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, the Gerda-Henkel-Stiftung (Düsseldorf) 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.

On the second day, two workshops will take place – one each on cesspit-toilets and flushed channel toilets - in which we plan to openly discuss the problems of identifying and correctly excavating and sampling Roman toilets in the NW-provinces, with excavation plans of toilets on the table. We plan to record the discussion (with the accord of the participants) and publish summaries of the workshops as a kind of ‘manual’ on how to identify, excavate and sample a Roman toilet in the North-western provinces in the publication of the conference proceedings. This concept ahs been successfully employed in another conference on Roman toilets in the Mediterranean in Rome in 2007.  To keep the discussion as much to the point as possible, we would ask the participants to only register for Saturday if they have personal experience of excavating or sampling toilets.

PROGRAMME

Friday, May 1st 2009

9.00			Reception and registration with coffee / tea
10.00			Keynote lecture Gemma Jansen: Sewers or cesspits? About modern assumptions and Roman preferences.
	Session public toilets (Chair Gemma Jansen)
10.30			Silvia Radbauer: Eine öffentliche Latrine an der Weststrasse in der Zivilstadt von Carnuntum (AU).
10.50			Stefanie Hoss: The largest Roman public toilet north of the Alps - at Rottenburg (D).
11.10			Norbert Zieling: Durchgespült - Eine römische Latrinenspülung in den Thermen der Colonia Ulpia Traiana bei Xanten (D).
11.30			Discussion
	Session Military toilets (Chair David Breeze)
11.40			Paul Franzen: The latrines in the Augustean castra at Nijmegen (NL).
12.00			Discussion
12.10			Lunch
	Session Private toilets (Chair Paul Franzen)
13.30			Elly Heirbaut: The cesspit-toilets in oppidum Batavorum (Nijmegen, NL).
13.50			Denis Henrotay: Latrines en Arlon (B).
14.10			Nora Andrikopoulou-Strack: Eine Latrine im Bonner vicus (D).
14.30			Verena Jauch: Latrinen im römischen Vicus von Oberwinterthur (CH).
14.50			Jeroen Vandenberghe: The curious case of the missing toilets of Flanders: Where are the (cesspit) toilets in rural settlements?
15.00			Discussion
15.10			Coffee / tea with display of posters
		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)
		Session Scientific contribution / Various (Chair Stefanie Hoss)
15.40				David Breeze: The latrine and sewage at the Roman fort at Bearsden on the Antonine Wall (UK).
16.00				Heidemarie Hüster-Plogmann, Francesca Ginella and Patricia Vandorpe: How to get hooked on toilets?! An archaeobiological approach (CH).
16.20				Andrew K. G. Jones, Roman toilets in York (UK): water supply, waste disposal and recent scientific analyses.
16.40				Silvia Radbauer, Beatrix Petznek: Römische Nachttöpfe aus Carnuntum (AU).
17.00				Cornelius Ulbert: Latrinen oder Handwerkergruben? Zur Interpretation einiger Befunde aus der WCCB-Grabung im vicus von Bonn (D).
17.20				Discussion
17.30				Conclusion
20.00				Informal get-together at Café “De Waagh”, Grote Markt

Saturday, May 2nd 2009

Workshops

	Workshops (Chair E. Heibaut & S. Hoss)
9.00	Coffee/ tea with information on the day’s proceedings
9.30	round-table discussion on public toilets (several seats, flushing by channel), discussing practical problems of recognizing and excavating latrines with the plans on the table.
12.00	Lunch
13.30	round-table discussion on private toilets (cesspit- toilets) discussing practical problems of recognizing and excavating latrines with the plans on the table.
16.00	Conclusion

The organising committee

Elly Heirbaut (Bureau Archeologie en Monumenten Nijmegen),

Stefanie Hoss (Small Finds Archaeology Nijmegen),

Gemma Jansen and Eric Moormann (Radboud University Nijmegen)

Contact: Latrine2009@gmail.com