Second late-antique fortress at CUT/Xanten(D) ?

[Simplex]

Guessworks about dating, -- educated, but guessworks nevertheless.

Yes. I checked through Petrokovits, but he doesn't seem to make any particular assumptions. The 'reduced' Tricensima fort seems most usually attributed to Diocletian or Constantine - so does the even smaller 'corner' fortification pre- or post- date it?

One option might be the 'rebuilding' by Julian mentioned by Ammianus, c.359. If the 'reduced' circuit wall had been demolished (?!) by the Franks, he may simply have restored one of the old corners instead, for a reduced garrison on the pattern of Dormagen. But surely such a barbarian demolition is unlikely? Of course, the Romans might have pulled it down themselves to construct the new even smaller fort...

Hi Nathan,
....von Petrikovits' paper on late Roman fortification is a bit dated-- mildly put.
(>Fortifications in the North-Western Roman Empire from the Third to the Fifth Centuries A.D. --1971)
http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/...Empire.pdf
Stepphen Johnsons paper is a bit more up-to-date. (Late Roman Fortifications,1983)
I have yet to read Lander's "Roman Stone Fortifications".(1987)
While there have been a number of papers/books dealing with late Roman Fortresses/Fortlets/City-walls on a more local scale,
I'd say: sadly there is no recent round-up available that compares to von Petrikovits/Johnson/Lander.
But back to the subject:
If just gone through Thomas Otten's Xanten-paper fom 2011.
Taking that into consideration it becomes obviously that the end of the Roman legionary camp of Vetera II seems not to be precisely datable, still.
In other words : it is hard to tell when the Military Forces there had been transferred to other camps/Locations -- and to what extent they had been transfered  -- in full or vexillatio by vexillatio. IIRC Otten does away with the conception that judged after the coinage that there had been a hiatus on that very site between 275-310. New finds/evidence strongly suggest that it has not been so.
O.K. I will refrain now from giving an overview about the dating of the fortress right in the middle of CUT.
Just one thing:
Theories have been heavily contested through the times whether it was a Constantinian foundation or not, and/or whether it ended with Magnentius or not. (e.G. a coinage TPC of 351 ??)
After all Ammianus' reports of Julian's rebuild of older military installations does clearly not help the case here IMHO.
Let's wait and see if the excavators will tell us s.th. new here.

Greez

Simplex

....and while we're at it:
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/arch...rr_051.pdf  (1981)

As an afterthought:
There will be an educationary excavation at the CUT between July,25th and August, 19th.
Those who want to apply (students !) should be willing to take the complete 4 weeks-stint !
Applications till May 8th to : Herrn Dr. Karl Oberhofer ([email protected])