The 'limes' was a system of roads and forts organized on almost every border of the roman empire. Its function was mainly defensive, but also helped controlling trade and customs.

We know where the 'limes' was, thanks to medieval copies of ancient texts. The most famous illustration of this system is perhaps what we know in England as 'Hadrian’s wall'.

Till this day, no full road section, particularly with its upper layer of compacted gravels had been found in the Netherlands. The recent discovery near Utrecht could change this statement.

When building a new railway line, the Dutch private corporation Prorail has excavated a strecht of a well-preserved roman road, close to nowadays Houten city. This road is supposed to have connected two forts of the limes, this of Trajectum (today Utrecht, funded in 47 AD) and that of Fectio (today Vechten, funded in 9 AD). The road followed the banks of the ancient Rhine course, which has been modified in the Middle Ages.

It is composed of a sloping mound of clay and sand, interspersed with layers of gravel and smashed seashells. The top layer, precises Associated Press, is composed of hard-packed gravel. Its sides were protected by wooden poles, which were to avoid its erosion. The experts hope being able to determine the precise date of the construction of the road thanks to the datation of its poles (dendrochronography).

Julius Caesar entered this part of the Netherlands 100 years sooner, in 53 BC. The road has been used during three centuries, from around 50 to 350 AD, and must have seen the Batavian uprising around 69 AD, during which two forts on the Rhine have been willingly burnt so that they could not be captured by a local German tribe. Romans succeeded bringing back the Pax romana the year after.

Other archeological discoveries has been made around Utrecht, specially in 2002, particularly a transport barge and a watch tower on the Rhine shore, that would have been occupied by three or four soldiers.

For further precisions on archeology in Houten surroundings

Publius Memmius Albucius