This important, regional assessment of weaponry and horse gear uncovered in the eastern part of the Dutch river area is one of two books published by Amsterdam Archaeological Studies as part of the research project ‘The Batavians: Ethnic Identity in a Frontier Situation’, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and conducted at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam — the other study is N. Royman, Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power. The Batavians in the Early Roman Empire (2004).
As Nicolay points out, the need for his book stems from the large number of weapons and horse gear uncovered from the non-militarised parts of the eastern Dutch river area in recent years. Altogether, approximately 2,700 finds from the late Iron Age to post-Roman period are examined in the study. Some derive from archaeological excavations, but the majority are from the personal collections of metal detectorists.
After setting out the overall frameworks of the research in ch. 1, the book is divided into six other chapters. Ch. 2 presents the horse gear and weapons at the heart of the study, and provides a typo-chronological overview of the material. Chs 3 and 4 discuss the regions in which the objects were produced, as well as the context of their discovery in the Dutch river area, pointing out that the majority were uncovered from rural settlements, and, to a lesser extent, in towns, rivers and sanctuaries. The late Iron Age finds are especially found in the riverine locations.
The remaining three chapters of the book explore the social and political implications of the material, and, particularly, the question of ownership — to whom did the weapons and horse gear once belong? Ch. 5 discusses the evidence for ownership among soldiers in the Roman army, and argues that many of the Dutch weapons and horse gear probably belonged to veterans who either brought them as ‘personal memorabilia’, or dedicated them to gods at local rivers and sanctuaries. The veterans in question had probably been discharged from the Germanic and Batavian auxilia that were stationed in the Rhineland from as early as the late Iron Age, as well as from the non-Germanic cohorts stationed on the Rhenish borders in the second and third centuries. Fewer finds exclusive to the army (such as chain mail, helmets, cuirasses) can be identified for the second and third centuries, which N. partially attributes to a down-turn in native recruitment during this period.
Ch. 6 discusses the evidence for the ownership of horse gear and weapons among ordinary civilians. The chapter discusses the situations in which civilians were capable of bearing arms, and suggests that some of the Dutch weapons and horse regalia were used for situations such as civilian hunting, self-defence, transport and agricultural purposes. In contrast with the exclusively military items, N. notes a marked increase in civilian-type weapons (i.e. spears and daggers) dating from the third century onwards, which he attributes to the increased transrhenine attacks dating to this period. These attacks added to the importance of civilian arms and self-defence in late Roman society.
In the final chapter, the evidence for the weapons and horse gear dating to the late and post-Roman period is presented, along with a discussion of their significance in the burials and warrior graves of an emerging Frankish society.
Overall, N. must be congratulated for detailing both the military and non-military associations of the weapons and horse gear in the eastern Dutch river area, and for charting their importance from the pre-Roman to post-Roman periods. This impressive book includes a vast array of graphs, illustrations and tables, which are all of the high standard one is accustomed to expect of the Amsterdam Archaeological Series. It also follows in the tradition of this series in combining detailed empirical analysis with a thorough assessment of the socio-political implications of the material.
