In Search of Caesar’s Aduatuca in the Territory of the Eburones

Abstract

In Search of Caesar’s Aduatuca in the Territory of the Eburones

The people of the Eburones living in the Lower Rhine frontier zone of northern Gaul has attracted the attention of historians and archaeologists since many generations. On the one hand because they successfully defeated a large Roman army at a place called Aduatuca during their revolt of 54 BC. On the other hand because they were almost completely destroyed by Caesar’s revenge campaigns with genocidal traits in 53 and 51 BC. An important question for a full understanding of Caesar’s confrontation with the Eburones is the location of the Roman winter camp and battle site of Aduatuca. In this article we aim to summarise the current debate and present a new hypothesis that locates Aduatuca at Tongeren-Berg (prov. Limburg/BE), a hilltop directly ­northeast of the Roman civitas capital of Aduatuca Tungrorum/Tongeren. Judging by the numismatic evidence, Berg seems to have functioned as a central place of the Eburonean polity, an hypothesis that can be tested by further archaeological research in the next few years.