An Odyssey along the River Vecht in the Dutch-German border area. A Regional Analysis of Roman-period Sites in Germania Magna

Roman-period archaeological research in the regions north and east of the Roman Empire generally focuses on either individual sites and finds or macroregional patterns. In this paper we demonstrate that interdisciplinary research on a regional level offers opportunities to gain new insights into site location, landscape organisation and the structure, origin and development of settlement patterns. Furthermore a long-term perspective is a necessary prerequisite for understanding the origins and dynamics of settlement patterns. The results of our pilot study, focusing on the Vecht valley in the Dutch-German border area, are compared to other regions both within and outside Roman territory.