
Employing citizen science to understand borders and border systems from the Roman period until today
This project is about borders, in particular the border of the Roman Empire, the so-called Lower German Limes. In this project we not only investigate the impact of this border on migration and the import of goods and crops in antiquity, but also focus on how the limes becomes visible as cultural heritage today, and how it has influenced our contemporary views on borders.
We reconnect the white coats of sterile laboratories with the muddy boots of excavations, the dusty historical archives with the expanses of spatial analysis, and use big data to reinterpret and reorder artefacts in depots and museums.
On the one hand, the project will map the limes as a cultural contact zone by studying archaeological data, using various techniques, and with the aid of citizen scientists. This approach will allow us to reconstruct the borderscape in the Roman period in more detail than was possible so far.
On the other hand, the project focuses on the reception of the limes: how is this border (re)constructed for the benefit of the formation of nation states and the creation of regional, national, and European identities.
This approach helps us to better understand contemporary approaches towards borders and allows us to enrich public debates regarding borders and cultural interactions with historic knowledge.
This project brings together a consortium of experts in the fields of ancient history, archaeology, geology, cultural heritage, cultural history and art history, human geography and border studies, and environmental genetics. In this project we collaborate with a large number of public partners to disseminate the scientific results to a wide audience.
News
- ‘Archaeology meets Environmental Genomics: implementing sedaDNA in the study of the human past’ by Kadir Toykan Özdoğan, Arjen de Groot, Gertjan PletsSedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) has become one of the standard applications in the field of paleogenomics in recent years. However, its application in archaeology has been limited and primarily focused on humans. This article argues …
- Saskia Stevens wins the CHARM-EU Open Science Recognition AwardThe first CHARM-EU Open Science Recognition Award was given to Dr. Saskia Stevens because of … Read more
- NWO funding for study Lisette Kootker on human mobility in the Roman NetherlandsEarth scientist and team member of Constructing the Limes Lisette Kootker is one of the … Read more

