021 VFH00031 VFH00041 VFH00050 VFH00061 VFH00070 VFH00090 VFH00100 VFH00110 VFH00120 VFH00130 VFH00140 VFH00150 VFH00160 VFH00220

Feature number 2284 2194 2292 2264 2301 368 2304 2288 2258 2282 362 2252 373 2101 2239

Object number 6518 6480 6576 6478 6510 5914 6460 6461 6316 6511 6431 6481 5913 3798 dupl. 6319 3371 dupl. 6517 6306 6476 6555 6432 5932 6311 6459 6313 6303 6307 6436 6479 6430

Function Fallen post in the middle structure of trench 2 Post in the most eastern structure (quay) of trench 2 Post near the most eastern structure (quay) of trench 2 Post of the quay in the middle structure of trench 2 Post in the most eastern structure (quay) of trench 2 Post that is part of the most northern part of the quay in trench 1 Fallen post in the most northeastern part of trench 2 Post of the quay in the middle structure of trench 2 Post of the quay in the middle structure of trench 2 Post of the quay in the northern part of the structure in the middle of trench2 Sharpened wooden post (35 x 35 cm) part of the quay in trench 1 Post of the quay in the middle structure of trench 2 Post that is part of the most northern part of the quay in trench 1 Fallen side straightened post of the landing stage (western part trench 2) Post of the quay in the middle structure of trench 2 Massive sharpened and side straightened post, still standing (near fallen posts) most southwestern post in trench 2, part of the landing stage. Post with squared hole in the middle, possible reused wood, in the middle structure of trench 2 Post of the landing stage in the western part of trench 2 Is a smaller post near post 2295 Part of the quay in the northwest corner of trench 1 Post that is part of the most northern part of the quay in trench 1 Post of the quay in the middle structure of trench 2 Sharpened wooden post (35 x 35 cm) part of the quay in trench 1 Post of the quay in the middle structure of trench 2 Post of the landing stage in the western part of trench 2 Post of the landing stage in the western part of trench 2 Belongs to the most western posts of the quay in the eastern part of trench 2 Post of the quay in the middle structure of trench 2 Sharpened wooden post (35 x 35 cm) part of the quay in trench 1

VFH00230 2104 VFH00250 VFH00270 VFH00340 VFH00350 VFH00360 VFH00380 VFH00400 VFH00410 VFH00420 VFH00430 VFH00440 VFH00450 VFH00461 VFH00470 2295 2271 2296 400 3612 371 2265 54 2150 2274 2270 2242 2254 363

Table 3) The table contains some general information of the samples used in this study. See Appendix 1 for information on size and shape of the samples.

19

Results
Dating results
In table 4 the dating report for the 30 used samples is shown.
RING laboratory code VFH00021 VFH00031 VFH00041 VFH00050 VFH00061 VFH00070 VFH00090 VFH00100 VFH00110 VFH00120 VFH00130 VFH00140 VFH00150 VFH00160 VFH00220 VFH00230 VFH00250 VFH00270 VFH00340 VFH00350 VFH00360 VFH00380 VFH00400 VFH00410 VFH00420 VFH00430 VFH00440 VFH00450 VFH00461 VFH00470 Rings to pith 30+ 30+ 10 1 20 1 1 1 2 2 10 1 2 3 1 3 2 1 10 3 3 30 3 3 1 1 2 3 10 10 Rings of sapwood Rings to bark 15 15 13 12 19 7 13 9 12 9 14 15 14 5 22 15 4 17 11 12 16 13 13 17 14 16 23 13 16 16 Nr. of rings Date of first ring 47 33 -105 -4 -1 -94 -52 -25 -6 -50 -69 -12 -82 10 -47 -105 -57 -106 -121 -72 -85 11 -27 -95 -37 -57 -90 -42 -10 -114 Date Date of of last felling ring (AD) 145 135 19 142 149 128 81 150 139 146 117 152 98 153 144 115 152 186 -52 35 179 129 119 178 130 181 195 103 152 127 l.t. 158 l.t. 148 l.t. 32 l.t. 154 168 8 135 6* l.t 94 159 8 151 7 155 8 l.t 131 167 8 l.t. 112 158 4 166 10 l.t. 130 156 3 l.t. 205 l.t. -41 l.t. 47 l.t. 195 l.t. 142 l.t. 132 l.t. 195 l.t. 144 l.t. 197 218 14 l.t. 116 l.t. 168 l.t. 143 THO %PV P < thn Calendar

3 18 14 8 15 7 17 2 20

98 102 124 146 150 222 133 175 145 196 186 164 180 144 191 220 209 292 69 107 264 118 146 273 167 238 285 145 162 241

4,88 4,46 7,16 6,76 5,08 8,66 7,59 5,90 7,04 8,56 11,0 7,98 8,70 4,46 8,28 9,13 7,75 12,7 7,35 8,28 11,5 6,50 5,94 13,5 8,47 5,70 10,1 5,89 6,38 8,90

68,1 66,2 71,8 70,2 61,1 68,9 72,2 63,7 69,3 68,9 77,4 70,4 70,3 64,2 69,4 73 68,4 70 73,9 75,7 70,6 64,8 69,5 74,7 65,9 60,1 70,2 63,8 64,5 65,6

0,001 0,005 1E-04 1E-04 0,02 1E-04 1E-04 0,0005 1E-04 1E-04 1E-04 1E-04 1E-04 0,001 1E-04 1E-04 1E-04 1E-04 0,0002 1E-04 1E-04 0,005 1E-04 1E-04 1E-04 0,005 1E-04 0,001 0,0005 1E-04

NLBRUG01 NLVEEN06 EUDLIM01 DESUDE02V NLBRUG01 DECENT01V DERHMA01 DESUDE02V NLVLAA01 DECENT01V EUDLIM01 DESUDE02V DERHMA01 NLROMR01 DESUDE02V DECENT01V DECENT01V DECENT01V DESAMO03 DECENT01V DERHMA01 DESUDE02V DESUDE02V DECENT01V DESUDE02V DECENT01V DECENT01V DESUDE02V NLVLAA01 DERHMA01

Table 4) Dating report of all 30 samples used in this study. (*) = The felling date of sample VFH00070 might be wrong, because we are not sure whether the sample contains sapwood or not. l.t. = Later than THO = Students t-value %PV = Percentage of parallel variation P = Probability of exceedence

20

Groups of timber
Based on the match with the available regional chronologies we discern two groups of timber. The samples in these groups show mutual correlations. We can discern a third group. This third group, which we will call Group C concerns the samples that correlate with domestic calendars (NLBRUG01, NLVEEN06, NLVLAA01 and NLROMR01). There is no mutual correlation between the samples of this group. Group A The first group, which we will call Group A, correlates with the regional calendar DESUDE02V. This group contains the following seven samples: VFH00050, VFH00100, VFH00140, VFH00220, VFH00400, VFH00420 and VFH00450. The strength of their match is given in table 5.
RING laboratory code VFH100 VFH140 VFH220 VFH400 VFH420 VFH450 VFH050 VFH100 VFH140 VFH220 VFH400 VFH420

THO: 7,50 %PV: 70,2 THO: 7,63 %PV: 64,7 THO: 6,11 %PV: 63,0 THO: 17,2 %PV: 70,2 THO: 6,96 %PV: 71,6 THO: 12,4 %PV: 81,3

THO: 4,49 %PV: 55,2 THO: 4,91 %PV: 70,2 THO: 5,31 %PV: 70,5 THO: 10,3 %PV: 77,4 THO: 5,11 %PV: 67,6

THO: 12,4 %PV: 71,8 THO: 6,48 %PV: 65,3 THO: 5,33 %PV: 56,3 THO: 6,06 %PV: 60,9

THO: 6,63 %PV: 64,7 THO: 6,26 %PV: 65,0 THO: 5,92 %PV: 61,7

THO: 8,12 %PV: 75,3 THO: 19,7 %PV: 86,9

THO: 8,36 %PV: 70,7

Table 5) Correlations with a THO higher than 6 are shown in yellow. Correlations with a THO higher than 10 are shown in red. THO = Students t-value %PV = Percentage of parallel variation VFH00050, VFH00400 and VFH00450 show mutual t-values above 10. VFH00100 & VFH00420 and VFH00140 & VFH00220 also have a t-value above 10.

21

Group B The second group, which we will call Group B, correlates mainly with the regional calendar DECENT01V. DECENT01V is a calendar for western Germany and is an average of other calendars, including DERHMA01 and DESAMO03. DESAMO03 is the best matching smaller calendar. Group B contains the following fourteen samples: VFH00041, VFH00070, VFH00090, VFH00120, VFH00130, VFH00150, VFH00230, VFH00250, VFH00270, VFH00350, VFH00360, VFH00410, VFH00440 and VFH00470. The strength of their match is given in table 6.
RING laboratory code VFH070 VFH090 VFH120 VFH130 VFH150 VFH230 VFH250 VFH270 VFH350 VFH360 VFH410 VFH440 VFH470 VFH041 VFH070 VFH090 VFH120 VFH130 VFH150 VFH230 VFH250 VFH270 VFH350 VFH360 VFH410 VFH440

THO 6,94 %PV 63,3 THO 4,10 %PV 65,5 THO 3,14 %PV 69,6 THO 5,66 %PV 71,6 THO 5,60 %PV 73,8 THO 7,10 %PV 73,8 THO 3,83 %PV 63.2 THO 7,90 %PV 66,9 THO 4,27 %PV 74,7 THO 3,87 %PV 64,9 THO 6,39 %PV 71,5 THO 6,76 %PV 67,4 THO 7,32 %PV 68,5

THO 8,18 %PV 72,2 THO 6,94 %PV 59,6 THO 7,84 %PV 66,1 THO 4,94 %PV 63.3 THO 8,66 %PV 67,0 THO 6,05 %PV 59,7 THO 8,78 %PV 66,7 THO 5,26 %PV 72,9 THO 6,66 %PV 59,6 THO 9,17 %PV 63.3 THO 5,83 %PV 66,7 THO 7,88 %PV 67,6

THO 7,47 %PV 71,8 THO 9,21 %PV 71,1 THO 8,70 %PV 67,7 THO 7,49 %PV 70,3 THO 5,09 %PV 62,8 THO 7,65 %PV 74,1 THO 4,25 %PV 65,5 THO 7,22 %PV 62,4 THO 7,90 %PV 64,7 THO 4,00 %PV 62,4 THO 7,76 %PV 71,4

THO 5,80 %PV 64,7 THO 4,72 %PV 60,8 THO 5,59 %PV 64,5 THO 12,7 %PV 78,8 THO 8,00 %PV 67,1 THO 3,65 %PV 63,5 THO 5,87 %PV 61,0 THO 6,32 %PV 59,7 THO 5,55 %PV 61,7 THO 5,20 %PV 61,6

THO 6,52 %PV 68,0 THO 7,96 %PV 70,7 THO 3,52 %PV 62,6 THO 8,45 %PV 72,6 THO 4,444 %PV 69,2 THO 8,24 %PV 68,3 THO 8,08 %PV 68,8 THO 6,09 %PV 65,3 THO 5,29 %PV 66,1

THO 6,56 %PV 67,5 THO 2,06 %PV 54,8 THO 6,52 %PV 66,1 THO 3,18 %PV 65,9 THO 7,49 %PV 67,5 THO 7,85 %PV 71,1 THO 5,72 %PV 72,8 THO 7,629 %PV 66,1

THO 3,42 %PV 67,2 THO 8,94 %PV 68,.4 THO 4,97 %PV 69,6 THO 5,33 %PV 67,8 THO 6,09 %PV 62,9 THO 7,84 %PV 70,0 THO 5,45 %PV 65,2

THO 6,66 %PV 63,2 THO 4,14 %PV 69,6 THO 5,02 %PV 60,0 THO 5,16 %PV 62,0 THO 4,95 %PV 62,4 THO 4,40 %PV 58,2

THO 4,40 %PV 64,0 THO 8,45 %PV 68,9 THO 8,70 %PV 63,9 THO 10,5 %PV 72,8 THO 7,66 %PV 63,7

THO 4,62 %PV 65,4 THO 6,00 %PV 67,3 THO 4,42 %PV 66,4 THO 4,64 %PV 63,1

THO 10,3 %PV 70,0 THO 7,65 %PV 68,8 THO 6,40 %PV 66,7

THO 8,21 %PV 66,0 THO 7,56 %PV 62,8

THO 6,814 %PV 61.3

Table 6) Correlations with a THO higher than 6 are shown in yellow. Correlations with a THO higher than 10 are shown in red. THO = Students t-value %PV = Percentage of parallel variation VFH00120 and VFH00250 have a t-value above 10, as doVFH00270 andVFH00440, and VFH00360 and VFH00410.

Comparison with previous research results

In 1987 and 1988 the dendrochronologists of the RACM studied 27 elements of a multiphased water well at Forum Hadriani.4 At this time dendrochronology was still being developed in the Netherlands and the researchers had access to a few reference chronologies only. At the time 18 elements could be dated against DECENT01V (Hollstein, 1980), yielding felling dates in AD 223 8 and later than AD 231 8. During the current study we found a date for one element that previously remained undated (table 7).

Ring Report number 1988001

22

RING laboratory code C4A1101Z

Reference VFH00041

DateS 30 + missing sapwood makes the dating l.t. 50

Ol 97

%PV 76,3

THO 6,77

Table 7) Undated sample from the dendrochronological research in 1987 and 1988 is dated with a sample of this project. DateS = Date of latest ring of the sample THO = Students t-value %PV = Percentage of parallel variation Ol = Overlapping rings We compared the dated samples in Group A and B with the existing data and found strong matches between the growth patterns of timbers of Group B and elements of this water well (table 8).
RING laboratory code C4A0201Z C4A0301Z C4A0402Z C4A050 C4A0504Z C4A0601Z C4A080 C4A0901Z C4A1301Z C4A1401Z C4A160 C4A1701Z Reference (*) Group of reference sample B B B B B B B B DateS Ol %PV THO

VFH00270 VFH00270 VFH00350 VFH00130 VFH00440 VFH00041 VFH00350 VFH00270

195 186 79 183 201 143 19 205

199 259 107 186 210 117 79 228

61,8 61,6 72,4 66,4 66,9 71,8 80,4 68,4

7,25 7,32 5,56 7,01 7,46 5,33 8,33 9,79

Table 8) Comparisons between the dated mean curves of Voorburg1988 and the mean curves of the samples in this study. (*) Only the best reference sample is shown.

Dimensions of the wood

Ten cross sections of the 30 samples that were dated contain pith and sapwood. We used these cross sections to reconstruct the minimum circumference of the original trees. The minimum circumference is ca. 82 cm, the maximum is 188,5 cm (table 9).
Sample Code VFH00061 VFH00070 VFH00100 VFH00110 VFH00120 VFH00140 VFH00160 VFH00220 VFH00250 VFH00440 Radius (cm) 30 29 17,5 13 19,5 17 27,5 18,5 20,5 22 Circumference (cm) 188,5 182,2 110 81,7 122,5 106,8 172,8 116,2 128,8 138,2

Table 9) Circumferences of the stems. The samples which belong to Group A are presented in blue. The samples which belong to Group B are presented in green. The samples which belong to group C are presented in red.

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Sample Code VFH00021 VFH00031 VFH00041 VFH00050 VFH00061 VFH00070 VFH00090 VFH00100 VFH00110 VFH00120 VFH00130 VFH00140 VFH00150 VFH00160 VFH00220 VFH00230 VFH00250 VFH00270 VFH00340 VFH00350 VFH00360 VFH00380 VFH00400 VFH00410 VFH00420 VFH00430 VFH00440 VFH00450 VFH00460 VFH00470

Mean ring width (0,01 mm) 144,37 123,18 99,03 81,757 121,54 60,998 58,228 73,247 63,919 43,63 61,196 64,555 68,595 94,434 47,576 49,186 63,366 43,229 63,341 79,986 47,904 125,95 101,78 42,586 87,18 52,172 37,091 91,127 122,73 92,509

Standard deviation (0,01 mm) 30,443 34,442 42,262 53,891 49,747 18,461 14,714 41,417 20,427 19,458 23,582 32,185 27,457 43,234 18,893 20,497 27,63 14,136 22,644 51,244 16,318 42,219 37,684 18,227 37,021 13,568 19,21 33,192 85,012 71,692

Minimum ring width (0,01 mm) 40 73 58 19 58 18 28 24 23 15 21 20 35 15 15 18 19 21 29 29 15 51 41 16 23 26 11 37 26 33

Maximum ring width (0,01 mm) 202 246 253 248 272 136 101 205 146 94 132 219 247 232 110 121 136 119 131 257 132 244 195 132 252 103 196 193 467 390

Table 10) The table shows the mean ring width, standard deviation, minimum ring width and maximum ring width per sample. The samples which belong to Group A are presented in blue. The samples which belong to Group B are presented in green. The samples which belong to Group C are presented in red. The samples in black cant be added to any of the previous groups. The mean average ring width of Group A is 0,782 mm. The mean average ring width of Group B is 0,605 mm. The mean average ring width of Group C is 1,117 mm.

24

Interpretation
Group A Visual comparison between the individual tree ring patterns makes clear that VFH00050, VFH00400 and VFH00450 (diagram 1) originate from the same tree. This means that they were cut from the same tree trunk. Together they form VFHA01 (diagram 4 &5). VFH00100 and VFH00420 (diagram 2) are also originating from the same tree. Together they form VFHA02 (diagram 4 &5). VFH00140 and VFH00220 (diagram 3) cannot originate from the same tree, because there is a gap of 32 years between the pith of both samples. The size of the gap is to big to be explained by different positions in the tree. In addition the visual agreement between these series is not strong enough to warrant the conclusion that they represent the growth of a single tree. Most likely these series represent different trees which grew near each other in the same forest.

Diagram 1) The individual tree-ring patterns of VFH00050 (red), VFH00400 (grey) and VFH00450 (purple).Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width along the y-axis.

Diagram 2) The individual tree-ring patterns of VFH00100 (red) and VFH00420 (purple). Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width along the y-axis.

25

Diagram 3) The individual tree-ring patterns of VFH00140 (red) and VFH00220 (purple). Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width along the y-axis.

Diagram 4) A bar diagram showing the individual members of Group A in green (VFHA01 = mean of VFH00050, VFH00400 and VFH00450; VFHA02 = mean of VFH00100 and VFH00420) together with the mean curve of Group A in brown. The black dots in the bars indicate the presence of the pith and the grey parts indicate sapwood. Time is plotted along the x-axis.

Diagram 5) The tree-ring patterns of Group A in green (VFHA01 = mean of VFH00050, VFH00400 and VFH00450; VFHA02 = mean of VFH00100 and VFH00420) together with the mean curve of Group A in brown. Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width along the y-axis.

26

Diagram 6) The mean curve of Group A (red) and calendar DESUDE02V (purple). Together the curves have a THO of 11,1, the %PV is 74,6 and the P < 0,0001. Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width is plotted logarithmically along the y-axis. Group B Visual comparison between the individual tree ring patterns makes clear that VFH00120, and VFH00250 (diagram 7) originate from the same tree. Together they form VFHB01 (diagram 9 & 10). Visual comparisons between VFH00270 & VFH00440 and VFH00360 & VFH00410 are not convincing enough to state that the samples originate from the same tree. However diagram 8 makes clear that all four samples are related to each other. Most likely these series represent different trees which grew near each other in the same forest.

Diagram 7) The diagram shows the individual tree ring patterns of VFH00250 (red) and VFH00120 (purple) together. Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width along the y-axis.

27

Diagram 8) The diagram shows the individual tree ring patterns of VFH00270 (red), VFH00360 (purple), VFH00410 (grey) and VFH00440 (grey) together. Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width along the y-axis.

Diagram 9) A bar diagram showing the individual members of Group B in blue (VFHB01 = mean of VFH00120 and VFH00250) together with the mean curve of Group B in orange. The black dots in the bars indicate the presence of the pith and the grey parts indicate sapwood. Time is plotted along the x-axis.

Diagram 10) A diagram showing the individual members of Group B in blue (VFHB01 = mean of VFH0120 and VFH00250) together with the mean curve of Group A in orange. Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width along the y-axis.

28

Diagram 11) The diagram shows the mean curve of Group B (red), with the curve of DECENT01V (purple). Together the curves have a THO of 18,1, the %PV is 78,8 and the P < 0,0001. Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width is plotted logarithmically along the yaxis.

Diagram 12) The diagram shows the mean curve of Group B (red), with the curve of Holkoble (purple). Together the curves have a THO of 13,1, the %PV is 73,0 and the P < 0,0001. Time is plotted along the x-axis, ring width is plotted logarithmically along the y-axis.

Dendrochronological dates
In total there were nine samples that had sapwood. For one sample (VFH00070) it is questionable whether it contains sapwood or not (table 11).

Sample Code

Feature Rings number to pith 2301 368 2288 2258 2282 2252 2101 2239 2295 2270 20 1 1 2 2 1 3 1 2 2

VFH00061 VFH00070* VFH00100 VFH00110 VFH00120 VFH00140 VFH00160 VFH00220 VFH00250 VFH00440

Rings of sapwood 3 18 14 8 15 7 17 2 20 8

Rings to bark 19 7 9 12 9 15 5 22 4 23

Nr. of rings

150 222 175 145 196 164 144 191 209 285

Date of first ring -1 -94 -25 -6 -50 -12 10 -47 -57 -90

Date of last ring

Date of felling (AD)

149 128 150 139 146 152 153 144 152 195

168 8 135 6 159 8 151 7 155 8 167 8 158 4 166 10 156 3 218 14

Table 11) Dating of the samples with sapwood. (*) = It questionable whether VFH00070 contains sapwood.

29

Diagram 13) The tip of a blue bar indicates the minimum felling date for a sample. The tip of a red bar indicates the maximum felling date for a sample. The red vertical line indicates the general felling date for the timber.
The information in table 11 is transferred to a diagram (diagram 13). This diagram makes clear that the felling date of the wood lays around AD 159. Only VFH00070 dates earlier, but we have already mentioned that we are not sure of the felling date because it is uncertain that VFH00070 contains sapwood. But there is one other exception. This exception is VFH00440, which dates some 60 years later, around 218. Some samples lacking sapwood also give terminus post quem dates around the turn of the second century (table 12). Therefore it is sure that these samples originate from trees that are felled later than AD 159. It is well possible that they form a group together with VFH00440.
Sample Code VFH00270 VFH00360 VFH00410 VFH00430 Feature number 2271 3612 54 2274 Rings to pith 1 3 3 1 Rings of sapwood Min nr. of rings to bark 17 16 17 16 Nr. of rings 292 264 273 238 Date of first ring -106 -85 -95 -57 Date of last ring 186 179 178 181 Date of felling (AD) l.t. 205 l.t. 195 l.t. 195 l.t. 197

Table 12) The four samples which are all dating near the turn of the second century. The existence of two groups of timber with different felling dates point at a phasing in the construction of the harbour. The two building phases are shown in (fig. 7). The construction phase around AD 159 correspondences with the period in which Forum Hadriani flourished (Hypothesis a). The dating of the youngest construction phase (AD 218) is remarkable since this phase dates six decades later.

30

From figure 7 it becomes clear that there are two construction phases in trench 1. However this is highly questionable because the old sample in trench 1 represents VFH00070.

Fig. 7) Sketches of the trenches. A dot indicates the position of a feature(number). A colored dot indicates the age of the wooden sample found on that location. The blue dots indicate samples with a dating around AD 159. The red dots indicate samples with a dating around AD 218.

Wood provenance
In terms of provenance of the wood we have discerned three groups of timber. Group A is a homogeneous group which correlates with a regional calendar build up out of site and object calendars from southern Germany (DESUDE02V). Group B, which is also homogeneous in terms of the growth signal, and in particular with a regional calendar build up out of site and object calendars from the Saar-Mosel area in western Germany (DESAMO03; Hollstein, 1980). Group C contains six samples, which correlate with domestic calendars like NLBRUG01, NLVEEN06 and NLVLAA01 (table 4, results). These samples do not show a strong mutual correspondence, and therefore do not represent trees that grew in the same forest. Three samples do not belong to any of the previous mentioned groups. Figure 8 shows the areas where the wood, used to build the calendars, comes from.

31

Fig. 8) The map shows the areas where the wood, used to build the regional calendars, comes from. The cities in red are the cities where the site and object calendars (part of DESAMO03), which have the highest correlations with Group B, come from. (www.kennislink.nl) For Group B it is possible to link the wood on site and object calendars out of which DESAMO03 was build up; this group shows very good correlations with three of its object and site calendars (table 13).
Group B Group B Group B Group B Reference calendar holkoble holtmosl holmbran THO 13,1 11,1 10,6 PV 73 72,9 74,6 P < than 0,0001 0,0001 0,0001 Number of overlapping rings 305 120 120

Table 13) Group B with the best correlating site and object calendars of DESAMO03. Holkoble is an object calendar which represents oak timber from a Roman bridge across the Mosel river in Koblenz. The dendrochronological research was done on the legs of the bridge (Hollstein, 1980). Holtmosl is an object calendar build out of wood from a Roman bridge over the Mosel river in Trier (Hollstein, 1980). Holmbran is a site calendar based on wood from excavations in Brand (Mainz), where the bank(s) of the Rhine was/were during the Roman Period (Hollstein, 1980). See figure 7 for the location of these towns. The mean curve of Group B shows strong similarities with these three object calendars. Diagram 12 makes clear

32

that the date of germination for Holkoble is almost similar to the date of germination for the wood of Group B (in both groups germination had place just before 100 BC). The date of felling for Group B and Holkoble is also similar. Therefore we can conclude that the wood used in these objects (and especially the wood of Holkoble) comes from the same forest(s) as the wood used for the harbour of Forum Hadriani. This means that the wood of Group B originates from the Saar-Mosel area, with the emphasis on the region between the Mosel and Rhine. We have found three groups of wood with different origins (fig. 9). All studied wood of trench 1 belongs to Group B. This means that the wood used is trench 1 originates from the SaarMosel area. The most eastern row of posts in trench 2 also originates from the Saar-Mosel area. We have seen in figure 6 that this row of posts dates near AD 218. The row of posts in the middle of trench 2 consists out of wood that belongs to group B (southern Germany) and wood that belongs to Group C. In the northwestern part of trench 2 we also see some wood that belongs to Group B, this wood belongs to the row in the middle and the most western row of posts. The row of posts in the middle and in the western part of trench 2 date at AD 159. It is remarkable to see that the wood used for the two western rows of posts in trench 2 contain wood with different origins. From a logistical point of view this is rather illogical.

Fig. 9) Excavation area with the wood finds and their archaeological feature numbers.

33

The blue dots indicate timber of Group A. The green dots indicate timber of Group B. The red dots indicate timber of Group C

Relationship with earlier research results

The construction of the water well that was studied in 1987 and 1988 took place in two phases: in AD 223 8 and later than AD 231 8. The first phase of the water well may have been built simultaneously with the youngest phase of the harbour, dated at AD 218 14. The likelihood that these structures were related in terms of the organization of their construction, is strengthened by the fact that the wood used for the water well shows a strong similarity to the wood of Group B. The provenance of the material lies in the Mosel region.

Dimensions of the wood

The circumferences of the original tree trunks vary from a little below 1 m to almost 2 m (table 9). This means we are dealing with medium to big-sized trees. The age of the trees varies from 79 to 292 years (minimum values, derived from table 4). Given these ages, the circumferences are rather small. This means that the trees grew in closed-canopy forests, where annual growth was directed upwards, towards the light, resulting in slow annual growth along the trunks circumference. The timber of groups A & B therefore were collected in dense forests. We cannot say the same for the timber of group C. A second argument in favor of dense forests is absence of branch wood in the samples. This means that the original trees (at least the sections of the trunks that were preserved) did not have side braches. This also is an indication of growth that is directed upwards, to the light. A third argument in favor of a wood provenance in closed-canopy forests is that samples VFH00050, VFH00400 and VFH00450, which were cut from the same tree trunk, originally were placed on top of each other (all samples have a pith). Since we know that every sample represents a post with an estimated height of 4,5 m, the original trunk must have been at least 13 m in height. This is quite high for a trunk with no side branches. If a tree crown is projected onto this trunk, the total height of the tree must have been over 20 m. The distribution of stem circumference does not indicate a stringent selection by the Romans of stems with a fixed diameter for Group B and Group C, since the stems can be placed in different groups regarding the circumference of the stem (diagram 14). But the trees that belong to Group A are all in the group with circumferences of 100-120 cm. This may indicate that the Romans did have stringent selection of stems in southern Germany.

34

Diagram 14) The circumference of 10 trees in the data set. The trees that belong to Group A are in blue. The trees that belong to Group B are in green. The trees that belong to Group C are in red.

Diagram 15) The diagram shows the mean ring widths of the individual samples of Group C. The yellow line indicates the average mean ring width of the group.

Diagram 16) The diagram shows the mean ring widths of the individual samples of Group A. The yellow line indicates the average mean ring width of the group.

Diagram 17) The diagram shows the mean ring widths of the individual samples of Group B. The yellow line indicates the average mean ring width of the group.

Diagram 18) The diagram shows the average ring width per group.

Diagrams 15-18 make clear that there is a significant difference in ring width between the timber of group C and the timber of Group A and Group B. The average ring width of the

35

trees of Group C is a lot higher. This is an indicator that the trees of Group C grew under different growth circumstances compared to the trees of Group A and Group B. Therefore we can say that the trees of did not grew in closed-canopy forests. The trees of Group C probably grew in a more open landscape.

Discussion
In this study only 30 of the provided 58 samples were used. To get a complete picture of the origin and dating of the wood, used for the quay and landing stage, all samples need to be studied. Especially the timber from trench 1 needs some extra study. Diagram 3 and diagram 8 (see interpretation) make clear that the samples in the diagrams do not originate from the same tree, although they show matches with Students t-values above 10. Therefore we can say that the general rule in dendrochronology, that two pieces of wood represent the same tree if the patterns of two pieces of archaeological wood match with a t > 10, can not be used in every situation. It is strange that Group B shows a stronger correlation with DECENT01V (THO of 18,1, the %PV is 78,8 and the P < 0,0001), compared to the correlation with Holkoble (THO of 13,1, the %PV is 73,0 and the P < 0,0001). We assumed that the wood of Group B originates from the same forest as the wood of Holkoble. The stronger match with DECENT01V undermines this assumption. But DECENT01V is a calendar that is compiled from many smaller calendars. Therefore DECENT01V represents an average. When this averaged calendar is compared with a main curve (also an average), it is reasonable that a high correlation appears. Since only ten of the studied samples contain sapwood, only ten estimated felling dates can be derived (the other dates are terminus post quem dates). This may simplify our image of the chronological phasing of the studied structures; possibly the actual chronological phasing of the structures is more complicated than the image we presented. For the calculated circumferences it is important to know that this is the minimum circumference of the stem since we do not know the position of the studied sample in the stem (see materials & methods). Determinations of the origin of wood are highly dependant on the quality of the chronologies used for dating and provenancing. The dendrochronologist Hollstein assumed that the

36

archaeological wood he used for his chronologies, actually grew in the region where the wood was put to use. His assumption was, of course, incorrect; already in the Roman Period people transported wood over quite large distances. However, the Roman object chronologies from the Saar-Mosel region most likely will represent local growth conditions; this region was forested in Roman times. Part of the wood used in the harbour of Forum Hadriani correlates very well with these object chronologies, which implies that it was derived from the same area. With southern German material the situation is much more complicated. The components of chronology DESUDE02V are not published and therefore cannot be assessed. We do not know in which part of southern Germany the trees grew, and the geographical definition the author used when he defined his calendar as representing South Germany.

Recommendations
It would be interesting to compare the results of this study with results from other dendrochronological studies on wood from the same time interval. We assume that the construction of the harbour had a military background, meaning that the construction of the harbour was a military action. There have been some excavations near the site of Forum Hadriani where Roman soldiers were encamped. These military vici (military villages) were found near several castella (military fortresses for reinforcement troops). These vici and castella (Valkenburg-Veldzicht and Leiden-Roomburg) may have been the bases for the soldiers who built the harbour. Therefore it might be interesting to look for possible clues that link the soldiers of the vici and castella to the harbour of Forum Hadriani. It would also be interesting to investigate if the wood used for renovations of the Roman road near Valkenburg and Vleuten-De Meern matches the wood in one of the construction phases of the harbour in Forum Hadriani. Independent of the results it will increase our knowledge. We know that a part of the wood used in the construction of the harbour of Forum Hadriani is similar to wood used in Roman structures in the Mosel-Rhine area. Therefore we might be able to link these construction activities to a certain group of Roman soldiers. In the Roman era a command to built bridges and harbors was given by a Roman commander or even by an emperor. It is interesting to search for a link between the construction activities and a certain Roman commander or emperor.

37

Conclusion
On the site of the ancient Roman city of Forum Hadriani the wooden remains of a harbour were found. These wooden remains comprise parts of a quay and landing stage. Dendrochronological research has shown that the wooden remains of the harbour can be placed into two chronologically coherent groups. The oldest group of timbers was cut from trees that were felled around AD 159. The youngest group dates around AD 218. The difference in dating indicates a phasing in the construction of the harbour.

In terms of origin there are three distinct groups of timber. One group correlates with a regional calendar from South Germany and represents oak collected high upstream the Rhine in southern Germany. A second group correlates with a regional calendar from the SaarMosel area, especially with an object chronology of a Roman bridge in Koblenz, which is one of the building blocks of the Saar-Mosel chronology. This wood was derived from the region between the Mosel and Rhine (South of the Mosel, West of the Rhine). The last group correlates with domestic calendars and represents oaks from locations in the current Netherlands.
Comparison with wood from an earlier studied water well, found in Forum Hadriani, points out that the youngest phase of the harbour may have been built simultaneously with this water well. The likelihood that these structures were related in terms of the organization of their construction is strengthened by the fact that the wood of the water well shows a strong similarity with the wood used for the harbour. The wood of the group that correlates with the regional calendar from South Germany and the wood of the group that correlates with the Saar-Mosel chronology originates from trees that grew in closed-canopy forests. The wood that correlates with domestic calendars originates from trees that probably grew in a more open landscape.

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Acknowledgements
I want to thank Hennie Sloots for some translations of passages out Mitteleuropische Eichenchronologie (Hollstein, 1980), Geert Hoefnagels for reviewing my writing skills, and Menne Kosian (RACM) for the help he provided with the scanning of the samples. Menne Kosian also helped me to digitalize the sketches of the trenches. I am grateful for the information of the excavation provided by Kees Koot and Mark Driessen (UvA). Kees Koot also delivered the photos of the excavation. I also want to thank Ronald Visser (VU and RACM). He helped me with different questions and problems, which came up during the project. My special thanks go to Martha Dominguez Delmas (the RING Foundation) and Esther Jansma. Martha Dominguez Delmas helped me with the lab work and the structuring and interpretation of the results. Esther Jansma planned and supervised the project and improved the current report with her comments.

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References
- Baillie, M.G.L., A slice through time; dendrochronology and precision dating, Routledge (pp. 16-18), Batsford Ltd., London, 1995 - Bazelmans, J. and De Jonge, W., Wie waren de Cananefaten?, In: Forum Hadriani; Van Romeinse stad tot monument, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht, 2006 - Brinkkemper, O., Koehler, L. and Nientker J., Houtdeterminatie en houtgebruik, In: Raportage ArcheologischeMonumentenzorg 144, Amersfoort, 2007 - Brinkkemper, written communication, 18th June, 2008 - Buijtendorp, T., Lugdunum bij Katwijk. Een voorstedelijke nederzetting uit de eerste eeuw in Cananefaats gebied, In: Forum Hadriani; Van Romeinse stad tot monument, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht, 2006 - Buijtendorp, T., De voorganger van Forum Hadriani. Van inheemse nederzetting tot centrale plaats, In: Forum Hadriani; Van Romeinse stad tot monument, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht, 2006 - Buijtendorp, T., Bouw en groei. De bloeiperiode van Forum Hadriani, In: Forum Hadriani; Van Romeinse stad tot monument, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht, 2006 - Buijtendorp, T. and Waasdorp, A., Romeins Voorburg. Keizer Hadrianus en de status van de stad, In: Forum Hadriani; Van Romeinse stad tot monument, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht 2006 - Enckevort, H. van, and Vos, W.K., De limes: een natte grens dwars door Nederland, In: Nationale Onderzoeksagenda Archeologie (pp. 25 & 26), 2006 - Es, W. van, Woord vooraf, In: Forum Hadriani; Van Romeinse stad tot monument, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht 2006 - Grissino-Mayer, H.D., Principles of Dendrochronology, Ultimate Tree-Ring Web Pages, 1996 - Hollstein, E., Mitteleuropische Eichenchronologie, Mainz, 1980 - Jansma, E., RemembeRINGs. The development and Application of Local and Regional Tree-Ring Chronologies of Oak for the Purposes of Archaeological and Historical Research in the Netherlands. Nederlandse Archeologische Rapporten 19 (dissertation), Amersfoort, 1995 - Jansma, E., Jaarringonderzoek van het scheepshout en meubelonderdelen: bouwtechnische aspecten, datering en herkomst van het hout, In: Raportage ArcheologischeMonumentenzorg 144, Amersfoort, 2007 - Jansma, E., Datering, herkomst en bouwvolgorde van De Meern 4, In: Rapportage Archeologische Monumentenzorg 147, Amersfoort, 2007 - Jonge, W. de, Ondergang. De crisis in het rijk en de teloorgang van Forum Hadriani, In: Forum Hadriani; Van Romeinse stad tot monument, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht, 2006

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- Koot, C.W., written communication, 2008 - Schweingruber, F.H., Tree Rings and Environment Dendroecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research and Paul Haupt Verlag, Switzerland, 1996 - Vorst, Y.E., De constructie en herkomst van de Romeinse platbodem Woerden7; een studie van jaarringpatronen en bewerkingsporen, Master thesis UvA, 2005 - Waasdorp, A., Romeinse infrastructuur. De ontsluiting van het Cananefaatse gebied In: Forum Hadriani; Van Romeinse stad tot monument, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht, 2006

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Appendix 1: Shapes of the studied cross sections of the wood (scale 1 : 5)

VFH00021

VFH00031

VFH00041

VFH00051/2

VFH00061

VFH00081

VFH00071/2

VFH00091/2

VFH00110

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VFH00101/2

VFH00121/2

VFH00131/2

VFH00141/2

VFH00151/2

VFH00161/2

VFH00171/2

VFH00180

VFH00191/2

VFH00201/2

VFH00211/2

VFH00221/2

VFH00231/2

VFH00241/2

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VFH00251/2

VFH00261/2

VFH00271/2

VFH00291/2

VFH00281/2

VFH00301/2

VFH00341/2

VFH00311/2

VFH00321/2

VFH00331/2

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VFH00351/2

VFH00371/2

VFH00381/2

VFH00361/2

VFH00391/2

VFH00401/2

VFH00411/2

VFH00421/2

VFH00431/2

45

VFH00441/2

VFH00451/2

VFH00461/2

46

Appendix 2: Photos of the excavation

Photo 1.) Two examples of posts belonging to a quay of the eastern bank (trench 2) of the harbour in Forum Hadriani. The posts belong to the quay that has the most forwarded position towards the waterfront. That is why the excavators expect them to be part of the youngest construction.

Photo 2.) This post, belonging to the older phase of a quay, marks the transition from the channel to the bank. The brown layer of peat behind the post has not been eroded by the streambed of the creek. The streambed has found its way through the tidal flats, marshes and dunes around 400 BC. Later on it served as a harbour for Forum Hadriani.

Photo 3.) A post belonging to the older phase of the quay.

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Photos 4. & 5.) The older phase of the quay is probably constructed by pairs of posts. In between the posts are smaller posts in an irregular interval. The larger posts of the western row of this construction phase were connected by a plank.

Photo 6.) In the southern part (trench 2) of the younger phase of the construction, a few of the posts have been fallen in the water.

Photo 7.) Overview on the excavation of the eastern bank of the harbour.

48