Conference on ‘Roman latrines and cesspit toilets in the North-Western provinces of the Roman Empire’
1st -2rd of May 2009 in Nijmegen (the Netherlands)
in collaboration with the Radboud University Nijmegen and the city of Nijmegen.
The public and private toilets in the Roman cities in the Mediterranean area have been the subject of archaeological research for many years. We know a great deal about the way these toilets were constructed and how they functioned. In addition all manner of related things have been researched, such as the social aspect of visiting a toilet and rituals connected to it, or practical aspects such as the use of urine in the tanning of leather.
When looking to the North-Western provinces, it is clear that the research of these structures has been much less extensive. Up to now, attention was mainly paid to some large toilets excavated in cities or military complexes. Practically nothing is known about private toilets.
The main reason for this is, that most of these private toilets are cesspit-toilets, which - because of the bad preservation chances of the materials used - are difficult to recognize and are often mistaken for rubbish pits. Little attention has been given to this aspect of Roman daily life up to now and when found, such toilets were often supposed to have been indigenous. Recent excavations however have demonstrated that both private and public toilets are to be expected when excavating Roman settlements.
This conference is the first in which Roman period toilets in the North-Western provinces will be the subject of the research. The private toilets as well as the public and semi-public military toilets will be looked into in separate sessions, with a forth session for multidisciplinary research round the toilets, such as research on bio-archaeological data and anthropological research on the use of toilets.
We aim to focus on the construction and functioning of the toilets, their location (inside /outside the house, specific use of rooms etc) with attention also given to the scientific research of the contents, but excluding the finds (ceramics, etc), as this will divert from the main subject. We plan to publish the proceeds of the conference as a book.
Gerhard Weber: Die öffentlichen Toilettenanlagen in den sogenannten Große Thermen, den Kleine Thermen und dem Thermenhaus im römischen Cambodunum (Kempten, D).
Silvia Radbauer: Eine öffentliche Latrine an der Weststrasse in der Zivilstadt von Carnuntum (AU).
Stefanie Hoss: The largest Roman public toilet north of the Alps - at Rottenburg (D).
Norbert Zieling: Durchgespült - Eine römische Latrinenspülung in den Thermen der Colonia Ulpia Traiana bei Xanten (D).
Session Military toilets
Marc Driessen: The latrines in the Flavian legionary fort at Nijmegen (NL).
Katja Zee: Two cesspits from the Flavian castra in Nijmegen (NL).
Session Private toilets
Paul Franzen: The latrines in the Flavian canabae legionis of Nijmegen (NL).
Elly Heirbaut: The cesspit-toilets in oppidum Batavorum (Nijmegen, NL).
Nora Andrikopoulou-Strack: Eine Latrine im Bonner vicus (D).
Verena Jauch: Latrinen im römischen Vicus von Oberwinterthur (CH).
Session Scientific contribution / Various
Silvia Radbauer, Beatrix Petznek: Römische Nachttöpfe aus Carnuntum (AU).
David Breeze: The latrine and sewage at the Roman fort at Bearsden on the Antonine Wall (UK).
Andrew K. G. Jones, Roman toilets in York (UK): water supply, waste disposal and recent scientific analyses.
Heidemarie Hüster-Plogmann, Francesca Ginella and Patricia Vandorpe: How to get hooked on toilets?! An archaeobiological approach (CH).
Cornelius Ulbert: Latrinen oder Handwerkergruben? Zur Interpretation einiger Befunde aus der WCCB-Grabung im vicus von Bonn (D).
Posters:
Cristina Bassi: The private latrines in Trent (I)
Alexandru Matei, Horea Pop: Les latrines romaines de Zalău-Michelin Dealul Lupului (RO)
Silvia Radbauer, Günther Karl Kunst: Interdisziplinäre Forschungen in der Zivilstadt von Carnuntum (AU): Grabungs- und Aufarbeitungsprojekt Weststraße. (Posterpräsentation gemeinsam mit F. Humer, H. Aspöck, M. Berner, I. Feuereis, C. Frank, E. Gál, A. Galik, D. Pany, B. Petznek, R. Sauer, U. Thanheiser)
Saturday, May 2nd 2009
Workshops
Morning: round-table discussion on public toilets, discussing practical problems of recognizing and excavating latrines with the plans on the table.
Afternoon: round-table discussion on private toilets discussing practical problems of recognizing and excavating latrines with the plans on the table.
Conclusion
Getting to and staying in Nijmegen
The conference venue is the GYMNASION on the campus of the Radboud University Nijmegen. It lies opposite the MainBuilding of the Humanities (Erasmusgebouw), a high rise dominating the campus.
The campus lies just 3,5 km from the OldCity. There is a bus shuttle service to the Campus form the central train station called No. 10 (Heyendaal-shuttle). During the rush hour, it runs every 4 min and needs about 10 min to get to the Erasmusgebouw, the main building of the Humanities, a high-rise opposite the Gymnasion. In addition to that, there is a large bus station in the OldCity on Plein 1944, where two bus lines run directly to the campus (No. 1 Molenhoek LB and No. 3 Wijchen). They also need about 10-15 minutes to get to the Campus, depending on the traffic.
Throughout the Netherlands, whether you travel by tram, metro (unfortunately, Nijmegen has neither), or bus, you can use the same tickets (strippenkaart) for all bus, tram and metro journeys. They are on sale in the bookstores and kiosks in most train stations. They have several strips and have to be shown to the bus driver and stamped off by him (you name your destination). You can also buy tickets from the bus driver.
All car parks on the campus are equipped with barriers and pay-point terminals. Regular parking costs € 1.00 per hour and a maximum of € 5 per day. After 6 P.M. and during weekends regular parking is free. If you are planning on driving a car, you should not forget to bring your driving licence.
You can download three maps (Nijmegen, the campus and the conference venue) on the page "Download maps" (see left sidebar).
There are quite a few hotels in Nijmegen and google-ing ‘hotels in Nijmegen’ or going to one of the booking sites (e.g. www.booking.com) should get you a fair overview. However, if you do not plan to come with your car, you should take care to ensure that the hotel is indeed in Nijmegen itself and not in one of the small towns and villages around it, as buses often don’t go late into the night.
Here are a few places to start with. As we live in Nijmegen, we have of course no experience with any of them, but they are in the city centre and seem comfortable from outside (and inside pictures on the web).
Please bear in mind that contrary to airport Schiphol (which is near Amsterdam, on the west side of the Netherlands), airport Weeze in Germany is just 60 km away and has a bus connection to Nijmegen Central Station (€ 15, reservation necessary, see http://www.airport-niederrhein.de/2-3-9_bus_nimwegen.php). Most large car rent companies are present at the airport. (see www.ariport-niederrhein.de).
A third possibility is Eindhoven airport, ca. 70 km to the southwest of Nijmegen. It has a shuttle bus to Eindhoven Centraal Station, from where you can take the train via s’Hertogenbosch to Nijmegen. Both the latter airports are used (among others) by Ryanair and Transavia.
Participants from abroad, please remember that the day preceding the conference, (April 30th) is a national holiday in the Netherlands, the Koniginnendag (Queen’s day, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koninginnedag). While travel on that day is possible, trains and buses may be full of happy orange people travelling to visit the festivities which include open air concerts and the so-called vrijmarkt (free open air market) in every town and city. Many shops are closed, but food and drink can be had both at restaurants and shops as well as stands and stalls in every city centre. By the way, May 1st is not a holiday in the Netherlands.
The organising committee
Elly Heirbaut (Bureau Archeologie en Monumenten Nijmegen), Stefanie Hoss (Small Finds Archaeology Nijmegen), Gemma Jansen and Eric Moormann (Radboud University Nijmegen)
