Culture

Gallo-Roman staging post unearthed in Aalter

Archaeologist have unearthed the remains of a Gallo-Roman staging post in the East Flemish municipality of Aalter. News of the discovery of staging post appears in the latest edition of the magazine EOS. A Gallo-Roman family lived on the site of the dig in around 200 AD.

They bred sheep and grew vegetables at the side of an important Roman road. Travellers were able to rest there and were able to exchange their beasts of burden.

The archaeologist Johan Hoorne and his team discovered items including luxury pottery that had come from the other end of the Roman Empire. The find also included brooches, a stylised wild boar’s head and the remains of ironwork. These all point to the site of the dig having been a prestigious location in its day.

Speaking in an interview with EOS Johan Hoorne said that “A staging post like this one is extremely rare. With the exception of in Velzeke and Avelgem (both East Flanders) no others have been discovered in what is now Flanders”.

The oldest thins unearthed in the 1.1 hectare site are trace of an ancient road up on which the Romans built a wider road. The road was probably the rout between the ports along the River Schelde and the Aardenburg Fort in Sluis (Dutch province of Zeeland).
 

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